When New Hires Accidentally Put the Boss to Work

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.