Emergency Room Downtime

We all lead busy lives. Maybe not doing work, given the economy, but certainly we are busy looking for work. And when not actively working or looking, we spend tons of time engaging in whatever distracting activities we can to forget about how much we dislike working, or being out of work. That's tiring, and some of us need a rest.

So why not go to your nearest large hospital and visit the emergency room? Go there the next time you cut an artery while doing-it-yourself, or botch a suicide attempt. Hell, go there if you just think you've got the plague, or botulism, or end-stage lyme disease. If you have any of those, or feel like you do, you definitely need a rest.

Why go to a busy, chaotic, emergency room to rest? Because you are guaranteed plenty of downtime. Time where you can do nothing else but sit, bleed, and wait, for hours and hours. Time where you have an iron-clad excuse to be off the grid, out of touch, unable to contribute.

While driving around ticking off chores from my 'To Do' list the other day, I heard a blurb on the radio about some hospital somewhere (I wasn't paying close attention at first) that established new 'guidelines' - promises really - for emergency room care. This hospital promised not more than 13 patients would wait not more than 11 hours for care.

I don't know about you, but I could use 11 hours of downtime. Not so sure about that number 13 in an emergency room though ...