Attention span

I do online marketing surveys for $ here and there. Most docs do.

These people obviously want to make sure you're paying attention, so have stealth questions in there to trip-up someone who's randomly clicking boxes or typing numbers. Here are some samples you guys have sent in:



Sometimes it's just a simple command:

Math questions are popular, I assume because you have to think a bit:

Another technique is what I call "left turn." They set the premise you're going to work on, then take a sudden left turn off subject to see if you're following them:

But THIS one is my favorite. A seeming innocuous question about drugs used for Parkinson's Disease:

For those of you who didn't follow the sci-fi show Firefly, Byphodine was a fictional drug that reduced metabolic function to fake death.

Memories...

One of the other residents I trained with (a long time ago, in a hospital far, far, away) was Dr. Tree. He was argumentative and irritating (in short, a pretty typical neurologist). He didn't usually speak to the rest of us, which was a good thing.

Anyway, one day a few of us (both boys and girls) were hanging around in the neurology residents office, bullshitting about random stuff while we waited for rounds to start. Dr. Tree was at his desk, reading some neuro textbook and ignoring us.

At some point we began joking about porn. I have no idea what led to that. This went on for a few minutes, when suddenly Dr. Tree slammed his book closed, came over, and yelled the following diatribe at us:

"You think it's funny! It's NOT funny! The problem with porn is that it gets so out of control! You start with a dirty magazine, then you move into books and movies. You keep needing more and more, and the tame stuff isn't good enough anymore, so you need filthier and filthier, harder-core stuff! It's like a snowball rolling downhill, and YOU CAN'T DO A FUCKING THING TO STOP IT!"

Dr. Tree abruptly stopped and turned red. The rest of us, somewhat taken aback and unsure what to say, looked at him silently.

After a pause he mumbled "Um, at least that's what I've heard."

He picked up his book and ran out of the room.

Lost and found

Have you ever wondered what kind of things people leave at the Grumpy/Pissy Medical Emporium? Neither have I.

But a recent post about Mrs. Foote losing her shoe heel inspired me to dig through the office's "lost and found" drawer. It needed to be cleaned out, anyway.

Besides an unclaimed pair of sunglasses and a make-up case, I found these abandoned items:

This absolutely fascinating button: 

Yet another shoe heel:

Apparently, no one came back for this one.

A pocket knife:

Cigarette lighter:

 

I have no idea what this is:

For that matter, I don't know what this is, either:

Electrical tape:

 

And, somewhat ironically, this was in the drawer, too.

Classy

Dr. Grumpy: "How you doing? It's been the usual year since your last visit."

Ms. Zapper: "I'm fine, no problems. I've had a good year, health-wise."

Dr. Grumpy: "Good. By the way, do you have an internist you'd like me to send your visit notes to?"

Ms. Zapper: "No. Only other doc I see is my GYN. Hell, if you'd be willing to look in my pussy once a year I could ditch her, too."

News updates

From around the world, Dr. Grumpy's crack team of reporters brings you the stories that impact your lives.


DATELINE: Windsor, England.

Legoland was discovered to have a surprisingly large and sophisticated marijuana operation on the amusement park's premises. The plants, some 3 feet high and surrounded by grow-lights and a watering system, were found in an unused storage shed.

The suspects are believed to have entered the park by crossing through land owned by the Queen. To date Her Majesty has had no comment.

It's unknown if the area will be worked into an attraction for the new Lego Batman movie, or perhaps an attraction called Lego Robin's Magic Garden.



DATELINE: Pittsburgh

Daniel Marchese was found in a stopped, but running, car in the middle of an intersection, going in & out of consciousness. When awake he would expose himself to passersby. He was dressed in pink lingerie. Officers who investigated also found he had an open bottle of whiskey and 2 handguns with him.

I swear to God I am not making any of that up.

Mr. Marchese threatened officers and was taken into custody. He's been charged with a remarkable assortment of things, including drunken driving, indecent exposure, fighting with officers, aggravated assault, and weapons offenses.

I can only assume he was going to a rally for cross-dressing supporters of both the 2nd & 21st amendments.



DATELINE: Florida

John Haskew attempted to conduct a fraudulent wire transfer, hoping no one would notice. The amount, however, was $7 billion (you read that correctly) which tends to get attention.

His excuse, upon being arrested, was that Jesus had told him to do it because he created wealth for everyone, and this was Mr. Haskew's share.

The accused told police that he was "self-taught on the banking industry."




DATELINE: France

A man who - I swear - used his wife's phone to set up Uber transportation so that he could have an affair - is suing the ride service for $45 million for causing him to get divorced.

