Funny Society

When New Hires Accidentally Put the Boss to Work

A new nurse asked a nearby doctor to prescribe Vaseline. He was the chief of surgery.

· 7 min · Togetter

What's going on

Japanese hospitals and workplaces operate within clearly defined hierarchies. In a hospital, there's a world of difference between a resident, an attending physician, a department chief, and a professor — and new staff, still learning who's who, can unknowingly task the most senior people in the building with the most routine requests. The thread started when a brand-new nurse spotted what looked like an idle doctor and asked him to prescribe some Vaseline. He was the chief of surgery.

The moment the people nearby grasped the situation, the reaction was immediate. A resident in the vicinity reportedly screamed something close to "WAIT — I'LL DO IT — MEEE" and launched into desperate damage control. The post quickly drew in others with similar stories — from hospital wards to department store counters to factory assembly lines — all sharing the experience of accidentally handing a VIP the most ordinary of tasks.

What the replies reveal, alongside the secondhand embarrassment, is a genuine debate: are these hierarchical rules actually reasonable, or is "whoever's free should just do it" the more sensible approach? A few stories toward the end quietly answer that question.

Comments

Back when I was totally new, I asked this doctor who looked completely free to prescribe some Vaseline, and he went “Me??” I thought maybe only dermatology can prescribe it or something?? Turned out he was the chief of surgery. The resident nearby just completely lost it — “WA̲IT!!!! I’LL WRITE IT!!! MEEE!!!!”
New nurse omg… (´；ω；｀) I understand that resident’s panic so deeply I might actually throw up lol. The resident probably forgot it 30 minutes later because they were slammed with work — but the chief of surgery definitely gave her a little nickname in his head. “Vaseline-chan.”
Same here in my first year — I had a 6am blood draw that I absolutely could not get from this one patient. No seniors around, so I asked the only doctor in the nurses’ station. He went “…Me?” all confused, but he did it anyway 🥹. Found out later he was the head of pediatrics. Went completely pale. 😂
Back when I was still getting used to ICU night shifts — this unknown, kind, and genuinely dashing doctor showed up early in the morning and I just dumped a pile of IV orders on him. He accepted each order sheet so politely. Then a senior nurse spotted it from across the room, sprinted over, and absolutely chewed me out. He was a professor. (In Japanese hospitals, professors hold the highest academic-clinical rank, above department chiefs.)
Not even a new hire — I was a kid patient. I asked my “always-idle” doctor (read: always up for a chat) for an IV and he went “ME?!” but did it anyway with like 5-6 nurses watching. He was super skilled. Looking back I was an absolute menace of a patient and apparently the whole floor was buzzing about it lol
Honestly at least that’s something. I thought the deputy director of the hospital was a patient for ages… so glad I never actually talked to them fr ()
In regular company terms, it’s basically like asking the head of sales to make you a photocopy.
When I worked as a kindergarten teacher, I was going down the line patting the heads of crying new kids to comfort them, and got so into it that I accidentally patted the vice principal’s head too.
About two weeks into my job, I was running low on parts at my assembly line station. We were told not to leave the line — ask someone outside the line to bring them. So I turned around, made eye contact with someone, and asked them. Didn’t recognize the face at all. He was the factory manager, there specifically to check on the new hires…
Same when I was brand new — there was this friendly older office guy who’d always chat me up. Every time we ran into each other I’d vent about difficult customers, ask him to show me around the building… He was the CEO.
At some reception party there was a former prime minister, so I went “Oh!! Networking shot!!” and dashed over — but he got surrounded immediately and I couldn’t reach him. Told my coworkers when I got back and they absolutely lost it screaming “THANK GOOOOOOOD”
Sounds like this chief wasn’t really the type to engage with new nurses… Where I worked, a lot of the senior doctors loved the younger staff. When a nervous new hire came to them for help, you could tell they were secretly delighted, and they’d do things right away that they’d normally never bother with.
And this is exactly why nurses eventually get handed the rule: “New nurses must report to a senior nurse before approaching a doctor.”
This kind of thing happens even after a departmental transfer. Right after mine, I got a phone call for “Dr. so-and-so,” walked into the ward mid-rounds to fetch them, and it was a professor. I can’t memorize every professor in every department…
Looking back, being new was just full of these incomprehensible traps. Honestly kind of nostalgic lol
Wait, what’s actually wrong here……? Like, it’s bad because you went to the VIP even though there were other people around?
What’s wrong with it though?
It’s basically like a part-timer asking the executive VP for errands, when a brand-new full-time employee is grinding away right next to them — and the VP was only there to observe the new hire.
Reading through the replies, I’m genuinely confused — is there an unspoken rule in medicine that senior doctors don’t do this kind of thing? They’re all doctors regardless of rank, so shouldn’t the principle be “do what you can for the patient”?
Can’t the free person just do it…? Rank or no rank, if your hands are empty, just do it?? When I worked full-time at a care home, everyone did the work regardless of position. Is the medical world genuinely that different??
Honestly, a chief of surgery who just smiles and goes “Sure, I got it” in that moment? That’s the dream.
Even after you’ve reached a certain level, you want to be the kind of person who doesn’t go “Me?? Really??” when asked.
lol this made me picture it and laugh — when I was new at a department store, we were completely swamped at the registers and gift counter, so I yelled “We need backup 😭!” and the department manager showed up. He said “I can’t run the new register, but I can wrap gifts?” and did this impossibly clean rotation wrap. I thought he was so cool ✨ And afterward he said “That was fun — haven’t done it in a while 🥹✨”

My take

I bet some of these VIPs secretly enjoy getting a task handed to them. And any boss who's caught off guard but just rolls up their sleeves and gets it done anyway — their approval rating goes up instantly.

Comments loosely translated for tone.

Source https://togetter.com/li/2682929