SelfHigh5

Wait haven’t you ever had to go to like, the DMV or a Walmart, or a CVS at 11pm? I’m not saying the professions are filled with dummies but the cross section of public you encounter there is sure to have a few dummies.

Raised Catholic and I took it quite seriously in high school. I even gave out communion after I was Confirmed. A couple of things and I can’t point to the strongest one. But here are a few. All these happened between last couple years of high school and being in my early 20s.

The movie Dogma

Sitting in a really opulent church while a collection basket was passed around. I actually started crying, because of the hypocrisy of it all. The way my dad rolled his eyes at me when I tried to explain my upset.

Leaning in to the questioning feelings id had for a long time but had pushed down because it was sinful and I really just wanted to be good. But once I explored those feelings, it got easier to let go.

It probably took me 5-6 years before I felt freedom from religion and I still have weird hangups that will stay with me forever i suspect, and I’m in my mid-40s.

The jaunty angle of his yarmulke.

In school, even in 100 level US history at Uni, the “beginning of America” is like:

First it was a huge swath of land with a shit load of Indians on it. They lived in teepees, wore feathers on their heads, and used every part of the animals they hunted! Europeans came over, and put a swift end to that. In the 80s and early 90s at least, it was still presented as though they were the adversary somehow, and whites were only trying to “civilize” them. And we were all just like, oh ok.

Sometimes we would learn a little bit about the specific tribe(s) that the region we were in lived before we shuffled them off, but even then it was really reductive and not at all thorough.

Temporarily embarrassed billionaires

Wow you should talk about this for a living. That was perfect.

Yeah during Covid you should have seen my inbox, recruiters offering like $12000 sign on bonus for 9 week contracts, like $4000 a week in rural New York or Florida. But I had fucked off to Norway by then so, wasn’t for me. And I’ll never work as a nurse anywhere but California anyway (until the other states follow suit and mandate safe staffing by law).

I’ve never known a thirstier bunch of people until I was a nurse, and I used to wait tables. Like surely you’re not going through this much liquid at home.

It depends on several factors, the staffing company, specialty, etc. but yeah they probably make a little more, but there is the trade-off of longer shifts, health coverage (mine was 100% covered by the HMO I worked for), and workplace culture. But even staff nurses had opportunities for extra shifts or staying extra to make a little more money. My base pay was good enough the thought of staying one more minute over almost never appealed to me, though.

ITT: Everyone is exploited, but not as badly as my profession is. Stop crying.

There are probably many more minds that could hack being a good doctor, but are smart enough to go into a field where the work-life balance hasn’t been a terrible trope since 1900. I think I could have been a good doctor but from a very young age I remember it seeming like the time wasn’t worth it.

That being said, I did end up becoming an RN, and I’ll say that my program is probably not unlike others in the US where sacrifice and fucking martyrdom reign supreme. Like wouldn’t you do anything to help your patient? Lose sleep, skip breaks, skip meals? If you don’t, whooo wiiiiilll???

Your downvotes are all nurse administrators and bed control. Bullies. Because who else would argue that hospital staff is not exploited, honestly.