Your first night shift as a trainee nurse at PTMC, you bring your dinner shake in a Dunkin cup. Then you get distracted, and Shen and Ellis end up arguing.
warnings: Body image-based insult
‘You can do this. You’ve got the training. You’re capable.’ You kept repeating the lines in your head. But you’re still nervous. It’s your first day at PTMC as a trainee nurse on the night shift. Neither the Charge Nurse nor the Attendings were apparently happy about getting a trainee nurse on the night shift. You didn’t get the details – something about understaffing and lack of oversight was all you heard through the grapevine.
Heading straight for the uniform dispenser, you collect your scrubs and move to the locker room. Then you deposit your dinner consisting of a banana-chocolate protein shake in the fridge in the locker room.
Changed and still about half an hour early, you approach the hub and the thin blonde nurse behind it. You wait for her to look up, wish her a good evening, state your name and get to the point, “I’m the new trainee nurse for the night shift. Is Charge Nurse Handzo already in by chance?”
“No, kid, not yet. Probably in...,” she checks her watch. “20 minutes. I’m the day shift Charge Nurse Dana. I’ll give you a quick tour.”
“Thank you, Dana.”
When Lena arrives, Dana introduces you and you get put with Senior Nurse Mateo. The reason? ‘No matter what admin thinks I don’t have the time for a trainee.’ You don’t get pulled into traumas, thankfully. As it is, halfway through your shift, your head is stuffed full with all the big and small details about this place. Supremely grateful for a break from the insanity, you grab your shake from the fridge. You take off the lid, add four ice cubes and put in a straw. After you’ve finished about half, Mateo sticks his head into the break room, “Sorry, we need you in North 15.”
You jump from the chair and follow him out. On the way you realise you’re still holding your half-full Dunkin Donut cup and put it behind the counter of the hub on your way past.
1 a.m. seems to be the time for people to go just a little crazy. You get thrown into two more cases and have almost forgotten about your half-finished dinner shake. When you get back to the hub to update Lena on your last case, you see one of the doctors with a Dunkin cup in his hand. You frown and remember your own is still behind the counter. The doc takes a sip, swallows, holds the cup away from him and shouts across the department, “Ellis! What have you done to my coffee!”
“Not a damn thing, you idiot!” Resident Parker Ellis yells back. You hurry over to the doc with your shake in his hand.
Unfortunately, he is not done accusing his colleague, “Don’t lie to me! I know you hate it!”
And Dr. Ellis is still shooting back, “Whatever. It wasn’t me.”
You rush to cut the next exchange off, “I’m sorry, Doctor, I believe you grabbed my shake.”
“What?”
“I brought a banana-chocolate shake for dinner. In a Dunkin cup.”
He looks at the cup. “Why?”
“Sorry?”
“Why bring a shake in a Dunkin cup?”
“So, I don’t forget yet another shaker somewhere.”
“Ugh,” he groans. “I’m sorry. It looked exactly like my iced coffee.” And with that he hands you your shake.
“I’ll put my name on it next time, doctor.”
“You’re new here, right?” Shaking his head, he adds, “A name won’t help unless you write it on a big, fat, white piece of tape.”
“Well, big and fat shouldn’t be a problem for her,” a male patient about twice your age throws in.
“Thank you, Sir. For recognizing I have no intention to resemble a coat rack anytime soon.”
The man blinks, “Well, what’s your excuse for being fat then?”
“Choosing a stressful profession that sometimes includes abusive assholes and not resorting to smoking,” Charge Nurse Lena replies. She must have noticed the pack of cigarettes in his hand too.
“Smoking would keep you both a normal size at least.”
Lena shakes her head at him, “Not smoking gets us healthy, cancer-free lungs.”
The man swallows and the doc turns toward Lena. “I think he got your point.” Adding quietly, “And I just handed him a lung cancer diagnosis.”
You and Lena both fake a cough and you take a long sip from your shake. “Well, I think I can live with that.”
He looks at you, “And I think, you’ll fit right in here. I’m John Shen, by the way.”
Lena hands him a Dunkin cup, “And I believe that’s your coffee, Shen.”
His eyes light up as he takes it, “Thank you, Lena.”
