I was standing in the line at the cafeteria today when I experienced something unexpected. One of the senior orthopedic surgery residents was in the cashier line ahead of me, and he was eating his sandwich as he waited. I commented that if he finished the sandwich before he got to the front of the line, perhaps he wouldn't have to pay. He laughed, and then remarked that he usually finished his sandwich before he got to the front.
Given the length of the line some days, and the slowness of the cashiers other days, this didn't entirely surprise me. What caught me off guard was that I felt just a twinge of pity for him--that he has to eat his lunch as he waits to pay for it. Okay, so I am far enough out from my regional anesthesia rotation that I no longer resent any and all things orthopedic, and this was was one of the nicer orthopedic residents I'd worked with, but it reminded me not to take my 30-minute lunch break for granted.
To you surgeon residents out there--including my friends in Cleveland--I know you have a busy life. Of course no one made you choose surgery, but it's still a tough residency, and it's a hugely important part of the world of medicine. Hang in there.
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I eat in line all the time mostly as a passive-aggressive way of telling the cashier and everyone in front of me to hurry up. You know, the lady who has to pay for her $1.87 cup of coffee with all the spare change she scraped out of her couch this morning...or the guy who's buying 8 lunches but got in line holding only 7 of them and is currently waiting for #8 to arrive via personal delivery from his 7 year old kid who promptly drops it on the floor after the cafeteria worker hands it to him.
Plus I usually don't have a lot of time to eat anyway.
-dl
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