Night of Lacerations

We had a Night of Lacerations recently in the ER. I was working in the Pediatric area. It's a bit more complicated when the kids come in because they have a hard reconciling "sewing your head closed is a good thing" with "AAGH! Needle in my head!!" Sometimes the kids are really good and just sit there with wide eyes. Other times they scream their little heads off.

One night there was a boy about eight who was quite accomplished at delaying the proceedings. After the doctor calmly explained that she was going to deaden the area, he had lots of questions. Why was this necessary again? Are you absolutely sure that needles must be involved? What are your qualifications to make this judgement?

Despite his tactics, the needle eventually went in and he was stitched up. There was some shrieking, though he saved the best for last. Afterwards, when the doctor asked him how he was, he narrowed his eyes, shot her a look of pure hate, and tossed his head contemptuously.

Another time, a kid of about six had a nice gash between her eyes. It was deep, so the plastics doctor was called in to do it. They did a conscious sedation on the little girl. The patient is still able to communicate, but there's no pain and often no memory of the procedure.

I had it when my wisdom teeth were removed. I have only one brief memory, "waking up" and seeing spatters of blood on the face guards of the people around me. I distinctly remember thinking, "Oh. Not done yet. Okay, back to sleep," before sinking back into amnesia. I'd love a videotape of the procedure. My teeth were still mostly covered by my gums so I presume they had lots of cutting and teeth cracking to remove them. I do have two polaroids of myself spitting out a mouthful of blood when I got home. So there's that.

Anyway, when kids are likely to fight back (something that can still happen with conscious sedation), they get strapped down. The door to her treatment room was closed, but you could hear her screaming all the way down the hall. Seriously, you'd think they were torturing her in there.

The mom had to leave and sat in the hall with tears in her eyes. I and a fellow employee felt much worse for the mom. The kid was just scared and being ornery; she was pain-free and likely to forget the whole experience. The mom had to see and listen to her daughter freaking out.


Technorati tags: Laceration, conscious sedation, screaming children

Vacation, all I ever wanted

Yesterday I put in my notice at work that I would be going PRN in a few weeks. PRN is is an acronym for pro re nata, or "as needed." Rather than work a fixed schedule, I'll sign up for shifts that need more staff. As the school semester starts in late August and there isn't any benefit to me working a fixed part-time schedule, it just makes sense. It does mean that I won't be putting in anywhere near the hours I did this summer, hence less stories to share in this space. Luckily, I have a backlog. The well is far from dry.

My boss hasn't actually acknowledged my notice, which certainly could get awkward in a few weeks when I stop showing up for work. We'll see about that today. All my work friends know and are generally supportive, though there is the requisite whining about losing a person who does the work quickly and correctly. To which I say, "Suck it bitchbags!" No, I like my work friends and am a little sad that I won't see them as much.

The decision to sort-of quit has been brewing for a couple weeks now. Some of the managerial boneheadedness was beginning to chafe, as it always does several months into a new job. I need to have a summer vacation before I hit the books again, so it's Devo in New York, my Dad's home town, The Shockwave, and Boogie Bahn for me.

Oh, and here's a great quote from a patient,

"I'm not usually a paranoid person when I do drugs. Maybe they're putting something in the drugs."


Technorati tags: (Sort-of) quitting, vacation, drug paranoia

Well that took a turn for the bittersweet

Monday and Tuesday were again hella-busy. Is hella old enough to be nostalgic for? Probably not.

As opposed to last Monday, this week I was well-rested and maintained a chipper, can-do attitude despite the constant stream of incoming ambulances to the "crash" area of the ER. I kept my head above water with my work and managed to stay out of the medical staff's way. My co-workers are happy to leave me to it and I really enjoy handling all the details. Nothing unusual so far this week, a few ODs, several car or motorcycle accidents, and lots of chest pain.

The one great bit tonight was the long conversation I had with a patient who'd recently moved to Austin from Chicago. She was disappointed in Austin so far. The night she went to see the bats fly out, they stayed underneath the bridge. A restaurant that was recommended to her turned out to be terrible. Then there's the oppressive summer heat.

Of course I defended my hometown. The bats won't come out if rain is a strong possibility since the bugs they eat won't be out either. There are lots of great places to eat, and the restaurant she went to isn't one of them. As for the heat, well that's what A/C and Barton Springs is for.

