When Just Being A Doctor Isn’t Cool Enough

(I work in a hospital kitchen with an adjoining cafeteria. A doctor pokes his head in the door and calls attention to himself. I stop what I’m doing to help him.)

Doctor: “Excuse me, the coolers in the cafeteria are all turned off. Could you please turn them on?”

Me: “Well, there’s nothing in them right now. We’re still making the food. It would be a waste of electricity to turn on an empty cooler.”

Doctor: “But I’m a doctor.”

Me: “I… I know that.”

Doctor: “If you know, then why won’t you turn them on?”

Me: “Sir, I can’t turn them on. There’s no need.”

Doctor: *pauses* “But I’m a doctor.”

Me: “Sir–”

Doctor: “I’m a doctor!”

Me: “Okay, I can turn them on.”

(I walk into the cafeteria with him and flip the switches on the empty coolers.)

Doctor: “Thank you.”

(He walks away empty-handed, apparently satisfied.)

Me: “Okay, then.”

(I turned the coolers off again and went back to the kitchen.)