The Nonchalant Observant Walk

 

Dr. Dev’s (Fictional Name) friend came to meet him at the hospital. While walking from the Out Patient Department (OPD) to the surgical ward, his friend noticed that Dr. Dev was walking nonchalantly, to all appearances oblivious to the people walking around them. When they neared the ward’s gate, the security person standing there greeted Dr. Dev. Instantly, Dr. Dev turned around and greeted the security guard in return. Dr. Dev’s friend was surprised.

When they were sitting in Dr. Dev’s chamber/office, the friend could not control himself and asked about’s Dr. Dev’s strange demeanor. 

‘Dev’, he said, ‘When you were walking you were watching straight ahead and appeared lost in your thought and not aware of anyone around you. But when the guard greeted you, not only you noticed his greeting and but instantaneously returned his greeting.’ ‘What is the meaning of this strange behavior?’ demanded his friend.

Dr. Dev replied, ‘It is a convention that usually the juniors or the lower designation staff members first greet their seniors and then senior respond in kind. With my high designation, I am senior to most of the people I pass by while walking down the corridors in the hospital. Now if some junior does not greet me even we notice each other while walking this is embarrassing for me.’

‘It may be not that the junior feel any disrespect towards me,’ further explained Dr. Dev, ‘it may be just that he/she does not believe in exchanging pleasantries with their superiors, they might be just shy, or in this Covid times, they may not recognize me with the mask. I walk as if lost I my own world unaware of people moving around me so that if someone does not greet me both of us can pretend that we did not notice each other and save each other some awkwardness.’

‘Now for the second part of your question,’ continued Dr. Dev, ‘While I was a student and junior resident in AIIMS, New Delhi, whenever I used to see my teachers and faculty members in the corridors, I used to greet them. Some faculty members do use to acknowledge my greeting warmly but many used to give just a perfunctory nod and there were some who never noticed my greeting them. They were lost in their own high world or thought it is beneath their status to respond to a lowly student or junior resident.’

‘As a student and junior resident I used to feel hurt when I greeted a faculty member but they did not acknowledge back. Now that I am a senior faculty member I make it a point to keep a watch out of the corner of my eye if anyone is greeting me and try to always acknowledge and greet them in return’ clarified Dr. Dev.

Do not let your ego be hurt if someone does not greet you.

Never hurt someone’s feelings by not acknowledging and returning their greeting no matter how senior you become.

You can read an example of a junior not greeting his Professor and the response of the Professor here https://agnipathdoctors.blogspot.com/search/label/Dr.%20S.N.%20Wadhwa

— ND

(Based on allegedly true incidents.)

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DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Practice should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost. 

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended only for fun purposes. The author does not promote or recommend any behavior illustrated here or claim it to be useful. Use the information herein is at your one's own risk. Before trying to emulate or follow anything the reader is well advised to take into account ethical, moral, legal, and other considerations. The author recommends that Medical Education should be of the highest ethical and moral level keeping in mind the interest of the patient as foremost and according to MCI and other Board norms.