It was a fortuitous meeting since I currently plan to move to Chicago a few months after I graduate school. One of the reasons I'm becoming a nurse is so I can move about the country and world experiencing life in different places. Chicago is at the top of my list because I already have friends there, there's lots to do, and I think the professional experience will be gratifying. The harsh winters will just have to be endured. After that there will be Hawaii, Toronto, London, New Zealand, China, Ecuador, New York, et cetera.

In a way, it seems ludicrous that I would leave Austin. I have it so good here; lots of friends and family, relatively cheap entertainment, a socially progressive populace, and a profound sense of comfort. It's incredibly easy to get stuck in the velvet rut that is Austin, just contentedly drifting along.

Austin will always be where my heart lives and I'll come back to visit often, but by the time I get out of school, it will be time to move on.


Technorati tags: Congress Bridge bats, heat, velvet rut, I'll leave my heart in Austin

A few short quotes to amuse and edify

Drunk guy, "I've been blacking out for years, but right now I'm off my anti-blacking-out medication."

Psychiatric patient, "Go ahead and take my blood. It's as pure as white cake!"

Patient with back pain, "Can I have something to eat? Like a pain killer?"

Open letter to a father who brought his son to the ER

Dear Sir,

I'm trying to imagine the circumstances under which your 10-year-old received multiple ant bites on his penis. Enlighten me.

Thanks so much,
St. Murse

Come one, come all. Apparently by ambulance.

Last night, work was ugly. Not only was I tired going in, but we were slammed. Last week Austin-area hospitals ended the long-standing practice of going on diversion, which meant that when they were close to being full, ambulances were diverted to other hospitals. EMS hated it because it made for longer rides, less availability, and patient's directives on where they wanted to be treated were often overruled.

Starting last Tuesday, the hospitals agreed to accept all ambulance traffic unless they have some sort of major internal problem. Practically it means that the hospitals have to quickly treat and discharge those patients who aren't serious, and make room for those who are.

As I've noted before, many people come to the ER for fairly minor problems that should be seen by a primary-care doctor or community clinic. Unfortunately, the medical system in the US is not set up to adequately care for us all, so these people come to the emergency room.

Like many hosptials throughout the country, we have a fast track area where patients are seen quickly, often by a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant rather than a doctor, for minor problems. These are the people for whom the phrase "treat 'em and street 'em" was coined. Last night, in our crush of business, the wait for even the fast-track area was roughly five hours.

In light of the volume of patients, the medical staff were pushing hard. Not only were fast track patients were being shuttled through quickly, but the regular treatment areas were on overdrive, meaning that I and the rest of the registration staff had to step it up as well. Pair being understaffed with more ambulance-delivered patients than I've ever seen, and it made for an exhausting evening.

I could go on about an incident of childish behavior by a manager of my department, but I'll spare you the ugly, yet mundane details. Suffice to say, due to my growing annoyance at occurrences, I may be going part-time sooner than I had planned.

Mondays are always the busiest day of my week and it's likely to improve, so I will endeavor to regain my usual attitude; sunny, yet archly cynical. Maybe I should stop listening to The Sundays right now and switch to Banarama's "Cruel Summer" which is also sunny, yet archly cynical.


Technorati tags: EMS diversion, "Cruel Summer"

Demetri Martin is a funny, funny man

Demetri Martin had a great show last night at Emo's at a taping for his first comedy album. About a third of the material I've heard before on his talk show appearances and Comedy Central special, but funny is funny and he killed. Demetri is a former writer on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and a great comedian.

I was surprised by the turnout, the inside room at Emo's was packed. I guess the postcard marketing and/or word-of-mouth worked. Less surprising was the largely hipster crowd, in particular the two Demetri-clones. Seriously, same "gay Beatle" haircut (as Demetri calls it), same lanky build.

The show was marred only by Annoying Forced Laugh Guy who clearly was trying to make an indelible impression for the recording.

My favorite joke of the night was one that bombed. It's a bit of a sleeper.
"There's not much difference between saying I'm sorry and saying I apologize. Unless you're at a funeral. Worse still, my bad."

There are several more tapings in Seattle and San Francisco. I hope the CD comes out well. Here's an NPR profile of him with a link to a few of his jokes.


Technorati tags: Demetri Martin, funny

Quasi-obligatory post about the Real World

I've instituted a policy when it comes to watching The Real World Austin. I'll Tivo it, but I'm fast-forwarding through all scenes in the house. That way, I won't have to watch all the "drama", yet and I can still see where they go in Austin. So far, they haven't ventured more than a mile from their converted warehouse except when they were introduced to their job: making a music documentary about South By Southwest.

