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Recently I read an article titled “Things I don’t ever want to encounter again”. It was written by a theatre critic; it was about theatre matters which he was tired of experiencing, such as nonessential nudity in plays.
It made me wonder what would go on my list of things I don’t ever want to encounter again….
1) The woman who stalked me.
Where I worked in the later 90s, a wacko woman started doing all sorts of crap at work. How she was nailed was her ongoing letters and notes to me slipped under the door of my office. Turning them in got her fired but she stalked and terrorized me for years. She tried to get my license evoked on the grounds I had sexually harassed her at work (another demonstration of her judgment).
2) Taking the Boards.
Studying and doing medical boards to become certified in a specialty is an ordeal of intense work and anxiety. There is nothing ‘real’ about them and I doubt they reflect anybody’s competency to do a specialty. They are an initiation not unlike hazing. Mercifully, I took the boards in the last year you could do this to become ‘grandfathered’. I don’t ever have to take them again – unless someone changes the law. I think I would rather retire from medicine than retake the Boards.
3) Costa Rica
I got terribly sick there. It all resolved but I had one month of ill health. I may #3 to ‘anywhere in the tropics’ as they don’t seem to agree with me.
4) Government Jobs.
Being good or creative in a government job gets you into trouble. Frozen by bureaucracy and unions it is nearly impossible to change or improve things –and the majority of government workers I worked with were either awful or downright nasty. And they seemed to rule the roost. Goodness knows how anything gets done.
5) Snowstorms in Illinois.
Two of the worst driving ordeals of my life occurred in snowstorms in Illinois. One took six hours to drive from the south side of Chicago to the north side, one Valentine’s Day in the early 90s. The other was driving home from southern Illinois around New Year’s Day. In hindsight I was a fool for trying; I listened to a recording of “Die Meistersinger” 3x before I had enough of it.
6) Birthing babies.
Delivering babies was a grueling experience. It does bring out some interesting beliefs and demands in mothers and families.
If you put a knife under the bed it cuts the pain.
So, tell me something or someone you hope never to encounter again.
