Into the physicians lounge

So this week I found myself at a large hospital for an event. My event ended near lunch time, as I started to ponder my lunch options I reminded myself I was inside the mecca of free food options. I could always do what the nursing staff does and roll up to a patient floor and pillage off a patients meal cart? Nah, usually not very good food. Plan B, figure out where a pot luck or vendor lunch is taking place? Nah, still too much work in a big hospital and results are usually mixed. I decided to go for the gold...the physicians lounge! I'm dressed in a suit so this should work, I'll fit in. In here I'm certain to land free food. Only one problem in these huge places; where exactly IS the lounge at. Not exactly something that is well labeled for obvious reasons.

I began my detective work...step 1, find the name of a prominent physician at the hospital; 30 seconds on google and we're good! I am now equipped with the name of the chief of surgery. Off to the information desk I go.

"Excuse me, I'm here to meet with the Chief of Surgery and they've advised me to meet them in the physicians lounge. I don't work at this hospital and naturally there is no signage to get me to the doctors lounge. Would somebody kindly escort me?"

Naturally this wasn't a normal request, furthermore it was way above the pay grade of the poor lady working the desk. She quickly escalates to a higher power. Shortly after her call another man greets me at the desk and asks me to re-state my request. I explain again. Of course his first course of action is he wants to call the chief of surgery to confirm. Any guesses on how likely the chief of surgery is to answer a call from a person they don't know? Yeah...exactly. Of course I was also pretty sure he called the docs office phone...even less likely. By now I'm getting hungry and needing to rush this along.

I tell the gentlemen, "Look, I've waited 3 months for this appointment and if I miss it this will be bad. Now can somebody kindly direct me to the doctors lounge?" After much hesitation I'm walked to the lounge. He stands outside the door with me like something will magically happen. Ugh...ok, I've got more work to do. I tell the guy, "I'm pretty sure you're going to need to buzz me in, I was told I'd only have 20 minutes with the chief of surgery over lunch." Again after much hesitation he lets me in, I was hopeful he'd let me in and simply leave, no dice. Now I have to shake this guy. I finally tell him, "Look, I don't see the chief in here. You know how it is with a person of that importance. I'll just wait in here and hopefully they are not far behind." He waits a few minutes and finally tells me he's going to leave. FINALLY!

So now I make my way over to the food. A lovely spread!

As I sat down to enjoy my spoils of my efforts I look up to see another doc in scrubs and a white coat headed my way. He's got a plate full of food and a phone stuck in his ear. While still gabbing on the phone about elevated enzyme levels he gestures as if it's ok for him to sit at my table. Well, sure why not! After 5 minutes pass he's still on the phone discussing highly important doctor stuff. He finally hangs up and commences to filling his pie hole. He never looks up from his plate and says, "Man, I was on call this weekend and it was brutal!" Ohh...he wants to talk shop, sure let's play along. I said "I feel ya man, when I'm on call I just don't make any plans. And you can just forget trying to get a round of golf in. Sure as hell you get to the back 9 and some inconsiderate dude decides to need an appendix removed!" He laughed and then went off on some dissertation about how the partners in his group are old and lazy and if it wasn't for him they'd be in bad shape. I continue to play into his ego, by my math this dude is about my age which would put him as the young guy in his surgical group. I keep at it asking him more questions about his favorite topic; himself!

This goes on for over 30 minutes. He's gladly answering one question right after another about himself and his work. Meanwhile I'm eyeing my dessert options, while in the back of my mind thinking surely at some point this self-centered jack-wagon is going to start asking me about my speciality and my group. Nope, not a word! So finally I circle him back and start asking him more about his golf game. I hear it all, his clubs, what balls he uses, you name it. To this point he still has not even asked me what my name is. All of this is in between phone calls that he pauses to take. Finally as I'm enjoying some lovely pie he gets yet another call, he gets up from table, clearly his presence his needed elsewhere. As he goes to walk away he pulls the phone down and looks at me and says, "Hey man, call me! Let's find a time to golf!" Ok, dude, great plan. You never even asked what my name was, nor did you ever tell me yours. Perhaps I should swing by for lunch again tomorrow and get his contact info?

Back to school

Just got the following call,

"Professor Lingerfelt this is Max with Wiley education solutions. I'm just taking some time to reach out to some of our preferred professors and see what we can do to help get your semester off to a great start."

