It was inevitable the two of them would clash, Don took orders from no one, The Suit wanted to give orders to everyone. At some point The Suit figured out that he didn't have what it took to bend Don to his will, and to take another tack. A prank, a practical joke. He should have known better, but he went to the fish market and got a trout.
He went into Don's office one evening, got on a chair, took down one of the ceiling panels and placed the fish up there, replacing the panel.
I only put together all the facets of this after it happened, when over a beer in his office Don told me the story.
A couple days after the fish was placed, Don's office started to smell, worse by the hour. Don, being a fisherman, recognised the smell, and sniffed out it's location.
The list of suspects was small, and the CEO's secretary didn't like him, and spilled the beans to Don.
I mentioned Don was the ME for the city? He bided his time, waited until he had a body to autopsy that had been dead for some time, and got a bunch of these from it:
He went into the CEO's office one evening, and put them behind the file cabinets, then sat back and waited.
A couple of days later, the CEO noticed a couple of these, buzzing around. Large, loud and aggressive, hungry..
By afternoon there were several of them, he was busy swatting, wondering where they came from. The next morning when he came in, his office was aswarm with them, buzzing, butting into things. He now suspected Don, but somehow thought Don had caught flies, and somehow herded them into his office. He never found the larval husks. His office had to be sprayed with insecticide, and left empty for a day, then ventilated.
Don tipped his beer to me and shook his head...."What was he thinking, getting into a pissing contest with a Pathologist?"
Funny story. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteYes..... You have an easy way of writing that has you wanting to read more
DeleteThanks Steve, have some haxe and a pils for me.
DeleteJohn, yes Steve does, and his writing is pro quality. If you were talking about me, thanks! I do recommend Steve's stories, though.
DeleteBeautiful. Beats my story about a resident I knew waving a cadaver arm around the corner. Good grief, that was a long time ago. Do you know a thoracic surgeon who told that story?
ReplyDeleteI don't, but I can picture it. It sounds like a intern/1st year resident kind of thing though.
DeleteGood lessons there. I think I'm safe there cause I don't know any pathologists. Wait a minute my tennis buddy is the town undertaker....:)
ReplyDeleteLet him win, TB.
DeleteYou medicos have a weird sense of humor! : ^ )
ReplyDeleteIndeed. And this is the mild stuff.
DeleteWhat was the suit thinking? Clearly, he wasn't.
ReplyDeleteHe was an odd duck, oblivious to the fact he was dumber than most people he worked with.
DeleteExcellent story and what a foolish 'suit'. Of course, that seems typical of their kind.
ReplyDeleteYou've reminded me of the story told by one of the surgeons about a morbidly obese woman who was often admitted to the hospital where he did his residency. 'Mary' was in the habit of secreting stashes of food, particularly sweets, around her person as a hedge against sudden attacks of hunger. By person I mean she hid things in the folds of her flesh. The first thing the team had to do after they'd made sure she was medically stable was to use a hoist to place her into a deep bathtub. 'Mary' was unable to wash herself and always smelled pretty bad. The staff who knew her always made sure the newbies were close by the tub when the maggots came wriggling to the surface.
Bleh.....all the more reason not to be an intensivest.
DeleteReminds me though, I knew a plastic surgeon years ago, he was morbidly obese, but could still practice. He was around 400 pounds. He lost 200 pounds in just over a year....he went on a 400 cal. diet, and kept with it. No lasting health problems that I remember, but he had such a case of ketoacidosis that his breath smelled like a diabetic with a very high blood sugar, fruity.
HA!
ReplyDeleteEven I know better than to taunt a pathologist -- and to ALWAYS be kind/nice to the secretaries. :-)
Pearl
Oh yeah, always be nice to admin people...they make things happen that you just mention in passing, "Oh, Kim, would you call and tell them...."
DeleteAs to taunting a path guy, lord, that's just silly.
Brilliant. I love it. Revenge best when eaten cold. Nasty old Suit. They must inbreed I've known a few in my time!
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
I've known a couple good ones, in the past. It's the issue with bottom line now, they are so pressured to keep us above that magic line, profit and expenses. The non profit as well as the for profit. If we don't move to a system where we get cared on need, rather than ability to pay, we're screwed. This from someone who's seen the system's evolution from the beginning of our state to now. Modern medicine has so changed in the last 40 years, that most of us have no idea what we can do, or should.
Delete