Shrimp Tale

There was a Medical Staff Meeting the other day, but I didn’t attend. ED docs don’t often go to Medical Staff Meetings. Except for the Medical Director of the Department, we’re often not as invested in medical staff issues. We come to work, get paid by the hour, and go home. And given that medical staff meetings occur at hours when we’re either still at work, getting ready to come to work, sleeping off the prior shift, or keeping our private time private (one reason why many of us went into ER…no office, no call, no pager), it’s not all that surprising. (My own rationale for missing the meeting was to grab every wink of sleep until the last possible moment before my twelve hour twilight journey.)

That being said, I was able to sneak down towards the meeting room and steal a plateful of shrimp cocktail before heading up to the ED to start work. I put the plate in the break room, figuring that anyone who wanted could share in the feast. Which led to the following conversation, overheard between two nurses:

“You know, those look really good. I really want to eat one even though I shouldn’t.”

“I don’t know. l really don’t like them very much at all. They always seem so flaccid and small, and taste so fishy.”

“I like them large and really stiff. You know, like Dr. Rodenberg's.

They were talking about shrimp, I swear to God.