I insert a long awkward silence....and respond with, "Umm yeah, can you repeat that? I wasn't really listening."

So I get the same line again, with a bit less enthusiasm. I respond again, "Yeah...so you broke up. Who did you say this was?"

"Oh I'm sorry professor, this is Max with Wiley education solutions."

I ask, "Max, do I owe you money?"

He says, "Oh no professor, not at all. I was just calling to see how I might help your semester get off to a good start?"

I said, "Well in that case Max I am thrilled that you called."

Now his enthusiasm has quickly returned and he responds with, "That's great sir...I'm here to help make your life easier."

I say, "I am just thrilled to hear that Max, now listen closely, here is what I need you to do. First go-online and get the list of school supplies my daughter needs to start school and get yourself to the nearest Target or Wal-mart and fulfill that list for me. Then once you've done that go ahead and drop them by the grade school. Also Max...and this one would be a HUGE help, you see I'm ass deep in work here trying to get the term started. Would you mind running by Capital Grill and picking me up some lunch. I'm thinking a nice steak salad would just hit the spot...."

By now it got the best of Max and he simply had to interject, "Professor I do believe there has been a misunderstanding. That is not exactly what we do here at Wiley Education Solutions."

I said, "Oh, I'm sorry I thought you said you were here to help?"

"Well, yes sir we are, but we don't do things like that!"

I decided to insert a little humor from office space and hit him with, "Well, Max....what would ya say you DO here?"

He tells me, "Sir we offer comprehensive educational solutions to help educators like yourself."

I said, "Oh.....so you're a text book publisher huh Max?"

He tells me, "Well, that's just one thing we do sir, we do so much more!"

I tell him, "Boy you sure do. It must be tough work coming out with new editions of textbooks every 9 months forcing students to always buy the newest book while making your people richer. "

He says, "Well professor rest assured we publish new editions only when necessary to help ensure professors such as yourself always have the most up-to-date info on the subject. It would be a disservice to students to teach them old content wouldn't you agree?"

Oh boy...he just played right into my trap. "I'm glad you mentioned that Max. You do realize we haven't experienced a major mathematical break through in my lifetime? Yet the calculus book I used in college is as much in demand right now as an outhouse. And how about those history books, did your people just leave out key elements of WWII and decided to pick them up on the next edition? And all of this in the name of screwing the student? So tell me Max, who's getting rich here? I've had colleagues write textbooks, they don't make much. Do you make a lot of money? Please tell me you have a nice yacht?"

A long silence ensues.

"Professor, I don't really think all of this is relevant. I just wanted to discuss your needs...."

I tell him, " I believe I very clearly articulated my current needs, so if you're not already on the way to Target, I'm guessing I'll also need to find my own lunch too huh?"

He hung up on me....

Cooking with Rhonda

Cooking with Rhonda

Well, it had been a while. Rolling down the highway this morning and a blue Honda Civic goes past me with a huge window sticker that says, “Ask Me How A Pampered Chef Party Can Earn you $$$- Call Rhonda @ (913)-###-####”

Ok Rhonda, I’ll do just that. As I dial the phone I speed up a little to get right behind Rhonda. The phone rings and I hear, “Hi, this is Rhonda with Pampered Chef!”

Me: “Hi there Rhonda, first off I just have to say I love that song the Beach Boys wrote about you…a classic.”

[Awkward pause]

Rhonda: Hello, how can I help you?

Me: Rhonda, I’m sure you can. How the heck are you on this fine Monday morning?

Rhonda: I’m good, how are you?
Me: Ya know, I’m gonna be ok. A bit down about a less than stellar love making session last night, but ya know what Rhonda they can’t all be winners now can they?

Rhonda: Ummm….I guess not. Sir? Is there something I can help you with?

Me: Oh yes Rhonda, I do apologize. You really didn’t call for me to talk about my substandard sex life now did you?

Rhonda: Ummm…you called me!

Me: Well, I be damned Rhonda I sure did!

Rhonda: I’m sorry, I’m still not sure how I can help you?

Me: Sorry Rhonda, bad habit of mine, I wander off topic all the time. So, you’re the Pampered Chef lady huh?

Rhonda: Yes, I am. Are you interested in Pampered Chef?

Me: I sure am, ya know every other person I’ve tried simply refuses to book a party for me.

