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When I was a surgical JHO we worked 120 hour weeks. I was working on the nights before Christmas. On Christmas morning none of the male junior doctors would agree to be Santa and go around the surgical, orthopaedic and urology wards distributing presents.
When I was a surgical JHO we worked 120 hour weeks. I was working on the nights before Christmas. On Christmas morning none of the male junior doctors would agree to be Santa and go around the surgical, orthopaedic and urology wards distributing presents.
2/ Hoping to shame them I said I would do it. Unfortunately they just agreed. The Santa costume was made for someone considerably taller and larger than I. Some of the nurses assisted and put pillows round my middle held on by a large belt but the robe still trailed on the floor.
3/ it was decided that, despite the beard I still was too recognisably female and so they used lips tip on my face to give me a red nose and suitably aged complexion. This completed I toddled off round the wards with a diminutive remake registrar dressed as the fairy.
4/ In each of the wards I handed out presents and kissed patients ( infection control not such a big issue in the 70s) having been greeted by sister and given a large sherry ( size of the sherry definitely suitable for a much larger person ). At the end I’d had 7-8 of these.
5/ I was, by now, very much the worse for wear but the Santa outfit was removed from me and off I went to the Consultants’ Christmas Morning Party where the whole Department met for....Yes? More sherry at the end of this I was barely able to walk straight !
6/ I was now “off duty” and could go home. In Glasgow in those days buses ran on Christmas Day ( shops also were open, only closing on Hogmanay and New Year). Off I went and caught the Numbef 2 bus to my parents home. I thought people were giving me strange looks but thought...
7/ drunken paranoia . When I got home I realised I had been walking around with red leostick on my nose! The moral of this story is “ it is sometimes worthwhile checking in a mirror and don’t volunteer if you’re not up to the job!” Happy Christmas everyone!
