Residents are total scavengers.
Example #1:
One day during my intern year, I was craving caramel popcorn. The cafeteria was only selling massive bags of popcorn, so after I ate a couple of handfuls, I had most of the bag still left. I decided to leave the open bag on the table in the resident's lounge.
I kind of meant for people to take what they wanted, but I figured nobody was going to eat from a random open bag of popcorn. Boy was I wrong. By noon, when I came back to the lounge, most of the popcorn had been eaten. Then when I came back again at three, not only was all the popcorn eaten but even the bag was gone (presumably devoured).
Example #2:
When I was on call in the ICU, someone brought some giant cookies into the ICU physician break room in the morning. I got hungry at some point later in the day, so I broke off a piece of the one remaining giant cookie and ate it. The next time I came into the classroom, a little bit more of the cookie was missing (someone else must have eaten some). I ate a little more too. Each time I came into the classroom, a little more of the cookie would be missing and I'd eat a little more.
So I was sharing that cookie with someone. I just don't know who. And this didn't bother me in the slightest.
I've seen residents eat "left food" that barely counted as food. Residents are to borderline food as geese are to moldy bread.
ReplyDeleteOn the note of cookie sharing, does anyone ever take a whole donut when someone brings them to the ED or nursing station on the floors? Taking half seems to be the norm at my hospital.
At my office it seems normal to break off bits and leave the rest, and someone else will eat it.
ReplyDeleteIt believe that it was well documented in JAMA that if you only eat part of it, it doesn't count towards your caloric intake.
ReplyDeleteAt one family docs office, we had the opposite problem. It was right around Christmas time, so patients were bringing in goodies by the armful, so much so that the staff were afraid of getting fat from all the snacking they were doing. I was literally sent away with enough cookies, chocolates and Pandoro cake to feed me for a week.
ReplyDeleteNurse are scavengers BIG TIME as well. Whenever I wanted to see food disappear I'd just leave it near the med room or in the break room. Even though you'd never actually SEE it being eaten, it would always be gone. Every. Last. Crumb.
ReplyDeleteI had to buy a big boxful of bite-sized cookies for my cousin's fundraiser...they were good, but 10 bags about the size of a pouch of coffee ground was way too many to eat...I poured 8 of them into large ziploc bags and left it in the break room at work (we're surgery center). Problem solved :P the staff devoured it in a matter of days.
ReplyDeleteSounds like being a waitress...anytime the kitchen would mess up an order, they'd put the plate to the side and announce that it was going to be trashed, so the food was up for grabs. You would think that none of us had eaten in weeks - like a flock of starving vultures, we'd swoop down on that stuff and practically lick the plate clean. I think the kitchen did it on purpose just to get a laugh out of it.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds of a time working on a medical wing at the hospital. There was one very old donut, you could tell by the way the gummy bear on top was shriveled, left on the pantry counter. So ancient even nurses and techs hadn't touched it in a day. I was surprised to see a very experienced, and very old, internist scoop that donut up. He asked if I thought it was any good and I said NO. Of course he ate it in 2 bites. I always knew nurses and interns were scavengers, but I guess some habits are hard to break.
ReplyDeleteI'm much more nervous about taking bits of random food left on the ward these days, mainly because of our high MRSA infection rate. I always think that when I'm eating food someone else touched, I'm probably eating MRSA. Then again, I'm surely colonized anyway.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure by now your body evolved some super-white-blood cell that can devour a colony of MRSA and convert it to energy...
ReplyDeleteHey, sorta on-topic, and sorta off-. I've been meaning to express thanks to our local ER (for services well rendered) by sending a few pizzas their way. At what time of the day would the staff most likely have the opportunity to eat it?
ReplyDelete::laughs:: This sounds like my university engineering lab. No food will go uneaten!
ReplyDeleteI love your blog! This post (and many others) actually make me laugh out loud.
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