Oh Bother

Rainy days in Florida are no big deal. After running to the car the umbrella gets tossed into the back seat, you flip the wipers on, and off you go. In the city, on the other hand, things are a bit wetter. The amount of time you spend walking, exposed to the elements is much greater here. Unless you’re lucky enough to find and empty cab (and then willing to pay for it), there is no car in the picture.

My weekday commute consists of a six block walk to the seven train in LIC and, after an hour commute to Brooklyn, walking three more long blocks to the hospital from the N train. It wasn’t raining yesterday morning so, despite the forecast, I left my umbrella at home. I hate carrying that thing around, leave it everywhere, and have probably lost a hundred. Bad decision though, as it rained continuously and I finally dried off about the time I had to go out in it again. My plan was to just find someone else’s and take it but the hospital lost and found had already been raided. After sloshing my way home to my dry umbrella, it cleared up by the time I took Pup out… figures.

Sure, rain can be unpleasant, but nothing compares to what’s going on in the picture I took at work. SMOKING IN FRONT OF A HOSPITAL! It’s my new pet peeve and makes me more than a little annoyed. These ladies are seriously lounging around the ambulances while lighting a few up. Luckily no one in the physical therapy department smokes, sparing me the responsibility of daily hassling a coworker with smoking cessation pamphlets. There is (no joke) a bench with an enclosure around it (previously a bus stop) that they have converted into an outdoor smoking room about six feet from the front door. The smoke billows out of it throughout the day. I've seen a few nurses smoking (disgusting), but most of the smokers are from administration. Still, how can you take smoke breaks from your work of processing paperwork on patients dying from diagnosis directly linked to cigarettes?