The Surreal Life

Dictionary.com says that surreal means: Having an oddly dreamlike quality.

That's been my work life lately.
Saturday, when I was working at the restaurant, a man at one of my tables had a stroke! It was an older man with his wife and adult daughter. He seemed fine, then the daughter came and got me and said that they were going to take her father home because he wasn't feeling well. I told her I would check to see how far along her food was... I boxed it up, came to the table with it, and saw the wife calling the doctor. Then the manager called 911. It was towards the end of the day, and the restaurant wasn't too full. They left the food, so we had a good dinner. Was that wrong? The manager called the hospital, and they were doing okay, but he was still in critical condition.

About 15 minutes after the ambulance left, a man (or woman?) dressed in a black panther suit (like a mascot or something) ran into our restaurant's entrance with a camera man (camcorder, not professional) behind him. The cat did a little dance and left, only to return about 10 minutes later wearing a red jersey (like a practice jersey in gym class) with a different camera man following him. This time, they ran all around the dining room then INTO THE KITCHEN! I asked the manager, who was standing calmly beside me, if he knew who it was. "Who?" I told him I didn't have a clue, but that I hoped the cooks in the back weren't being held up or anything. We just let anyone run into the back of the kitchen? Weird.

Then, today, at the Dentists' office, an older woman was about to have two teeth pulled. She has major heart problems, so she was concerned about bleeding (she had to take some shots to help her blood clot). As I was helping her into her seat, she proceded to tell me about how difficult her past year has been because of different surgeries. Then, before I knew it, she jumped out of the chair, closed the door, and pulled down her pants!! I am not making this up! She had a blood clot in her...area and had to have surgery there too. She showed me where they took a skin graft from the outer part of her leg and put it on the inner (and I mean INNER) thigh... It was a very heartbreaking story because the ER doctor did not treat her well. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to brush-off this woman's pain, and I'm not making fun of her. I was completely interested in what she was saying. It was just a...surreal experience.