Dear med school, high school called... it wants its drama back

There's a joke about Will Rogers that goes... "Will Rogers used to say that he never met a man he didn't like... well, Will Rogers never spent much time around a medical school." While MOST of my classmates are really kind/ awesome people, there are a few that could give Will Rogers pause.

Case in point: this week I got my first ever "Phone call out of the blue from someone telling me he absolutely cannot stand me." Put another feather in my cap. Now, there were a couple of times in the past when I've had a falling out with someone, but typically if it ever got to this level (pseudo-mean email or phone call), it was cuz the person was actually hurt because I hadn't talked to them in a while. In those situations, better communication almost always fixed the problem (and brought us closer).

This call was weird because a) I've never really been close to the individual in question, and, b) evidently this guy has been "holding it in" for a *year and a half*!

It all started in my first med school class, when I had to share a small group with, well, let's call him "Not Funny Guy." That group was generally fun loving and worked hard, and I felt that we all got along reasonable well (considering that we had to work elbow to cadaver-covered-elbow nearly every day). There were, of course, some quirks... namely, Not Funny Guy enjoyed telling loud jokes, insulting his classmates, singing, and banging on the tank (where the "cadaver lives," according to my friend, Lydia ;-) ). A few times I asked NFG to stop beating on the tank, and eventually I told him that some of his jokes were pretty mean and over the top (For instance, he once loudly announced in class that I "made his penis shrink," and proceeded to illustrate this by jumping forward and backwards in front of me and shouting the effects on his madhood. Not only is that fairly inappropriate and rude, but it clearly violates sexual harassment rules. I didn't feel like being the butt of his joke, so I told him to stop).

I eventually learned that he wasn't going to temper his behavior, and took others advice to straight out ignore him; but according to him, the damage had been done. I never had any animosity towards him (until now), but evidently that was not reciprocated. In the interim, Not Funny Guy persisted with insulting jokes, but would add "I'm just kidding... you're too sensitive!" to the end... even though I mostly ignored him. We shared more labs and never had any outright disagreements (that I can recall), and eventually did not see or talk to one another from a number of months.

So now we're back to this week, when NFG called me up after our first tutoring session together, and started with "I just want us to have a professional relationship." He then went on to say that he "gets along with everyone" but me, told me I was too sensitive and could not take a joke, that I made everyone in our first small group "uncomfortable," and that I am "always picking fights with people." While the last accusation wasn't totally off the mark (as my friends have "kindly" pointed out to me ;-) ), his words left me crying and deeply confused/ hurt.

Shortly thereafter, I called up someone I thought was Not Funny Guy's friend (they hung out all last year), to see what was going on with him and why I was the target of his vitriole. The person on the other end of the line told me that she hadn't talked to NFG in months because she was sick of him always picking on people, having tantrums if someone got upset at his bad jokes, and eventualy we both agreed that he was never really that funny/ mature. That completely made me feel better (mostly, I'm still writing him off).

It just amazes me that, amid some really wonderful classmates, this guy gets away with practically *bullying* people and retreats behind the argument that everyone has a problem but him. I know I should not give a second thought to such a person, and I certainly should not let someone tell me he thinks how I made *other* people feel, but I am irritated that this acting out is being perpetuated by a future physician.

A number of people said it's likely displaced anger from something else going on in NFG's life, but I'm just glad I have some very supportive/ mature friends to balance that fruitcake out. ;-P

Get your Study On!

This morning I woke up with a stomach ache (probably from the red bull and chocolate mint kisses I've been living off of this week), & my first thought was "Hey, maybe I have appendicitis and I don't have to take the renal final on Friday." Yes, it's troublesome when the thought of a painful and possibly life-threatening disease brings me more hope than taking a renal exam.

Luckily, there's evidence (like this video), that other people are suffering med school psychosis too. :)