People who know me for a short time do not believe that I was quiet and shy in grade school. Even back in the "quiet days", I enjoyed people. I could spend hours in observation of people. Who, Why and How they interacted and related to one another.
Breaking out of my "shell" allowed me to learn more about the people I was observing. I could start a conversation with anyone and usually did. A credit to my success for the gift of gab was the ability to have strangers tell me their life story while waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store. It annoyed many of my fellow companions, but I truly enjoyed seeing how long it would take until they started to "spill the beans" on their life. I always leave the conversation wondering when our paths will cross again.
Recently, while out, one of the girls asked me to give a guy her number. I was on my way to the bathroom and said, "Blondie wants you to call her". I couldn't wait as he said, "I think I know you. Did you attend HACC"? I had to use the ladies room and promised that I would return...I kept my promise and learned that we had indeed attended HACC the same time. We had both been in the Criminal Justice Program and remembered Pat Hopkins. He provided me the opportunity to see London, England and study their justice system. That was more than a professor; he became a friend as he encouraged me into a new program at the college...Paralegal studies...Ok, let me get back on track. I asked what he was doing with his career. I learned that he had been diagnosed with acute leukemia and had undergone chemotherapy treatment. He asked the same of me. I smiled as I said, "I am an oncology nurse." My friend soon appeared and I left them to talk.
That evening reminded me of a popular Disney attraction and the song has been resonating in my head...
I enjoy people and find it easy to talk about most anything. My favorite bar tender, was questioning one evening about where I had been, what I had been up to and who I was seeing. This bartender is young and began to discuss people that had accompanied me to the bar...sitting next to me was a handsome looking man. We joked and I laughed as I said, "I am meeting someone tonight." As she continued to recount my dating experience (trajedy and comedy) over the last month, I jokingly put my hands over the ears of the gentleman sitting next to me. I said, "You need to stop; this could be my next date!" We all laughed and from that moment on that handsome gentleman would make some smart comment when he saw me. We talked recently and I learned that we know many of the same people having spent some work time in the pre-hospital and fire safety field.
The housekeeper at the hospital has known me since I was 21. I would frequently see him at a popular drinking establishment and within hours find him being escorted out the door. It became a game to take bets on how long it would be until he was ejected from the bar. He was not destructive, indecent or prone to fight. He would stir up the bartender, play a few songs and get to feeling good and LOUD! Can you see the ejection from the bar happening. To this day, he always stops and talks about the good old days and how I knew him in his prime.
You never know when you’re going to talk to someone and have their life unfold before you. Yesterday, I was working with my team and went to a patient’s room to check blood. The gentleman was profoundly deaf. I had to stand next to him and talk in his ear. As we talked he told me that he had been in an accident and that the "bastard lawyer" didn't help him. He said that he had called the insurance company and threatened to "blow them up"! He was then faced with a terroristic act and had criminal charges pending. I asked if he meant it. He said, "No! I have a temper." I asked why he was so angry and he began to talk about driving truck and how people would pull out in front of you and stop. How he believed that people thought trucks could stop like cars. This was not the conversation that I believed I would have when I walked in the room. I listened all the same.
As a manager, I have had some tough conversations with staff. Learned much of what they endure before they come to work in the morning or what they arrive home to at night. I have heard about how they were raised, the fact that there spouse or significant other has been abusive, or that they just wish they could end it all. All the stories come with no expectation but to listen and relate. None of them expected any action on my part; some required intervention.
One last story...I have the opportunity to interview many people for positions within nursing. One particular day, a very tall woman walked into my office to interview for a nursing position. The name was familiar but last names in a particular area begin to be common place and association with others much further removed. One question I always ask, "Why do you want to work in Oncology?" If someone says words but I do not feel the passion or sense their true desire, it will not be a good fit. This particular nurse dropped her head a little and said, "My dad is a survivor." As we talked a few moments the picture began to come together. As we stopped and looked at each other we began to cry as she said, "Your Michelle. You’re the reason I became a nurse! You were my dad’s nurse." We cried and hugged and I am sure that my new assistant manager thought I was some crazy as it was only her second day. She too was crying and I knew that this nurse, my assistant manager and I would share a bond from that point.
