I was walking down the hallway at the hospital this morning when a strange-looking man wandered out of the dayroom. He looked mostly nondescript…skinny little white guy, polo shirt, raggy jeans. He walked oddly, as though he was poorly rested. He saw me and waved me over.
“Hey! Hey mister! I got a question for you.”
“What can I help you with, sir?”
“Where can a guy go to smoke some crack around here?”
That was certainly not the question I had expected. It also raised a whole new set of questions: did he have crack in his possession? Was he armed? Was he high now? Was he an escaped psyche patient? Who the hell asks a guy in scrubs where he can go to smoke crack?
I didn’t know what to say. So I said:
“Sir, this here is a non-smoking facility. If you want to smoke you’ll have to go to your car or leave our property.” He gave me a long stare. I stared back. “Nothing personal, you know how it is…”
“Well, alright then. I respect your rules there, man in blue.”
And with that, he hobbled down the hall and into a stairwell.
I was walking down the hallway at the hospital this morning when a strange-looking man wandered out of the dayroom. He looked mostly nondescript…skinny little white guy, polo shirt, raggy jeans. He walked oddly, as though he was poorly rested. He saw me and waved me over.
“Hey! Hey mister! I got a question for you.”
“What can I help you with, sir?”
“Where can a guy go to smoke some crack around here?”
That was certainly not the question I had expected. It also raised a whole new set of questions: did he have crack in his possession? Was he armed? Was he high now? Was he an escaped psyche patient? Who the hell asks a guy in scrubs where he can go to smoke crack?
I didn’t know what to say. So I said:
“Sir, this here is a non-smoking facility. If you want to smoke you’ll have to go to your car or leave our property.” He gave me a long stare. I stared back. “Nothing personal, you know how it is…”
“Well, alright then. I respect your rules there, man in blue.”
And with that, he hobbled down the hall and into a stairwell.
Just another day in hospital paradise.