A Wardrobe Malfunction, or Why Not to Wear A Halloween Costume to Work

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

I've never worn a costume to work on Halloween - I work in an ICU and find the umm... restrictiveness... of anything other than my scrubs to be a serious hindrance. I have a scrub top that's covered with Jack-o'lantern-headed scarecrows though that is always a hit.

When I was 19 I went to a Halloween dance dressed as a nun. I was living on a remote air force station in the middle of a logging camp. I was one of only a handful of single adult females in a large community of single males... and I was well-known as someone decidedly unpious! No one recognized me until I spoke to them... the looks on their faces! It was really quite funny.

When I was in nursing school I borrowed my daughter's combat uniform. Who knew that combat boots are actually really comfortable??

[talaxandra]

Sounds like fun - I almost wish we celebrated Halloween here :)

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

In LPN school, we were at a LTC on Halloween, and one nurse went all out...way out...way, way far out. She dressed as a witch, complete with hat, broom, green body paint and a face mask that would have been at home in a Hollywood production. It looked really authentic...if you know a lot of green skinned, hook nosed, wart sporting witches, that is.

We're all complementing "Sue" on her costume, when she sees "Betty," one of her favorite residents. Betty is peacefully sitting in her wheelchair, watching the finches in the birdcage. Sue sneaks up behind her, taps her one one shoulder, and when the resident turns her head, cackles madly into her other ear.

Now, I don't know if Sue forgot Betty had a) dementia and b) a heart condition, but Betty whirled around to see a witch cackling 3 inches away from her face, and Betty let out a scream like she was being ax murdered. She's screaming and trying to wheel away, but only got one break disengaged. So Betty's spinning her wheelchair in a circle, screaming like a banshee, Sue is trying to grab her so she doesn't turn over, yelling, "Betty, it's me, it's Sue!" Betty's sobbing and crying and it gets to be too much for her, so she promptly passes out.

Sue screams, "Oh, S***! I killed Betty!" Betty comes to just as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, a demonic looking clown, and a large fluffy tiger all come running at her. Betty lets out another scream, snatches up the dropped broom and starts swinging it. Sue is in tears, Betty is turning an unhealthy shade of gray and screaming little gasps that sound like, "I've gone nuts...I've gone nuts..." and swinging the broom, Dorothy is trying to calm the resident down without getting her Ruby slippers ran over, beat to death or both, the tiger is trying to pull it's head off so it can use a stethoscope, and the clown is trying to run to the phone to call the doc without tripping and killing herself over her clown shoes. Another resident takes her motorized wheelchair down the hall, screaming "The witch and the clown are killing Betty! Let me the **** outta here!" It took over an hour to get everyone calmed down, including Sue the killer witch.

Betty lived, Sue didn't get fired, but the next year, the facility banned face masks....

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

Well, Viva, I don't know about you, but I think THAT tops both of us!

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

????

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

I just remember standing there (once we were sure the resident was okay) and laughing so hard I almost peed my uniform.

[Lupan]

Hahahahaha. I bet he remembers that till........... I once wore the clothes to work that I wore working horses except for the "cowboy hat" for Halloween. One ALZ pt chased me all night long saying how she wanted a cowboy. I don't dress for halloween anymore.

[diane227, LPN, RN]

I bet that little man patting you on the back side loved it. A good Halloween treat for him.

[Lupan]

I can see the whole event!! It is better than the time of monster movies on halloween and working that night. Needed the laugh...............

[scibruin]

Its something you will laugh at for years! Totally embarrassing at the time but still awesome! I'm not as excited about halloween as you are but if the time comes and someone encourages me to dress up i might just pass now. Sorry it happened to you, but thanks for sharing!

[nitenite]

I dressed up as Sesshoumaru from the Inuyasha anime a few years ago. I made the costume and fixed it so I could bustle up the sleeves on my arms and carried a clip to tie back the wig, and the fake fur on my shoulder never got in my way at all. I just made it a bit smaller than it's shown on the character.

[wound warrier]

Regarding the story from nertonurse? That story is the best!! I am sitting in my office laughing like a clown!! Thanks for the belly-laugh!!