Lesson Learned: Invest in People and you will be rewarded not seven times but seventy times seven. Matthew 18:22
Breaking out of my "shell" allowed me to learn more about the people I was observing. I could start a conversation with anyone and usually did. A credit to my success for the gift of gab was the ability to have strangers tell me their life story while waiting in the checkout line at the grocery store. It annoyed many of my fellow companions, but I truly enjoyed seeing how long it would take until they started to "spill the beans" on their life. I always leave the conversation wondering when our paths will cross again.
Recently, while out, one of the girls asked me to give a guy her number. I was on my way to the bathroom and said, "Blondie wants you to call her". I couldn't wait as he said, "I think I know you. Did you attend HACC"? I had to use the ladies room and promised that I would return...I kept my promise and learned that we had indeed attended HACC the same time. We had both been in the Criminal Justice Program and remembered Pat Hopkins. He provided me the opportunity to see London, England and study their justice system. That was more than a professor; he became a friend as he encouraged me into a new program at the college...Paralegal studies...Ok, let me get back on track. I asked what he was doing with his career. I learned that he had been diagnosed with acute leukemia and had undergone chemotherapy treatment. He asked the same of me. I smiled as I said, "I am an oncology nurse." My friend soon appeared and I left them to talk.
That evening reminded me of a popular Disney attraction and the song has been resonating in my head...
It’s a world of laughter, a world or tears
It’s a world of hopes; it’s a world of fear
There’s so much that we share
That its time we're aware
It’s a small world after all
I enjoy people and find it easy to talk about most anything. My favorite bar tender, was questioning one evening about where I had been, what I had been up to and who I was seeing. This bartender is young and began to discuss people that had accompanied me to the bar...sitting next to me was a handsome looking man. We joked and I laughed as I said, "I am meeting someone tonight." As she continued to recount my dating experience (trajedy and comedy) over the last month, I jokingly put my hands over the ears of the gentleman sitting next to me. I said, "You need to stop; this could be my next date!" We all laughed and from that moment on that handsome gentleman would make some smart comment when he saw me. We talked recently and I learned that we know many of the same people having spent some work time in the pre-hospital and fire safety field.
The housekeeper at the hospital has known me since I was 21. I would frequently see him at a popular drinking establishment and within hours find him being escorted out the door. It became a game to take bets on how long it would be until he was ejected from the bar. He was not destructive, indecent or prone to fight. He would stir up the bartender, play a few songs and get to feeling good and LOUD! Can you see the ejection from the bar happening. To this day, he always stops and talks about the good old days and how I knew him in his prime.
You never know when you’re going to talk to someone and have their life unfold before you. Yesterday, I was working with my team and went to a patient’s room to check blood. The gentleman was profoundly deaf. I had to stand next to him and talk in his ear. As we talked he told me that he had been in an accident and that the "bastard lawyer" didn't help him. He said that he had called the insurance company and threatened to "blow them up"! He was then faced with a terroristic act and had criminal charges pending. I asked if he meant it. He said, "No! I have a temper." I asked why he was so angry and he began to talk about driving truck and how people would pull out in front of you and stop. How he believed that people thought trucks could stop like cars. This was not the conversation that I believed I would have when I walked in the room. I listened all the same.
As a manager, I have had some tough conversations with staff. Learned much of what they endure before they come to work in the morning or what they arrive home to at night. I have heard about how they were raised, the fact that there spouse or significant other has been abusive, or that they just wish they could end it all. All the stories come with no expectation but to listen and relate. None of them expected any action on my part; some required intervention.
One last story...I have the opportunity to interview many people for positions within nursing. One particular day, a very tall woman walked into my office to interview for a nursing position. The name was familiar but last names in a particular area begin to be common place and association with others much further removed. One question I always ask, "Why do you want to work in Oncology?" If someone says words but I do not feel the passion or sense their true desire, it will not be a good fit. This particular nurse dropped her head a little and said, "My dad is a survivor." As we talked a few moments the picture began to come together. As we stopped and looked at each other we began to cry as she said, "Your Michelle. You’re the reason I became a nurse! You were my dad’s nurse." We cried and hugged and I am sure that my new assistant manager thought I was some crazy as it was only her second day. She too was crying and I knew that this nurse, my assistant manager and I would share a bond from that point.
Lesson Learned: Invest in People and you will be rewarded not seven times but seventy times seven. Matthew 18:22
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