Your first night shift as a trainee nurse at PTMC, you bring your dinner shake in a Dunkin cup. Then you get distracted, and Shen and Ellis end up arguing.
warnings: Body image-based insult
‘You can do this. You’ve got the training. You’re capable.’ You kept repeating the lines in your head. But you’re still nervous. It’s your first day at PTMC as a trainee nurse on the night shift. Neither the Charge Nurse nor the Attendings were apparently happy about getting a trainee nurse on the night shift. You didn’t get the details – something about understaffing and lack of oversight was all you heard through the grapevine.
Heading straight for the uniform dispenser, you collect your scrubs and move to the locker room. Then you deposit your dinner consisting of a banana-chocolate protein shake in the fridge in the locker room.
Changed and still about half an hour early, you approach the hub and the thin blonde nurse behind it. You wait for her to look up, wish her a good evening, state your name and get to the point, “I’m the new trainee nurse for the night shift. Is Charge Nurse Handzo already in by chance?”
“No, kid, not yet. Probably in...,” she checks her watch. “20 minutes. I’m the day shift Charge Nurse Dana. I’ll give you a quick tour.”
“Thank you, Dana.”
When Lena arrives, Dana introduces you and you get put with Senior Nurse Mateo. The reason? ‘No matter what admin thinks I don’t have the time for a trainee.’ You don’t get pulled into traumas, thankfully. As it is, halfway through your shift, your head is stuffed full with all the big and small details about this place. Supremely grateful for a break from the insanity, you grab your shake from the fridge. You take off the lid, add four ice cubes and put in a straw. After you’ve finished about half, Mateo sticks his head into the break room, “Sorry, we need you in North 15.”
You jump from the chair and follow him out. On the way you realise you’re still holding your half-full Dunkin Donut cup and put it behind the counter of the hub on your way past.
1 a.m. seems to be the time for people to go just a little crazy. You get thrown into two more cases and have almost forgotten about your half-finished dinner shake. When you get back to the hub to update Lena on your last case, you see one of the doctors with a Dunkin cup in his hand. You frown and remember your own is still behind the counter. The doc takes a sip, swallows, holds the cup away from him and shouts across the department, “Ellis! What have you done to my coffee!”
“Not a damn thing, you idiot!” Resident Ellis Parker yells back. You hurry over to the doc with your shake in his hand.
Unfortunately, he is not done accusing his colleague, “Don’t lie to me! I know you hate it!”
And Dr. Parker is still shooting back, “Whatever. It wasn’t me.”
You rush to cut the next exchange off, “I’m sorry, Doctor, I believe you grabbed my shake.”
“What?”
“I brought a banana-chocolate shake for dinner. In a Dunkin cup.”
He looks at the cup. “Why?”
“Sorry?”
“Why bring a shake in a Dunkin cup?”
“So, I don’t forget yet another shaker somewhere.”
“Ugh,” he groans. “I’m sorry. It looked exactly like my iced coffee.” And with that he hands you your shake.
“I’ll put my name on it next time, doctor.”
“You’re new here, right?” Shaking his head, he adds, “A name won’t help unless you write it on a big, fat, white piece of tape.”
“Well, big and fat shouldn’t be a problem for her,” a male patient about twice your age throws in.
“Thank you, Sir. For recognizing I have no intention to resemble a coat rack anytime soon.”
The man blinks, “Well, what’s your excuse for being fat then?”
“Choosing a stressful profession that sometimes includes abusive assholes and not resorting to smoking,” Charge Nurse Lena replies. She must have noticed the pack of cigarettes in his hand too.
“Smoking would keep you both a normal size at least.”
Lena shakes her head at him, “Not smoking gets us healthy, cancer-free lungs.”
The man swallows and the doc turns toward Lena. “I think he got your point.” Adding quietly, “And I just handed him a lung cancer diagnosis.”
You and Lena both fake a cough and you take a long sip from your shake. “Well, I think I can live with that.”
He looks at you, “And I think, you’ll fit right in here. I’m John Shen, by the way.”
Lena hands him a Dunkin cup, “And I believe that’s your coffee, Shen.”
His eyes light up as he takes it, “Thank you, Lena.”
