Tuesday, 13 May 2003

So I'm at the doctor's office getting poked and prodded and examined, as part of my application for an Australian Permanent Resident visa (my three-year work visa is expiring), and this battleaxe of a nurse is preparing to jab a needle into my arm. As she's doing her thing with the cotton-ball and messing with my arm to make the veins pop out, she says, in a scornful tone, "You don't exercise at all, do you?"

Now, I'll be the first to admit that a little more exercise wouldn't kill me. I've adopted quite the sedentary lifestyle as of late, where both work and play involve me sitting behind a desk at a keyboard; I hop on the treadmill every so often and climb the occasional Ayers Rock, but not as often as I should. If the nurse had smiled and gently suggested that I get a little more exercise, I'd have nodded and said it was good advice. Besides, if I exercised more the veins in my arm would stick out more prominently, making them easier to find and jab with needles— and wouldn't that be a good thing for nurses everywhere?

Instead, I thought to myself that the nurse was a rude, bitter, self-righteous person whose only job satisfaction came from talking down to patients. I smiled politely and said nothing, this being the most civil reply I could muster.

"It's your heart attack," she harrumphed, and went about the business of drawing blood from my arm. She was professional in that brisk, harsh way that minimizes human contact. As she drew blood, she lectured, "You don't have to be fanatical about exercise, but once a week makes a difference."

To myself, I thought You are never going to be anything more than what you are today. I could come back to this office ten years from now, and you'd still be stuck in the same empty, meaningless rut that your life is; you don't know how to deal with people, and without that skill you'll never go anywhere. To her I made some noncommittal noises, acknowledging that she'd spoken but not agreeing to anything.

"I'm not saying this for my sake, I'm saying it for yours," she concluded. In the interests of keeping this a family forum, I'll omit part of what I thought in response… but the gist of it was You arrogant fool! Do you even realize the resentment and resistance that your petty scoldings cause? How many people leave this office each day thinking "well, maybe I should take better care of myself—but if that so-and-so thinks she can tell me off and boss me around like that, she's sadly mistaken!" Saying it for my sake, indeed. Your ego needs to find a source of validation besides lecturing other people about their shortcomings. I can only imagine how your co-workers and family must suffer.

Oddly enough my blood pressure was a bit higher than usual when the doctor got around to checking it a few minutes later. Maybe I should get more exercise.

- Posted by Scott Forbes at 7:00 am. comments.