Shit that happens at work

Not in a bad way, just things I find interesting/amusing/worth my brain power to think about.

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Yesterday as I was wheeling out an elderly patient, her husband asks me, "You want me to bring my car around, boy?"

...boy?

I told him yes, do bring your car to the front of the building, but I kept thinking about that. "Boy."Call me single-minded and how I jump to conclusions, but all I can associate with that use of "boy" is slavery in America and/or racial segregation and discrimination. Now, I'm certain this elderly gentleman had no ill-intentions towards me by saying that. It very well could've been the way he was brought up, and the people he's friends with, and how they all converse that way. Still, I couldn't help but pause and think, considering how I am a minority myself. It's just, why "boy?" It almost makes me feel inferior, in some aspect. Almost condescending. Why not "young man?" Or just drop the title/name to being with? Who knows. Like I said, I'm sure it's not like the man just hates minorities. Right?

Fortunately today, I was wheeling out a different patient and her husband addressed me as young man. Much better, k'thanks.

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There are two main restrooms in the building: one on the first floor, one on the second floor. Since most patient traffic happens on the first floor, I usually go upstairs if I need to do some business since it's quieter and less busy. However, both restrooms have two stalls, and BOTH of these sets of stalls has at least one stall-lock that is broken/missing. Pretty inconvenient.

After lunch today, went to the second floor men's restrooms, reached my hand to pull open the stall -- and it was locked. Mind you, there was no one in that stall, or even in the restroom. This stall, the only stall in this restroom with a functioning lock, was somehow locked from the inside-out (or is it outside-in?).

How the dump could this happen? I kept having recurring images of a child, wanting to pull a devious prank, slid the lock while he was in the stall, then shimmied out underneath the stall walls, and exited the restroom, cackling like a little imp he would be.

...ok, maybe I only had that image because that's what I would've done.

Or perhaps someone closed the stall door behind him and the impact of the door closing jostled the lock shut. I could've stood there and brainstormed theories on how and why this could've happened, but truth of the matter was, I needed to poo. And I was not about to get down on my belly and slide under the stall walls. Public restroom floors give me the heebie jeebies (ESPECIALLY pool restrooms. Another rant for another time.) But evidently, I guess I didn't need to poo extremely badly, because while I could've easily just snaked my way on the floor and under the walls, or even more easily gone back downstairs to use the other restroom, I decided I would try to open this door, someway, somehow.

I thought about how you can unlock a sliding chain-lock door form the outside by using a rubberband and some wire (I think. Or is a card? Youtube that shit yourself, whatevs.) So I went back to the employee break room, got my keys which has a small pocketknife on it, a rubber band, and a wire coat hanger. I was determined to unlock that stall.

Went back to the restroom, tried to finagle the rubberband around the knob of the sliding lock and fling it back open. Failure.

Bent the wire coat hanger so I had a wide loop/hook on one end and fished it through the cracks and tried pushing the lock open.

Success! I was pretty freakin' proud of myself. I had just Macgyver'd the shit out of that lock by using a coat hanger.


TL;DR -- Locked out of a bathroom stall, used a wire coat hanger to unlock it from the outside. Success.

...coincidentally enough, this actually DID have to do with shit that happens at work. Sorta.