Rita 7

Got to make this a quick post as my money has been invited to a poker game in the cafeteria.

We have had a tiny amount of rain today, and the wind is blowing a little bit, but we haven't seen anything worthy of the time and energy we've put into preparing for this gal.

I have earned a reputation today as a mean, mattress-stealing rat for leading a mattress-squad around the hospital taking extra hospital mattresses (about 20 in all) that had been pigeon-holed all over the place by visitors. Took four from a very hateful family who had taken over an entire waiting room, earning me at least one f-bomb and considerable grumbling. The two guys on my mattress squad are my same size though, so they didn't grumble too much!

Took four from an employee's family and hurt their feelings so bad that the employee (maintenance man) and his family left 15 minutes after my visit. I was painfully polite and apologetic, all the while wanting to suggest that maybe their 3 teenaged children didn't need the mattresses as much as the 50+ year old ICU nurses that are asleep on them even as I blog.

I was in charge of employee bed control, making sure that all the mattresses we have were used by employees in patient care areas and not surly teenagers. That made me a very popular man for about 1 hour ("hey, I understand you can give me a bed") and a sorry son-of-a-gun for the next 2 hours ("what do you mean there are no beds left"). I think only 5 or 6 of about 50 clinical employees sleeping here tonight do not have a bed, and they are the younger rehab staff and a couple of strapping young respiratory therapists. Oh, and the diva blonde nurse who "needs a king size bed and a ceiling fan to sleep", who refused my offers of a cot, a stretcher, a sleeping bag and a fully-reclining neuro-wheelchair. I refrained from offering her a minute or two alone somewhere to get over herself, demonstrating that I'm not quite out of patience yet. (By the way, how often do you see a list of things to sleep on and "a stretcher" looks like the best option? Only during a hurricane, I guess.)

Wish there was something more colorful to share about the weather, but all I have is these goofy vignettes of human behavior under stress. My next blog will surely be more weather related. Surely...