Big Brother is Watching You.
Today I received a phone call in the most unlikely of places. And believe me, it seemed to be something straight out of a high tech spy movie. Except that instead of a cell phone it was one of those old style telephones that has a chord and connects to the wall. You know the kind. The kind of telephone that would be the first piece of office equipment you would grab if you were ever forced into hand-to-hand combat with someone wielding a knife.
So anyway. I am sure you are aware of the scene. Large crowded room. The phone rings. Everyone assumes that it is not for them or that it is a wrong number and so everyone ignores it. It rings on and on until one brave soul picks it up and in a frightened confused voice asks, "Hello?". Everyone within listening distance quiets their conversation slightly in order to find out if this is in fact a wrong number or if by some small chance it is an underground government agency who has tracked down someone in the room and is calling to tell them to evacuate at once before they terrorist threat destroys the building and everyone in it. And then all at once you realize that the person who has picked up the phone is asking if their is anyone in the room by your name.
Well this happened to me today. And let me tell you it was a very odd experience indeed. The large crowded room happened to by my classroom. Filled with all 81 members of my class. The brave soul who answered the phone was actually one of my instructors.
It wasn't really an interruption to class though. We actually have four instructors for our class and they teach us tag team style. The phone call came in after one of the instructors had left and another was getting set up to begin. But the scene played out something along these lines. The phone rang and the instructor went about getting the power point presentation ready and getting lecture notes in order. The phone continued to ring until the instructor finally picked it up. I had stopped paying attention to what was going on and had committed my undivided attention to one of the many cute girls in my class (they are nursing classes after all) when I heard my name. I looked up. The instructor asked again, "Is there a Robert du Bois in the room?"
I didn't even have a voice. I just stood up and started making my way from the back of the room to where the phone was. I couldn't help but notice a weird grin creepy it's way across my face and I tried to get rid of it as I was acutely aware that all the eyes in the room were on me. I got to the phone and tried not to think about the 164 eyes that were fixated upon me at that instant.
"Hello?" I managed to ask.
"Is this Robert du Bois?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Yes, this is he."
"Robert, this is your clinical coordinator and I just wanted to let you know that the hospital just emailed and let me know that your background check is in and that you can go over to the hospital later today and get your ID badge made."
"Oh. Great. Thank you."
"All right. Bye-bye now."
"Okay. Bye."
I hung up the phone and gave the instructor an, "I'm sorry" kind of look and started making my way back to my seat. In my mind I would like to think that the phone call was to relay top-secrete information about where to go to make contact for a very dangerous mission, but at that second one of the other guys in the class said to me, "So you got a large pizza coming for us or what?"
I sat down, thinking that everyone had been staring at me but then class started very shortly after that and I managed to get my head back into my day dreaming/text messaging mental state and forgot all about my very brief but exciting career as a Government Secrete Agent.
So anyway. I am sure you are aware of the scene. Large crowded room. The phone rings. Everyone assumes that it is not for them or that it is a wrong number and so everyone ignores it. It rings on and on until one brave soul picks it up and in a frightened confused voice asks, "Hello?". Everyone within listening distance quiets their conversation slightly in order to find out if this is in fact a wrong number or if by some small chance it is an underground government agency who has tracked down someone in the room and is calling to tell them to evacuate at once before they terrorist threat destroys the building and everyone in it. And then all at once you realize that the person who has picked up the phone is asking if their is anyone in the room by your name.
Well this happened to me today. And let me tell you it was a very odd experience indeed. The large crowded room happened to by my classroom. Filled with all 81 members of my class. The brave soul who answered the phone was actually one of my instructors.
It wasn't really an interruption to class though. We actually have four instructors for our class and they teach us tag team style. The phone call came in after one of the instructors had left and another was getting set up to begin. But the scene played out something along these lines. The phone rang and the instructor went about getting the power point presentation ready and getting lecture notes in order. The phone continued to ring until the instructor finally picked it up. I had stopped paying attention to what was going on and had committed my undivided attention to one of the many cute girls in my class (they are nursing classes after all) when I heard my name. I looked up. The instructor asked again, "Is there a Robert du Bois in the room?"
I didn't even have a voice. I just stood up and started making my way from the back of the room to where the phone was. I couldn't help but notice a weird grin creepy it's way across my face and I tried to get rid of it as I was acutely aware that all the eyes in the room were on me. I got to the phone and tried not to think about the 164 eyes that were fixated upon me at that instant.
"Hello?" I managed to ask.
"Is this Robert du Bois?" the voice on the other end asked.
"Yes, this is he."
"Robert, this is your clinical coordinator and I just wanted to let you know that the hospital just emailed and let me know that your background check is in and that you can go over to the hospital later today and get your ID badge made."
"Oh. Great. Thank you."
"All right. Bye-bye now."
"Okay. Bye."
I hung up the phone and gave the instructor an, "I'm sorry" kind of look and started making my way back to my seat. In my mind I would like to think that the phone call was to relay top-secrete information about where to go to make contact for a very dangerous mission, but at that second one of the other guys in the class said to me, "So you got a large pizza coming for us or what?"
I sat down, thinking that everyone had been staring at me but then class started very shortly after that and I managed to get my head back into my day dreaming/text messaging mental state and forgot all about my very brief but exciting career as a Government Secrete Agent.