After leaving work yesterday I spotted a neighborhood celebrity-one of the three fox that leave around here! People go nuts when they see the fox. Cars slow down to snap a picture to show others that they got a glimpse of the fox or follow it down the street by foot. The fox I saw yesterday was playing with a chipmunk. Yes, playing because the chipmunk was actually moving towards the fox.
This got me to thinking, how do you spot a dietitian?
We’re hard to spot since the health system that I work for employs about 3200 people and only 6 of them are dietitians. Here are some tips in case you’ve been hanging out at a hospital all day and need something to do.
How to Spot a Deititian:
1. We probably are wearing a white lab coat. We’re supposed to wear them to “stand out,” I guess. But why do I personally wear mine? Glad you asked.
- Hospitals are often cold, so it keeps me warm.
- It has pockets! I have my Burt’s Bees Chapstick, pen (black!), calculator, pink highlighter, pager, money, keys, etc right by my side.
- Sometimes my name tag weighs down my shirt, so to keep things PG, I put my name tag on the lab coat.
- It hints to patients and co-workers that I’m not a 15-year-old who’s looking for her sick grandmother.
- The lab coat camouflages. I may not be wearing one of my dressier tops.
2. We’re carrying various papers and probably have patient menus tucked into our lab coat pockets.
3. We’re coming and going near the cafeteria/kitchen.
4. Our name badge includes a hard plastic tag that says: REGISTERED DIETITIAN.
Should I have started out the tip list with #4? What would have been the fun in that?
After starting my weekend with the celebrity sighting, I ended my Friday night by going to Artale and picking up a stout. A stout? Yes apparently I like stouts now, who woulda thought….
After 4 sips I realized this beer was going to take all night to drink. Mr Bells Special Double Cream Stout had other plans. It put me to sleep before I even drank 1/3 of the bottle. Don’t worry, none of it went to waste since I had a Cicerone by my side.
Time to pack for Chicago!
