1a2b....

A = arrow, B = bird


I went to this annual lunch meet organized by the local govt. clinic. I was reluctant to attend the lunch as it was held on Thursday noon.  I did the Wed night shift and went off by 9am after the morning meeting; reached home by 9:30am. If I would attend the lunch meet, I would have to leave home by 11:00am. The lunch was held in a secluded mountain side – restaurant run by a local aborigine chief, 40mins drive from my house and I don’t like to be late.
The former Dep. Supt. Had told me that I “must” present just to make the scene look nice – as I was the only specialist supporting the program available; Lem was attending the ED, Voon’s chest OPD would usually ran late to 1pm.
Boss had reminded me again after the morning meeting and I could not escape the invitation.
I arrived early and meet others during the lunch. The food was nice and Boss arrived late. After a few rounds of glass tossing, Boss had told me that he had something to discuss with me. I thought it was about the salary review…however I was surprised when boss offered me a day time job(no night shift…). He told me that he would reassign me to the ICU and work only day shift. I did not cheer up instantly as I knew the offer would come with a “BUT”. Yep, I was right, about the “BUT” : I would need to covered for Ong night shift when Ong is not around( Ong took a leave of 2-3 weeks every 6 weeks of work. )
Boss had told me that he had found someone “well trained” and this guy worked only 180 hrs in ED per months. He would “take over” my shift and I would only need to covered part of Ong night shift when he is not around.
His word irritated me – the usage of “well trained” means that I am not well trained so I need to make way for him….I told him, I would considered his offered and I asked him what if Ong retired (Ong had talked about it for a long time) – Does it means, I had to come down to take over his shift(Tue,Thrs, Sun night shift) which were worst that I had (Mon, Wed night shift and alternate Sat night shift) I told him that I had no intention to grab a rock and crushed my own foot, Boss had reassured me that this would not happen, but he did not raised any plan to resolve my question.
He told me the ICU would be covered by T(CV man) and me if I agree with the arrangement.
I rejected his offer few days later stating that I would remain in ED .
I had a chat few weeks later with T and he told me that the management had wanted him to do full time in ICU. He had been holding the title as ICU director for years. He had however recommended me to boss. It was an arrow for 2 birds strategic should I have taken the offer. My paid would definitely be cut as I don’t do night shift most of the time. I could be a valuable asset to ED as I could covered for any night shift with no problem (and the pay is less…) – I would have no excuse to reject any request for ED night shift as I would be the only one without any fixed night shift….
I later found out the well trained guy mentioned is a urologist working in ED somewhere nearby… he was just probing around asking here and there and boss took it for real….however I thanked him for letting me to see the scenario in depth…..