Things that keep us going in the lab:
Scene #1:
Reporting at 9am
Me: M’am the isolate from the sample is is E. coli, sensitive to all the first and
second line antibiotics.
Professor: Oh then this is a well mannered E.coli, no worries.
#humanizingmicrobes
Scene#2:
Professor having her own doubts on the quality control of
staining for acid fast bacilli for the day < loud and out >
“I think these AFBs are pale and anemic, we do not feed them
with stains”
#humanizingmicrobesagain
Scene#3:
The chair springs up.
Professor to the male junior: Can you bring this down???
Male junior: < confused > I do not know how to do it < takes the name of the female
senior > she knows
Professor: You are a
boy!
Female senior < rushes to the rescue >: Yes ma’m he is a boy, I am the man here!
#woesofbeingasenior
Scene#4:
A train of urine samples waiting to be processed. A silly
one to a starving one pointing at a bottle: What
does it look like? The latter grins, while the former winks and says ” No pineapple juice for you for life”
#hungerdrivesyoumadsodoeswork
Scene#5:
Professor< loud and out >: I need a bottle of alcohol
Students look at each other < getting ideas >
Professor: Well, I need it
to wipe the lens of this dirty microscope.
#thoughtsafterdutyhangovers
Scene#6:
Armed with a nailcutter to collect a nail clipping for
fungal culture I approach this twenty something female patient , husband peeping
from her shoulders.
Patient: Will that cause me pain?
Husband: Will that cause her pain?
< both in a grand unison >
Me< smiling more to myself >: I hope you have cut your nails before.
#dealingmarriedcouplesaspatients
Scene#7:
Professor showing darting motility of Vibrio cholerae under the microscope to two students
Professor: How is it
moving?
Student#1: Sir up and
down, up and down < one looks at the other >
Student#2: Sir it is
going fast, taking a turn and coming back
Professor < flabbergasted >: What... it is driving a car or what?
#teachingsandamusings
-R.
