I picked the wrong career

If I worked for the state, or was in law enforcement, or firefighter, I could be retired now......that really ticks me off. Of course, those things never entered my head when I was in my 20's. Retirement? That's for OLD people!

So, here I am, at an age, I don't even like to THINK out loud (starts with a 5, ends with a 1), and I'm still working 40 hours per week, getting up at 4-freaking a.m. It sucks. I have to go to bed, like, right after dinner. If I was a morning news anchor, I might have to get up a teensy bit earlier, but I would essentially be doing what I do now; acting like I care. At least, I would get to wear nice clothes.

Okay, I'm not really serious when I say I don't care. I kinda care, and it might surprise you to know, that I'm actually pretty nice to my patients. The "nice" goes away, if the patient is a butthead, however. I'm not one of those "Let the patient treat you like crap, cuz they don't feel good" kind of people. My favorite is the patient who gets irritated at ME, because I'm waking them up to do a test that THEIR DOCTOR ordered. It's not like I got up this morning, and said to myself "Hmmm, who can I torture today" (well, I DO sometimes do that, but the answer is always "my husband") PLUS! HELLO?! You're the one who came to the hospital, for, presumably, a REASON.

By the way, on the subject of patients, and hospitals. For those that are not familiar with hospitals.....the telephones in the patient's rooms are actually right next to the bed on a bedside table. Soooo, if you are calling someone who is a patient, and they don't answer within, oh, about EIGHTEEN RINGS!, then they are either not in the room, or some other VERY GOOD reason why their phone is not being answered (like, perhaps,they are undergoing a bedside ultrasound examination that requires concentration and difficult positioning, and does not allow for the patient OR THE SONOGRAPHER to answer the phone). I fantasize about snatching up the phone on ring 19, and saying "REALLY?" But I don't, because a) it would require moving, and b) I might get fired.

Well, I guess that's enough for now. Trust me, there is plenty of material generated by my job.....we WILL re-visit this.