It was quite odd to see them sitting in a meeting on the UT Campus with film professor Paul Stekler. I never had him while I was at UT the first time, but I've met him several times since and was interviewed on camera once for a political doc he was making. Thankfully, I didn't end up in the film. The real surprise was when Stekler introduced the cast to their sound tutor Jen Garrison, with whom I worked extensively many years ago at the campus radio station.

During SXSW, I saw the RW kids shooting at the convention center and at a few clubs. At the time, I couldn't imagine why they were taping Enon. I mean, I like them, but they're not what I think of as an MTV hype band. The Real World's first episode did show a bit of footage from the night the cast was at the Enon show so we'll see what ends up in their doc.

Anyway, I was intrigued from a medical standpoint when in the first episode, RWer Danny was punched hard enough to break his cheekbone and cave it in. I just watched the episode where he gets surgery to repair the injury and there was a quick shot of the name of the facility, Surgical Hospital of Austin. It's not a full-service hospital and not one with which I'm familiar.

With minimal effort, I found webpages for Danny's plastic surgeons Dr. Scott Haydon and Dr. Todd Shepler. Despite the surgery, he apparently still has blurry vision in one eye and is suing the guy who punched him.

In addition to that bit of news, The Austin Chronicle published this rather unsubstantial piece today. Not noted was the big No Trepassing signs posted all over the outside of the RW house while the cast was living there. The alley behind the house was closed off as well the few times I passed it.

Why am I expending energy writing about the frickin' Real World? Insomnia baby.


Technorati tags: Real World Austin, Danny's surgery

What's funny when you work in an ER

A few co-workers and I were discussing a patient that had apparently taken off before being discharged. She's a regular in the ER, either as a patient herself or accompanying one of her fellow homeless, drug-using friends. We were talking about how to handle her registration when a nurse well-acquainted with this patient stuck his head in, listened for a moment, and said,

"If she's the last woman on Earth and I'm the last man, that's it. History is over. I'm playing with myself until I die."

Then we all laughed and laughed and laughed. Have I mentioned that a dark sense of humor is practically obligatory when working in an ER?

One time the med staff and I were waiting for EMS to come in with a kid who'd fallen off his skateboard and hit his head. Of course he wasn't wearing a helmet. We were just standing around when one of the Spanish translators came in saying,

"Somebody call me?"

To which the doctor replied, "No, but we might need someone who speaks head trauma a little later."

Then we all laughed and laughed and laughed. Yeah, we're sick bastards.


Technorati tags: Black humor

Loud sounds from near quarters

The other night I experienced an incredible sensation, a mixture of delight and pain the memory of which still makes me smile and wince simultaneously. It was this, an adorable baby shrieking happily. Sure, you've seen cute kids and heard they're high-pitched yelps, but this child and the noises she made are several orders of magnitude greater than I have previously experienced.

Imagine a cherubic face, bright eyes, and a smile that could conceivably turn Karl Rove away from the dark side. This baby was cuter than that. Now imagine a pterodactyl loosing a vicious cry as it drives off a rival suitor. This baby's voice was more ear-piercingly painful. Clearly the child was exhibiting early signs of being a mutant with superpowers.

Another night we were treated to the periodic, stentorian exhortations of a woman off her psychiatric meds. Despite being in a room with a closed door, you could hear her throughout most of the ER. She would go on for 15 minutes or so, then quiet down for a bit before going on another tirade, the main topics of which were God, people bothering her, and the fact that the door to her room was closed. All reasonable topics that could be argued coherently. However, she sounded like this:

"Gaw blah hibba! God friltcha said the door is closed! Abba. Aieeeeee!"

She was also rather uncooperative with the medical staff. When asked to drink some Gatordade, she had been shouting on and off for 6 hours after all, she said in a scandalized voice, "I'm a Christian!" Turns out this was her response to most requests.

I feel for the medical staff. When I have to register a patient like this, I can just write, "Patient is altered, unable to answer questions or sign paperwork," and my work is practically done. The med staff have to persevere in communicating with the patient and treating them. I don't look forward to this part of the job.


Technorati tags: Babies, pterodactyl cry, mentally ill patients

What passes for a July 4th post around here

Over the weekend, I dreaded going to work on Independence Day because of the large potential for fireworks injuries and drunken car accidents. I'm happy to report that July 4th ended with only one minor fireworks-related incident and one drunken assault. Of course there were people who fell off things, had seizures, or didn't take their meds/took an excess of meds to make up for it.

