Most embarrassing thing that happened to you at work

[AngelfireRN]

This may have been done before, and I apologize if it has, but I need a good laugh. What have you seen, or what has happened to you personally, that you either knew HAD to be embarrassing or embarrassed you at work?

I bring this up because of 2 incidents, both of which involve the bathroom.

Part of my job is to supervise stress tests, and last year, while waiting for the patients to get ready, I went to powder my nose, in the bathroom that was in the stress lab. Just about the time I sat down, my pager went off, they were ready. OK, I thought, I'll be out in a tick. No dice, it immediately went off again, 911. I caould hear the stress staff in the hall..

"Where is she? She was JUST here! Did you see her?"

So, being indisposed, I holler, "I'm in here!", several times, in response to the aforementioned queries.

I then hear a voice say, "I think there's someone in here." And it was not one of the staff.

I opened the door to find a patient waiting to use the facilities, still drying my hands, and rush to the stress lab with a red face, only to find that the doc had done the 911 page to be mean. I have yet to live that down, and now I am very sure to let someone know if I need a powder break, so that they know where I am.

The second happened a couple days back, in the ladies' at my office. Dried my hands, hit the light, and tried to exit. What I did not know was the doorknob only turns a certain way. I made this discovery after I bounced off the door. After a good 2 minutes of fumbling and banging (I couldn't find the light switch to turn it back on), I managed to stumble out, only to see half the staff on the other side. And while I'm trying to be nonchalant, one of them says

"So, Angelfire, how many CRNPs does it take to open a bathroom door?"

Sigh, this is my life.

I did manage to embarrass a poor little floor nurse (she is very new, just passed boards last month) without even trying. I had come to her floor to do a consult, and she was at the desk, holding some office notes from my office. She was talking to no one in general, and said "SIGH, WHERE does this mess go?!?!?"

So, I answered, "Under consults, it's from us, and we're consulted".

She sat there a minute, and blurted out, "You know, you know more than I thought you did!"

Now, I KNOW that she did not mean it the way it sounded, and bless her heart, the whole desk just fell out. I thought it was hysterical, but she turned nearly purple and stammered "I mean about chart stuff...."

God love her, she was so upset. She had no idea that I was a floor nurse for 7 years before I went to NP school. It was precious, and after I told her it was all right (she was convinced I'd be mad), now she calls me for everything. She's going to be a great nurse, and I love her to death, but it was so funny.

Ok, y'all take over, I'm sure yours will be better!

[Katie5]

I have split my pants open at work. Luckily lab coats were available and I wore one for the rest of the day.

When I work at a restaurant I slipped and fell right in front of customers. Also slipped and busted my chin at the same job.

How do you do that?

[AngelfireRN, MSN, RN, APRN]

Ok, a few more from my long repertoire:

Managed to clobber my knee on the edge of my stool (hit right where they hit you with the hammer to check reflexes), and promptly hit the floor, in front of my patient. And I lay there, the lab girl was on the phone, setting up a CT for the patient. He looked at me, then at her, and said, "Go ahead and set her up one too, she can ride with me."

Then there was the time I sat too far to the edge of my chair and it flipped on me, and ON TOP of me. All you could see were my feet. Charge was on the phone with house sup, who heard the racket and asked if we needed help. Charge reportedly was very blase about it, and said "Well, we may need another nurse, hang on a sec and let me see if Angelfire's managed to kill herself........Nope, her feet are moving, let me get this chair off of her. She'll live, we're good."

And the time I had to scoot under a bed (I was the only one that would fit) to turn off a light. Whoever thought that that was a good place for a nightlight and also the ONLY DANG SWITCH to it was a good idea needs a good slap and a live badger up the nose. Anyway, I got under there fine, but had some trouble with reverse gear. The other nurses had left me in there, the call light was not working, so this poor patient had to yell for help, for ME, until someone heard him. They wound up having to pull me out by my ankles. Turns out the tie on the back of my scrub top was hung on a hook under the bed. So, in the process of extricating me, I also lost my top. This is why I ALWAYS wear a T under my scrubs. At that point, I was just thankful I had on a clean bra.

Viva, I swear, I think we're kin. Two people from different families could NOT be that similar in regards to having 2 left feet. My family is rather fond of saying that I'm about as graceful as an elephant.