Orientation

Today at orientation, during a lull, I had time to reflect on orientations past. A few stood out in my mind.

One involved a getting to know you period from none other than the hospital administrator himself. He went around the room and asked random new hires where, in their fine establishment, would we be working. As luck would have it, he asked me. So, I told him...the Operating Room. He paused a moment, looked me in the eye, then replied "I'm so sorry." As it turns out, he was completely right. It was a miserable place to work.

Another interesting one came to mind. A speaker...some head of something or another, apparently important enough to have a huge title and speak at orientation...felt the need to share with us why we will find no gum in any gift shop or cafeteria. As it turned out, the hospital administrator had his huge portrait prominently displayed front and center as you entered the lobby to the hospital. One day as he walked by, and apparently inspected his portrait closely, he discovered a piece of ABC gum (already been chewed) stuck on said portrait. He decreed that gum would no longer be sold in his hospital. Does tyrant come to mind?

Most recently, as in yesterday, this happened. I've had a long standing joke (and I use the term joke loosely) about not following the herd and drinking the grape koolaide offered. This particular speaker said she finally got her friend to drink the grape koolaide and join the cult. 'Nuff said.

Today I made my own waves. Without going into details, I'm just going to say that I caused half of those present to get teary eyed, including the speaker, the Senior Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer. I apparently have a hidden talent...or curse. Depends on how you look at it.

The bad part about orientation is that is doesn't offer many photo ops. So, completely unrelated, I'm going to pick an old favorite from another time in Florida.

Occasionally one seafood isn't enough!