surgery, a Title company, and making fun.

a friend of mine was in medical school. he was excited to be a surgeon, until he had a chance to work in the surgery room. let me preface this story by saying that not all doctors and surgeons are like these men. anyway, the surgeons my friend was assigned to work with were awful. granted, they were good surgeons in one sense of the word - the sense that keeps you alive...but in the areas of respect and honor, they failed miserably. my friend could not believe how fake these doctors were - so sweet and caring to the patients' face, yet so cruel when they were away from the room or unconscious. i will never forget what he said - "Katie, you would not believe the kind of things i heard during surgery...from doctors making fun of a patients' personality, to making fun of body parts, and so on." ask me if i EVER want to go in for surgery? the answer is obvious really. needless to say, my friend quit medical school. he is now a hair dresser, and a good one at that.

i was thinking of this story today. i work at a Title Company. for those of you who do not know what the title business entails, don't worry about it....(only grown ups have to know, you know, big kids who buy houses for keeps). an Escrow officer was getting out of a closing today at our office...she was very sweet to her clients as she walked them out. i don't know what inside our human minds tells us that it is ok to be kind to someone and the minute they are out of earshot, rip them to shreds. and that is what she did. i've heard it more than a few times in this business.

sadly, i am guilty of this too. we all know that some people are asking to be made fun of (the lady who tried to flush her underwear down the toilet so that we would give her husband's plumbing business, some business...or the bro who comes in to be helped and says, "how you doin'?" - you know, that phrase that everyone jokes about, except he is serious, very serious - and after laughing really hard in his face for a minute straight, you realize he is not joking at all...).

i guess the real question is, where do we draw the line? the surgeon who is poking fun at a woman's body while he is operating on it? the escrow officer who is talking about how ridiculous a client is? or a visor-clad bro?