Hello May! I love a month that starts off with a public holiday.
April was quite interesting. I took my final sub-paper (I hope), helped Elny look house-sit Rocky and Muffin, watched the Swine flu thingie unfold before the whole world, and had a very very interesting lunch on the 30th (yesterday).
Swine flu sucks. It's not just the falling sick and dying bit. It's also the inconveniences that follow the extra precautions that we have to take. Working in a hospital is the worst as it is where the people who are sick head to. It's like working at the battlefront of the war. We've started taking temperatures of everyone who enters the building and in the lab, and we've started wearing surgical masks as the samples we handle could potentially be hazardous. Still, I guess I shouldn't be complaining as those working in the A&E department have to be fully decked out in protective equipment. What's one face mask compared to that?
Anyway, in order for the hospital authorities to effectively monitor all movement in and out of the main building, a few side entrances have been closed off and that includes the one nearest to the lab that leads almost directly to the cafeteria. As a result, I now have to make a big loop to the main lobby before looping back from outside the hospital building to the cafeteria. That, plus the extra amount of traffic in the lobby due to the temperature checks have made me decide to just grab a sandwich from the convenience store before my shift starts and keep it in the pantry fridge for a quick lunch.
Yes... I am lazy.
So yesterday, I bought my sandwich as usual and was planning to eat it (5 mins) and spend the rest of my lunchtime with my best buddy (PSP). However, I got a surprise text from Jen who was at the hospital with her husband and I decided to meet up with her during lunchtime instead.
So we met up at the cafeteria and she told me that she was also meeting her aunt, who happened to be the Director of Laboratory Medicine (aka my Boss). I was contemplating leaving when her aunt arrived and plonked down in the seat in front of me. It was interesting cos I have never spoken to my boss in a social setting and there she was talking animatedly about her nephew, joined by Jen who was describing half their family. It was slightly terrifying and yet intriguing at the same time. (Sorry Jen but I am slightly terrified of your aunt.) However, it was quite interesting as I get to see the more human side of my boss and at the same time get to catch up with Jen.
Just as I was starting to feel more at ease, a familiar voice from behind me suddenly said, "May I join you?". I turned my head and my heart nearly tore itself out of my chest screaming. It was the CEO of the hospital.
Yep... same table with the head of the lab and now the head of the hospital.
I was rooted to my seat in absolute terror as Jen's aunt happily started introducing everyone at the table to the CEO. I shook his hand when I was introduced and noticed that he was studying my name tag. Oh my god... it was a good thing I decided to wear my name tag as I didn't want to get stopped by security checks on my way back from lunch. I usually don't wear my name tag out of the lab because of my tattoo and I didn't want the CEO to know that I was one of the hospital staff.
In a tragic twist of irony, I was in a situation whereby I was seated next to the CEO, who was studying my name tag and just inches below my name tag lay my arm with my sleeve rolled up, exposing my entire tattoo.
It was the most agonizing 15 minutes of my life as I kept my arm hidden under the table with the tattooed part turned away from the CEO. I noticed him glancing down so he must have noticed the unusual arm positioning.
Tartar sauce...
The CEO must have been drawn to the table by the presence of the head of Lab Medicine and luckily for me, he didn't stay long. During the meal, his attention was turned away to Jen as he wanted to find out an outsider's opinion of the hospital's services and Jen, who didn't know that she was talking to the CEO, happily talked about one of the clinics she just visited placing her name label on someone elses' ECG printout. Woohoo!
Talk about power lunch. It was so powerful that I lost my appetite. Ha ha ha
Still, it was great catching up with Jen. She's still as bubbly as ever and she has lost a lot of weight! I can't call her Plumpies anymore. Hee hee.
April was quite interesting. I took my final sub-paper (I hope), helped Elny look house-sit Rocky and Muffin, watched the Swine flu thingie unfold before the whole world, and had a very very interesting lunch on the 30th (yesterday).
Swine flu sucks. It's not just the falling sick and dying bit. It's also the inconveniences that follow the extra precautions that we have to take. Working in a hospital is the worst as it is where the people who are sick head to. It's like working at the battlefront of the war. We've started taking temperatures of everyone who enters the building and in the lab, and we've started wearing surgical masks as the samples we handle could potentially be hazardous. Still, I guess I shouldn't be complaining as those working in the A&E department have to be fully decked out in protective equipment. What's one face mask compared to that?
Anyway, in order for the hospital authorities to effectively monitor all movement in and out of the main building, a few side entrances have been closed off and that includes the one nearest to the lab that leads almost directly to the cafeteria. As a result, I now have to make a big loop to the main lobby before looping back from outside the hospital building to the cafeteria. That, plus the extra amount of traffic in the lobby due to the temperature checks have made me decide to just grab a sandwich from the convenience store before my shift starts and keep it in the pantry fridge for a quick lunch.
Yes... I am lazy.
So yesterday, I bought my sandwich as usual and was planning to eat it (5 mins) and spend the rest of my lunchtime with my best buddy (PSP). However, I got a surprise text from Jen who was at the hospital with her husband and I decided to meet up with her during lunchtime instead.
So we met up at the cafeteria and she told me that she was also meeting her aunt, who happened to be the Director of Laboratory Medicine (aka my Boss). I was contemplating leaving when her aunt arrived and plonked down in the seat in front of me. It was interesting cos I have never spoken to my boss in a social setting and there she was talking animatedly about her nephew, joined by Jen who was describing half their family. It was slightly terrifying and yet intriguing at the same time. (Sorry Jen but I am slightly terrified of your aunt.) However, it was quite interesting as I get to see the more human side of my boss and at the same time get to catch up with Jen.
Just as I was starting to feel more at ease, a familiar voice from behind me suddenly said, "May I join you?". I turned my head and my heart nearly tore itself out of my chest screaming. It was the CEO of the hospital.
Yep... same table with the head of the lab and now the head of the hospital.
I was rooted to my seat in absolute terror as Jen's aunt happily started introducing everyone at the table to the CEO. I shook his hand when I was introduced and noticed that he was studying my name tag. Oh my god... it was a good thing I decided to wear my name tag as I didn't want to get stopped by security checks on my way back from lunch. I usually don't wear my name tag out of the lab because of my tattoo and I didn't want the CEO to know that I was one of the hospital staff.
In a tragic twist of irony, I was in a situation whereby I was seated next to the CEO, who was studying my name tag and just inches below my name tag lay my arm with my sleeve rolled up, exposing my entire tattoo.
It was the most agonizing 15 minutes of my life as I kept my arm hidden under the table with the tattooed part turned away from the CEO. I noticed him glancing down so he must have noticed the unusual arm positioning.
Tartar sauce...
The CEO must have been drawn to the table by the presence of the head of Lab Medicine and luckily for me, he didn't stay long. During the meal, his attention was turned away to Jen as he wanted to find out an outsider's opinion of the hospital's services and Jen, who didn't know that she was talking to the CEO, happily talked about one of the clinics she just visited placing her name label on someone elses' ECG printout. Woohoo!
Talk about power lunch. It was so powerful that I lost my appetite. Ha ha ha
Still, it was great catching up with Jen. She's still as bubbly as ever and she has lost a lot of weight! I can't call her Plumpies anymore. Hee hee.
1 comment:
Trust me, it took me a long while before I got over the fact that he was the CEO and that he cleared the table after us!!! They shld just place "CEO" on his name tag rather than an ambiguous "administration"! I tot he was some admin officer... *gasp*
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