So really, it was a typical day aside from the plethora of flag-themed scrubs on the med staff. Like this:



From a purely design persective, red, white, and blue is an ugly grouping of colors to use in clothing fabric and, consequently, Tommy Hilfiger is vile.

Speaking of vile and flags, if the perennial flag-burning amendment (otherwise known as "bread and circuses while Rome burns") gets out of Congress and goes to the states for ratification, there will be a great market for faux-flags. Completely legal and ready to burn. John Scalzi says and demonstrates the concept better than I ever could.

Can't quite get my head around what is essentially an edit of the First Amendment. "Freedom of Speech. Yes, good idea. Wait, no, but not burning a symbol of that freedom. No, that's so awful that we must take time out to specifically try to prevent it, but ultimately fail because people can just burn reasonable facsimiles thereof." Then again, I'm a bit out of step with a third of the young people who think the First Amendment goes too far. Sigh.

As far as flags-as-a-print-for-scrubs, I prefer the Canadian flag. Simple, immediately recognizable, and just a bit (serrated) edgy. I tried to find a picture of the scrub top sported by one of the Canadian med staff, but Google failed to offer it. Though it did find this and this. Oh Internets, you are so fickle.


Technorati tags: Fireworks injuries, flag-burning, Canadian medical workers slowly taking over

"Now there is some blood involved."

This week I'm working for the first time in the part of the ER where the true emergency patients are seen, like serious car accidents, overdoses, or acute heart problems. Wisely, new staff don't get to work there right away as it can be fast-paced and procedures are a bit more complicated. Also, the bosses don't want you fainting when somebody comes in bloody and missing a bit of their calf from, oh say, a boat propellor slicing it off.

Thankfully, that's not a problem for me. One time I was registering a patient who'd fallen and lacerated his scalp. Head wounds bleed copiously, even when they're not that serious, and this guy's face and hands were covered in dried blood. He was in good spirits and as he signed forms, all I could think about was how special effects guys would kill for that level of garish realism.

It's not for everyone, but I enjoy seeking the variety of patients that come in and am intensely curious to see how treatment is done in the various cases. I'd be totally bummed if my plans to be a trauma/ER nurse were derailed because I was paralyzed by the sight of a close-range gunshot wound rather than galvanized into action.

I've never considered myself an adrenaline junky. I'm not into extreme sports, I don't drive fast, and I've never taunted a large predator with a chair or my buttocks. Now I realize I've just gone a nerdier route to that high. Consuming large amounts of caffeine, rapid-fire high school debate, low-stakes poker, public speaking, spazzing out to a great band, political campaigns, and now, the ER.

Despite my age (we won't get into details, but I'm significantly older than my classmates), I feel like young whippersnapper when I get excited about something, as my friends will agree (with a sigh and a rolling of eyes). I'm pleased that I get that "aw yeah!" feeling about my future vocation.

Speaking of getting the juices flowing, today I saw a Liston bone cutter, though not in action.



Guys, doesn't that make your balls suck up into your body cavity a little bit? Ladies, I have no idea what the correlative experience is, please enlighten me.


Technorati tags: blood, adrenaline, bone cutter

A study in contrasts

Pulled another loooong shift at the hospital. First time on a Friday night though. Very tired now.

Huge contrast tonight between two particular patients. One was an incredibly good-looking man, one was the worst-smelling person I've ever encountered.

Chesty McProud kept his upper body bare for the entire evening to the delight of certain staff members. Stanky Von Greazy's foul odor seeped out of his room to the horror of all who walked by.

Chesty apparently takes the time to shave his entire body. Stubble was noted on his chest, foot, and the backs of fingers. Stanky can't be bothered with even rudimentary washing up. His blue jeans were in fact brown and shiny from dirt and body oil.

Chesty was a little flirtacious once the pain meds kicked in. Stanky, not mentally ill, thought his lack of hygiene was funny.

Chesty would be paid well as a model. Stanky could be well-compensated by the smelling salts industry if he could figure out how to bottle his odor, particularly the vile reek of his feet. Seriously y'all, like a vat of warm cat shit.

Out of the mouths of prisoners

Occasionally at the hospital, we get people under arrest as patients. Sometimes they get hurt fighting, sometimes they suddenly get sick when the cuffs go on, and sometimes they're just drunk off their ass.

Regardless of the situation, by and large, they are an uncoopertive lot. This often amuses the hell out of me as the medical staff and police officers have a withering "seen it, not impressed" attitude with regards to the more surly of these patients. A few examples:

As part of my job, I put ID bands on patients. When I put one on this particular patient already in handcuffs, he turns to the arresting officer and says, "Now that's what I call loose."



