Interview. Suits/Dresses. Work. Appointments. Jokes.

[porphyrin]

Interview over.  It was fine.  (We watched a video that told us not to a) prescribe pain meds to drug-seekers b) confuse drug-seekers with people with chronic pain problems c) sleep with our patients d) fail to update our address with the Medical Board.)

I was the only person there not in a suit.  (I /had/ had a dress on in the early morning, but was freezing my toes off, so changed into khakis and a black sweater.)

It occurs to me that my style of dress is more casual than office casual, and it also occurs to me to wonder what sort of impression that makes on people. 

If your doctor comes in dressed in khakis and a sweater rather than a dress, do you even notice?  (I don't wear a white coat over everything unless I'm sure I'm going to get puked or bled on.)

I've never had a sense of style, or a good 'dress sense', so to speak.  I often wear black jeans and a long-sleeved ribbed top or sweater to work. 

I suppose maybe I should stop doing that.

I haven't been talking much about work lately.  Mostly because I'm fairly happy with what I'm doing.  I like Gillette.  Everything there works the way it's *supposed* to.  People pull together to make sure kids get the care they need. 

Plus, it's my favorite group of kids:  CP kids, with or without trachs, usually with G-tubes, mostly with seizure disorders.  Many with chromosomal abnormalities, and almost all with orthopedic problems. 

Love it.  *Love* them.

I took the day off work, because my presence is most needed today from 7:30 AM - 10:30 AM, and it's already 10, and I would have left work by 1:30 at the latest.

The day is already filling with appointments, in the good sense.  Interview at 9:20.  Going to go throw on exercise clothes and walk, shower really quickly and put my casual clothes back on, go for lunch with Mike, then run to North Memorial to get my picture taken for my future employers' website, then home again home again jiggety jig. ETA: And then out again, out again, for dinner with M'ris and T and Mark! See what I mean?

In unrelated news, I find my store of jokes an 8 year old would find funny to be severely depleted, and I am getting tired of the 'cow with no legs/cow with 2 legs/dog with no legs' set of jokes.

If you know any suitable ones, please share. :)

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

A doctor in a dress? That would be extremely weird.

Also, how do you hide an elephant in a cherry tree?

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I don't know.

How *do* you hide an elephant in a cherry tree?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Paint its toenails red.

[dorianegray.livejournal.com]

Most kids love elephant jokes, and there are millions of them. There's a bunch at http://www.azkidsnet.com/elephant.htm.

[windswept.livejournal.com]

Why do seagulls fly near the sea?

Because if they flew near the bay, they'd be bagels.

(I lurve that one.)

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

What's brown and sticky?

Where does the general keep his armies?


And of course, the world's best knock-knock joke pair, interupting cow and interupting cow apprentice.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Brown and sticky? A stick?

The general keeps his armies in his sleevies.

The knock-knock ones I don't know, though!

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Knock knock
Who's there?
Interupting Cow.
Interupting co--
Moo.

Knock knock
Who's there?
Interupting Cow apprentice.
Interupting cow apprentice who?


Moo.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness.

I'm keeping that one.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

My baby brother, before he 'understood' jokes, wrote a version of it himself. Instead of 'interupting cow' you say "spaghetti horse" and use the appropriate noise.

It no longer made any sense at all, and yet we'd still be hysterical with laughter since he was so pleased with himself over the new joke.

[seagrit.livejournal.com]

Why don't elephants smoke?

Their butts don't fit in the ashtray...

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

And another keeper!

[palinade.livejournal.com]

Dress in a suit? Suited for a dress?

I don't think I'd be put off by a doctor wearing a nice sweater and casual pants. I might be a little surprised at seeing Tevas, hawaiian print board shorts, and tank top, but if the doc was on the ball, it wouldn't make me think ill of her.

I know no kid jokes. Sorry.

[allochthon.livejournal.com]

What's long and green and hangs in trees?

Giraffe Snot.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Oooh, and you hit the middle of the target age range.

Ba-dump, ching.

Keeping that one, too.

Best. Joke. Evar.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

What do you get when you cross an elephant and a rhino?

Re: Best. Joke. Evar.

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Um.

Eliphino?

Re: Best. Joke. Evar.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

Re: Best. Joke. Evar.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

No swearing in front of the small children!

Re: Best. Joke. Evar.

[scottjames.livejournal.com]

But you're not swearing. That's what makes the joke so funny.

[littleowl.livejournal.com]

Dude ... khakis and a black sweater isn't office casual???

Huh. I guess I've lived in California too long.

I wear a short-sleeved vee-neck shirt and khakis to work every day. I'm cheating and wearing sneaks right now instead of my office shoes though 'cos I'm preggo and my feet hurt. My one rebellion against dress code.

[pameladean]

I'd be (and in fact have been) really unnerved by a dressed-up doctor. I have to take my clothes off, for heaven's sake, so why do I want to do that with somebody who's all tarted up, in a really truly this had damn well better be a nonsexual context? The least they can do is to wear something comfy and non-threatening. Then again, I find business wear really unnerving and icky in general, so perhaps my reaction is not standard.

P.

[matastas.livejournal.com]

'Sweater with dress slacks/chinos' is very much business casual. Even here in the East, where the dress code is taken up a notch. As you're seeing patients, though, your practice may have a different definition of what is acceptable. Ask 'em. Early in a job, most people dress a step higher than the stated dress code, 'cause it's the safe route. You'll find out what's kosher really quick.

As for the suits? You said 'interview' in the title. People hear that word, they usually go to professional dress, period. If you've already signed an offer, and this is just HR-related stuff, there's generally no need for a suit.

My Tuppence

[careswen.livejournal.com]

I'd say the sweater-and-khakis combo is just fine. I think it's more professional if a physician wears a lab coat, but it's still optional. A dress might seem overdone, but still okay. Jeans are more casual than I'd prefer, both as a patient and as an admin.

Two chickens are on opposite sides of a road. One yells, "How do you get to the other side?" and the other hollers back, "You ARE on the other side!"

[naomikritzer]

I was rather taken aback one Friday about eight years ago to encounter a doctor in actual blue jeans, under her lab coat. Apparently this clinic did casual Fridays.

I have spent the last five minutes trying to remember what I've seen doctors wearing since then, and all that's coming to mind is, "lab coats?" I would be startled by a dress, though come to think of it, I think I have seen male doctors wearing ties.

And I agree, khakis and a sweater count as business casual in most settings I've encountered.