Day 40: Beavis and Doctor Butthead

I had forgotten how much I laugh when I am with Walt and Terry. It's not just jokes, either. Some of the real-life stories are even funnier. Take this one, for example.

Terry had been having regular run-ins with a doctor who seemed to have taken a dislike to her for reasons she couldn't fathom. He was getting aggravated at the slightest thing, and the calmer she became the more agitated he became until at one point he told her, "Nobody here likes you." And for who-knows-how-many-times, he reported her to her superiors. Terry doesn't know how many times, by the way, because the superiors never took the complaints serious enough to do anything.

I know what it sounds like but, no, this doctor isn't a 13-year-old kid doing a Doogie Howser. He is in his mid-40s and a very successful specialist. He obviously just has this fairly large attitude problem and doesn't seem to cope well with the staff. And the proof had nothing to do with Terry, but a contract employee at the hospital.

It seems a short while ago this doctor wanted to read a patient's chart, and this woman was just finishing up copying some data to it. She told him she would be finished in a matter of seconds, and wrote down the final few entries and handed it to him with a smile and a joking comment, "That will be $20."

His sense of humor didn't quite mesh with hers, and her little comment annoyed him. How do we know? Well, his response was, "I'll give you 20" and proceeded to start to head butt the poor woman. Apparently he got eight knocks in before she was able to get away from him.

End result? He is now on medical leave, and hospital officials now refer to the woman as "a lawsuit in a dress". In hindsight, Terry is relieved that all he did was report her for not being popular. And, oh yes, for the last day and a half, LK and I have been saying "I'll give you 20" and headbutting one another.

I am guessing he won't be back at the hospital any time in the 21st Century, but I suggested to Terry that if he ever resurfaces she should just have a bicycle helmet handy on her desk when he comes on. After all, he's still got 12 of the original 20 to give.