Another part of my job is having patients sign paperwork. An intoxicated gentleman handcuffed to a gurney gamefully provides his info as he munches on a sandwich but when it comes time to sign, he balks, complaining about being cuffed to the bed. I have better things to do than argue with him (whether he signs or not, he's going to be treated and charged for it), so I leave. As I walk down the hall, I hear the arresting officer's voice fading out, "Why did you have to be so mean? These people are trying to help you and you just..."

It cracked me up because I knew the officer was just messing with the guy.



A nurse is asking a patient whose just been picked up on a warrant about his medical history.
"Do you have a history of heart disease?"
"Yes."
"Diabetes?"
"Yes."
"Asthma?"
"Yes."
"You have all these things?" the nurse asks, incredulous.
"Yes, I'm very sick," the patient says calmly.
"Do you have gout?"
"Yes."
"What is it then?
Pause. "I don't know, but I got it!"



A young, trying-to-be-tough guy is sitting on a gurney waiting for his head to get stitched up. He's been monosyllabic and surly the whole time, and now an officer is quietly talking to him. In the course of my work, I walk by the bed many times and I notice the kid's ducking his head down. After a while, I walk by again and he's clearly been crying.

I never heard what the officer said, but from the look on his face, I like to think that he was doing his best to show the kid the error of his ways and the benefit of non-criminal behavior. Though, maybe he was scaring the hell out of him with tales of prison rape.



A ER tech that clearly works out often was having a disagreement with a substance abusing patient who offered this gem, "I might do crack, you big asshole, but you do steroids."

That's not a spider bite

From the number of complaints, one would think that the spiders of Texas have begun a guerilla war against humanity. At least once a week there's someone in the ER pointing at a swollen, red bump as evidence of a spider bite. The thing is, it's not a spider bite. It's an abscess, a localized accumulation of pus due to infection, most commonly by Staphylococcus aureus (sometimes called golden staph).


At any time, about a quarter of the population has it on their skin. Fortunately, skin is a good barrier to infection. In people with an abscess, they had a cut or puncture, didn't keep it clean, and an infection developed. Often breaking the skin is accidental. Sometimes it's on purpose. For instance, skin-popping heroin with a dirty needle.

The abscess is actually beneficial in that it walls off the infection, slowing its spread. Still, it's rather nasty. Thankfully the infection usually responds well to first-line antibiotics. I say usually because strains of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus that previously were seen almost exclusively in hospitals and nursing homes among the already ill are showing up in the otherwise healthy general population. Called community-associated methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA), it's a growing problem (geez that's a terrible pun). Articles about CA-MRSA can be found here and here. The Centers for Disease Control has an information page as well.

Now that we have the public health lesson out the way, let's move on to an admittedly extreme case of mistaken "spider bite" self-diagnosis.

A woman I'll call Carla came in saying she had been bitten on the ass by a brown recluse. Brown recluses do live in Texas, but they rarely bite people, and their bite doesn't look like what Carla described (and presumably what the triage nurse saw). For the curious, here's a description of a real bite.

What Carla actually had was an abscess. When she found out she wouldn't be immediately whisked in to see a doctor, out came the attitude,

"But I was bitten by a brown recluse spider. That's serious."

How she felt qualified to make such a specific diagnosis is beyond me. She sure didn't give the impression of being an arachnologist. Truth be told, ER docs often misdiagnose brown recluse bites as well, but at least they went to medical school.

After enduring a third round of complaints about her "dangerous" condition, the terrible pain when she sat down, and that *gasp* other people were being seen before her, I longed to say,

"Sweetie, you weren't bitten by a brown recluse or any other kind of spider. You have a local bacterial infection. It's not an emergency. Sit, stand, whatever. You're going to have to wait like all the other non-emergency patients. Next time, wash your ass better."

Of course what I actually said was, "Mmm. Unfortunately there is a wait."

The lesson here is that if you somehow break the skin, wash the area well with soap and water, bandage it, and keep it clean. For all my IV drug-using readers, here's some valuable information. For the rest of you, here's a bizarre little illustration from the Tacoma/Pierce County Health Department that accompanies their page on CA-MRSA.



Technorati tags: spider bite, abscess, MRSA

No Red Cross for me

You may recall what the back of my head looked like for a couple weeks in March. Well now I'm rather peeved at the Red Cross.

