The office: Chatter about your job

All the time. You get numb after a while.

I see. How did it feel the first time, if you don't mind me asking?

I don't remember clearly any more. Probably some shock and futility. (I'm a cold-hearted bastard.)

I see. The idea of seeing someone die sounds terrifying to me. So far I did not experience any death of people who are close to me. It got to happen soon or not. It's not the feeling that I am anticipating. Nevertheless, it is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man. The living should take this to heart.

Can I be nosy? What's your specialty?

Are you talking to me?

No, to Pyrite.

Phew, saved myself humiliation.

Got a new task. 7 pages. Some kind of grade report. Korean to English. Due tomorrow. 20,000 won (around 20 $) per page. Better hurry.

edited 26th Jul '12 2:05:11 AM by dRoy

Good luck. But, I'd rather tussle with modes than watch patients, me.

Maddy: Well, I'm still very early on in terms of specialisation, but I hope to go into Infectious Diseases in the future. For now, though, I'm just doing General Medicine, and I'll have to rotate through most of the medical subspecialties as part of training.

edited 26th Jul '12 8:23:08 AM by Pyrite

Hmmm: my mum avoided that... She got her MBBS (British) and dodged into Psychiatry. Still came in handy, though... the number of times in South Africa people only heard the word "doctor" when she went out to remote parts, so she ended up patching, stitching and pricking instead of actually shrinking was amusing.

Don't underplay the General. It's handy stuff and useful when you least expect it to be. Like, when you're supposed to be handing out tricyclics like candy and not polio vaccine like sugar.

Sorry, I don't get what you mean.

2 pages left. Damn it, so many walls of text it is driving me insane.

Modes of speech aka grammatical moods, but can also be extended to other linguistic quirks: in Korean, that would mean the various layers of politeness and other cultural architecture.

I should ask my brother about that; he's a professor in Korean linguistics, and has specialized in the study of politeness and social status in Korean.

@Euodiachloris, Oh, I see. Well, this is a formal, academic paper so I don't need to worry too much about that one. In fact, I never had to deal with it so far.

So far most has been scientific and God, I hate how so many of them had really hard words. Sometimes they wouldn't even show up in dictionaries! I hate it when that happens.

@Morven - Do you know why he studies Korean? I am rather curious; I can't imagine why anyone would study it.

Hah, finally finished it! It only took me......14 hours! My client is very impressed.

Now he asked me to do three more pages.

Grrggghhh.

There, there... <pats back>

Just think of the extra money on the bill. Just do that, and things calm down.

Eu: I know. I have nothing against GM, since it's probably the foundation of nearly any non-surgical subspec. I'm just going through a major period of insecurity because my brains are more rust than grey matter right now, and I'm still sorting out all my administrative issues at the same time.

Saturday update: Oh God have mercy, I suck at my job. *nervous breakdown*

edited 28th Jul '12 2:26:25 AM by Pyrite

Just one more paragraph to go...I don't know why, but I really hate my client.

I flipped out at my boss (well, actually the guy who swapped shifts with my boss so my boss could go on holiday with his kids) yesterday due to his reaction to a call from some kayakers whose friend suffered from motor neuron disease and had fallen ill, rendering him unable to continue paddling.

They'd gone ashore on a remote stretch of the banks of Loch Ness, miles from the nearest road and the weather was too bad and their friend too ill to get back on the water.

I told him what we'd got and was about to contact the local lifeboat when he says 'Fucking leave them, we're not the bloody Salvation Army'.

Cue the flipping of the lid. It may not be the most important or glamorous job in the service, nor the most exciting I've ever had, and I do tend to have a slight 'in-county' attitude to it which can rub people up the wrong way, but I still take the SAR aspect of my job very seriously and it pisses me off when people like him try to avoid helping people, seeing as that is why we're here.

edited 28th Jul '12 11:48:43 AM by InverurieJones

<rushes in a hug> It's the rust! The rust! Give yourself a few weeks!

There is only ever one good client, according to a programmer friend of mine: the one whose bill you've just finalised. Mind you, he often lives in a dark little sarcastic world of his own, so... take that with as much salt as suits your taste.

Dear Lord: remind me not to go grey (um... my terminology for when the fibromyalgia, brain fog and the other CFS bits set in: my colour literally changes like I'm in shock) anywhere near him, then. Heck: he should have a heart. It's not like when whatever your condition is bites is ever a good thing.

edited 28th Jul '12 1:38:48 PM by Euodiachloris

Wow, I hope your boss isn't always like that.

Heh.

I've got my proper boss back today. He's more my kind of guy.

Oh, I see. That's good to hear. Say, what exactly is your occupation, if you don't mind me telling?

I'm a Coastguard.

Are there physical requirements to enlist in the coast guard?