Rhonda: I am sorry to hear that sir…I apologize I never got your name?

Me: Oh, silly me. I’m Rich…for short, Riche for medium and Richard for long. But whatever you do please don’t shorten it Dick…I hate that. Who wants to be called Dick for short??

Rhonda: I’ll call you whatever you prefer sir, so is Rich ok?

Me: Sure…that’ll do nicely.

Rhonda: So you said you were interested in having a party?

Me: I sure am, I’ve called 4 other reps and they won’t do a party for me.

Rhonda: Well, I’d be happy to get one set up. When were you thinking you’d like to do one?

Me: As soon as possible, do you have any openings next week? In the evening?

Rhonda: Yes, I could do next Wednesday, what time works for you Rich?

Me: How about 7pm, how long do these things usually last?

Rhonda: It really depends on how many kitchen items you want to see, and how many questions your group has. How many are you expecting?

Me: I’d say 10-15 people for the first one.

Rhonda: The first one? Are you interested in hosting more than one party?

Me: Well our group meets monthly and I can see wanting to do this at least 4-5 times.

Rhonda: Oh wow…sure, we can certainly do that.

[By now I’ve pulled up beside Rhonda on the highway and she is visibly bursting with excitement. I’m sure she can’t wait to go home and tell her husband that her pyramid, sell cooking crap scheme actually could make money so she could justify not having a job.]

Me: Rhonda, I tell ya that is just great news. I’m really looking forward to this. I’m so glad I called you.

Rhonda: I am too! I’m driving right now, but if you can tell me what you’d like to call your party I’ll get it booked and maybe I can call you back in a couple hours and get some of the more specifics. Do you think you’d also have people that would be interested in participating in an online party as well?

Me: Oh I’m sure of it

Rhonda: Ok, great, we’ve got a great press kit we can get you that provides you with templates on how you can push this out via your social channels like Facebook. It includes all sorts of fun games and contests you can play to keep people active.

Me: Rhonda I’m going to stop you right there. I’ll be down right honest with you here, I detest people that use their social channels to exploit a means to sell crap. I’ll let my friends buy online who can’t make the party but we’re not touching my social media.

Rhonda: Ok, that’s not a problem, if you don’t want to, we don’t have to, but parties always do better if you push out info to all of your friends online.

Me: Sorry, that’s a hard no for me. If you keep pushing this I’ll find somebody else.

Rhonda: I’m sorry Rich…I just wanted to be sure you had all of the options. I won’t mention it again.

Me: Thank you. What more do you need from me to get this started Rhonda?

Rhonda: Just tell me the name of your party and I’ll call you later to get the rest of the details.

Me: That sounds excellent, our group is called, “Naked Men Cooking.”

Rhonda: I’m sorry, you might have broken up, did you say Naked Men Cooking?

Me: Yes, that is correct

Rhonda: Ummmm…could you expand a little bit more?

Me: Well Rhonda, you seem like a smart lady here, this is pretty self-explanatory don’t you think?

Rhonda: So you’re telling me this is group of men that cook naked?

[At this point I’ve sped back up and I’m riding next to Rhonda her expression is priceless. I’ve already passed my exit, but I couldn’t miss this.]

Me: Yes, to many it sounds odd, but have you ever tried it?

Rhonda: Ummm, no I’m sorry I can’t say that I ever have.

Me: Well, you are missing it, it’s so liberating. I’d imagine even more so for women, not having to cook in a restrictive bra…

Rhonda: Rich…will all of the men be naked during the party?

Me: Well of course….

Rhonda: I’m sorry I’m just not sure I’m uncomfortable with this..

Me: Rhonda, don’t make this weird, it’s really not. Surely, you’ve seen a naked man before, haven’t you?

Rhonda: I just don’t really think that’s the point. I just don’t think its appropriate for me to be in a room full of naked men!

Me: We are just a bunch of open-minded men who happen to enjoy cooking naked, this isn’t anything freaky like a gang-bang.

[I’m hardly able to keep it together now, her facial expressions are saying it all.]

Rhonda: I….I….just don’t think…

[At this point I can’t hold back my laughs and she heard me laughing.]

Me: Rhonda, please turn and look out the left window of your blue Honda.

I smile and waive…it took her a second to piece it together. She promptly flipped me off and called me an asshole and hung up on me. Well…how rude!