The policy has been in place for a couple years now, but I just became aware that they require both employees and volunteers to sign confidentiality agreements that also state that Red Cross owns the intellectual property produced by employees and volunteers during their time of service and for a year afterwards. So if I volunteered for them and wrote about any element of my experience, Red Cross would own it.

Guess I won't be volunteering for them.


Technorati tags: Red Cross, intellectual property

Hey, let's get the police involved

Steadily busy evening at work. I missed the excitement earlier in the day when a patient had to be subdued by something like eight people, security and medical staff. The patient apologized later. How decent of them.

Right before I left, I heard a visiting cop citing examples of the incredibly silly things he's "investigated". For instance, the time he responded to a call at a house and arrived to find a large group of people watching TV, eating, just generally hanging out. The officer couldn't indentify who had called or exactly what the call was about. Finally, a woman pulled him aside and said she had called because, "That guy over there keeps looking at me."

The best story though was the time he responded to a domestic disturbance call. When he arrived at the house, the "disturbance" was an 18-month-old crying. The kid's parents had called 911 because their child was crying non-stop and upsetting them. Your tax dollars at work.


Technorati tags: domestic disturbance

What choo readin' for?

Excuse me while I descend into a bit of here's-what-I-did blah blah and some bitching (also known as angry whining). Skip this entry if you find that unpalatable, which I totally understand.

I went to Half Price Books on Sunday to look for a copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, having just seen the movie. It's been a decade or more since I read the series and wanted to delve back into it. The movie was okay, not bad, not great. My enjoyment of it was compromised somewhat by the man beside me about whom I almost wrote a blog entry entitled: Open letter to the man next to me at the movie theater who paid $6 to see The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and then slept through most of it occasionally snoring.

I didn't find a copy of the book at Half Price, but I did get a several other items, an inevitable occurence whenever I go there. The real find was a first printing of Steel Beach that is signed and not personalized. Steel Beach is one of my favorite novels, science fiction or otherwise, so I was/am very happy about scoring it for a decent price.

I also picked up a paperback copy of Carrion Comfort, an epic horror novel that I've been wanting to re-read (I've been on a re-reading kick of late). Yesterday I brought it to work to read during my lunch break and accidentally left it under the desk when I rushed off to see a midnight screening of Batman Begins, which was ultimately disappointing. The acting and production design are nifty, but it has problems with pacing and a third act that devolves into lazy action movie cliches. The last half hour bored the hell out of me. I'm sure there will be many complaints about the "slow start", but I found these scenes explaining the origin of Batman to be the best part of the movie.

Got a little off-track there. Anyway, I left my book at work last night and when I went back today, couldn't find it. I looked under the desk, in the waiting room, and checked the lending library in the break room. Nothing. Polled my co-workers, nobody had seen it. Then I asked someone on the shift after mine. The conversation went something like this,

Me: Hey ___, did you see a paperback book last night? I left it under the desk.

Inconsiderate Cretin: Oh, I think I threw that away.

Me: (stunned silence)

Inconsiderate Cretin: (blank expression)

Those who know me would unanimously agree that I am rarely at a loss for words, but there I was, speechless. The IC walked away and I stood there for a moment trying to wrap my head around this turn of events.

The book was in decent condition. It had a receipt from two days before as a bookmark. We have lots of donated books in the waiting room and employee lending library. To quote a considerate, non-cretinous co-worker, "Who throws a book away?"

Apparently inconsiderate cretins do.

Often, the IC asks me if I'm going to stay after my shift and work overtime. When I do, it makes the IC's job easier. The IC did not ask me tonight, probably clued in to how truly peeved I was by other employees. If the IC ever asks me again to help the IC out, I will say, "Yeah, let's get to work tossing all those books and magazines piling up in the waiting room. Tsk. Reading. What's up with that?"

Oh Inconsiderate Cretin, you are officially on my shit list.

P.S. Thankfully, I found a dirt-cheap copy of the book on half.com and will be seeking renumeration from the IC.

Technorati tags: cretin, books, Batman Begins

How I should deal with cavemen

Ya know what urks me? When a guy I just met tries to "bond" with me by making lewd comments about women in the vicinity. First of all, how very lame, desperate, and (literally) sophomoric. Secondly, I'm rather gay.

Next time it happens, instead of the please-stop-grunt-and-glare I typically use, I'm going to say, "Totally dude, and check out that humpy paramedic. I'd sure like to ride his ass. Now let's spit and bump chests."

Slightly unsettling

So, out of nowhere, my post Our heroes will inevitably disappoint us was included in a blogscan compendium of disappointment. I feel distinctly odd about it. Not sure why.