Day 4

The hospital folk remember me now. Some of them know me by name, others recognize my face, which is fine too for now. The day was slow again. I got there 15 minutes early in an effort to start making up the time I missed when I left early last week. I cleaned like a million gurneys... I'm pretty good at that. Today was the first day I actually spent stocking shelves and drawers. That entertained me for about an hour of my time. I have a pretty decent idea of where things are in terms of supplies and what not.

It's nice being there now that people recognize me. The first day was nice because I was the new kid so they were patient in showing me around, and my 2nd and 3rd day they knew that I was supposed to be there but didn't really know who I was, and now it's like they're happy to see me and really appreciate that I'm there. Very warm feeling.

Towards the end of my shift I encountered the most awkward of awkward situations. It was about 3:55 and I was transporting a patient on his gurney from CT back to 1. The paramedic intern, the same one who I mentioned in Day 2 whose attitude I don't like, was passing by and our conversation was as follows:

"So, you gettin' outta here in a bit?"

"Yea, like 5 or 10 more minutes I think."

"Wanna get dinner sometime?"

Brief silence... "I'll have to get back to you on that one I'm exhausted."

This whole time we were walking in opposite directions and when I answered him I neither stopped walking nor turned around. This guy is like short, chubby and balding, and I really have no desire to mix my extracurricular activities with my personal life in any way. Awkward, awkward, awkward. I wonder if the patient knew what was going on. He looked like he was beaten up pretty badly. I decided that if this paramedic intern asks me anything of the sort again I'll let him know that my "boyfriend" wouldn't approve.. I figure it's the least painless thing - he won't persist or be offended, I won't have to deal with him.. very nice.