A glitch in the app kept sending notifications to his wife about where he was going, even though he'd logged out of it. She got kind of suspicious.

Apparently his lady dumping him is now Uber's fault, and has nothing to do with him, say, cheating on her.

The moral here is this: if you're cheating on your spouse, don't use their phone to arrange it. Use something secure, like Ashley Madison.

"Here, the house is full of nitrogen and oxygen."

This is my daughter's birthday gift wish list:

This bud's for you

Dr. Grumpy: "You been doing okay since I last saw you?"

Ms. Cerevisiae: "Um, I had a really bad yeast infection, you know, in my girl parts."

Dr. Grumpy: "How have your migraines been?"

Ms. Cerevisiae: "It was REALLY bad. I mean, it climbed from down there all the way up though the connection into my stomach, then to my ears, too."

Long pause.

Dr. Grumpy: "I've, uh, never heard of that."

Ms. Cerevisiae: "That's what all the other doctors tell me, too. Anyway, my migraines are better."

Weight loss

Seen at the Asian grocery:

Rubber sole

Mary: "Dr. Grumpy's office, this is Mary."

Mrs. Foote: "Hi, I was there about an hour ago, and I think the heel of my shoe fell off."

Mary: "I..."

Mrs. Foote: "Can you please look for it? I want it back."

Mary: "I don't see it in the lobby... Hang on..."


Mary knocks on my door


Mary: "Hey, sorry to interrupt you and Mr. Lumbar, but Mrs. Foote thinks she lost part of her shoe back here."

Dr. Grumpy: "Uh..."

Mr. Lumbar: (looks under his chair) "I think she did. Here."


(hands Mary a rubber shoe heel, Mary leaves)


Mary: "Hello, Mrs. Foote? I found your heel. Are you really coming back for this?"

Mrs. Foote: "Of course. How else am I supposed to walk home? Hey, do you have any super glue?"


I may have to start carrying super glue at the office. This was the second time a patient requested it.

Diet options

Recently I had to go to a research meeting.

While setting it up, they emailed me the following list of diets to choose from:

I wanted to do a mix & match, just to see what they brought me.

Huh?

I faxed in a script for Depakote 500mg yesterday, and a few minutes later received this back:

The strength seems to be stated pretty clearly. Can anyone in pharmacy explain this to me?

Memories...

What was your worst date?

I'm sure you remember it. If you don't, you haven't had it... yet.

We all have one. Where the person who seemed promising turned out to be a nightmare. Or a series of bizarrely improbable circumstances arose to make it a miserable time. Or some other chain of unpleasant events.

Somewhere out there is a woman for whom I was her worst date ever. I'm sure that even today, 25+ years later, she remembers it and tells others about the horrible time she had with me.

During my first year of residency I asked a nurse out, and we decided to go hiking. I chose a scenic trail outside town that went in and out of a forested area.

I picked her up in the early afternoon of a clear day, and off we went. It was nice drive to the trail head.

We'd hiked about 30-45 minutes when we came to a fork, and took the one to head back to the parking lot. Which led to another fork, and we again picked the one that should have taken us back to the car.

After another 30 minutes we realized we'd gotten completely lost, and had NFC where to go (back then, kids, people didn't have GPS phones).

Then it began raining. Heavily. Of course, the umbrella was back in the car.

We turned back, hoping to reach the parking lot at some point. Noticing the forest road about a 1/4 mile away, we walked through mud to get to it, figuring it was more likely to lead us in the right direction.

It wasn't. And it was still raining.

After a while we hitched a ride with the first passing car, which fortunately turned out to be a state parks ranger. He was on his way to close the parking lot we were in, since the rain was flooding the trails.

It was a long, quiet, dripping-wet ride back to her place. I tried to make conversation, but she just stared out the window. She didn't return my calls, either, when I tried to apologize.

And, realistically, I don't blame her.

But whenever someone tells me a story of their worst date ever, I remember that for a lady out there... I am that story.

The other end

Seen in charts:

 

- Thank you, T!

 

- Thank you, M!

Random weekend pictures

Okay, time to put up some pics you guys have sent in.



Here's a food stand in Israel, whose owner is trying to figure out why English speakers aren't lining up for his product:

Here we have a school district that's apparently given up on being excellent, or even pretty good:

Then there's this store. I'm not sure what an "aromas artisan" is, but after lunch at Taco Bell, Craig probably qualifies... and not in a good way.

This is about as use-specific as a soap can get:

This is an armored military vehicle developed by Venezuela in the 1930's, during border tensions with Columbia. Regrettably, Star Wars was still 40 years in the future, so no one recognized the Darth Vader chic.