Acting ‘Senior’

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SCENE: Resident Changing Room In Operation theatre complex

A: That patient’s attender is an irritating person; he called me a hundred times during last night's duty. (A is having a burned out expression. He is trying to be friendly and start a conversation with B)

B: Hmm (nods, with an facial expression; I have been in such situation ‘n’ times, what is so special about this?)

B (disinterested, change topic): Did you bring that patient’s CT film?

A: I thought you have it; the attender told me, it is with Dr. X

B: Dr. X! (Acting surprised with a mocking face), Don’t you know my name?

A: Yes Sir, I know, but I thought Dr. X must have told you something.

B: How the hell I know where X is. I want the damn CT now.

(I was meeting A and B for the first time, But I could conclude clearly, A was a new junior and B was senior. Dr. X was probably B’s batch mate)

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This has been always a difficult task for me. Something I always disliked. This is different from being a team leader. It is more about being bossy. I know I am not the only person having this attitude problem. I know a friend who resigned a job position as Human Resources Manager, because he could not handle the stress of being bossy to his co-workers. In a teaching institution when we are students, we have to act ‘senior’ at some point of time. It demands some kind of character trait which many people lack, a dark tone of rowdiness. Same time, there are plenty of people blessed with this character. My most difficult time was when the next batch joined after me. I had to prove them, my worthiness, at the same time ensure they learn things fast and subdue to my authority. Thankfully, It went fine for me.

I wanted to write about it, because things can go wrong during this time. It is necessary to keep a balance between being too hard and too soft to the new junior. Recently some of my juniors got a bit ‘tough’ to the newly joined and the new bees got terrified. When I said ‘tough’, it was nothing but the routine resident duties. The new guy who was not accustomed with the resident life style thought, his senior was trying to harass him. He got furious and made a fuss in the unit. Even I was annoyed by that behavior. Although all that fuss got resolved, some psychological division was retained. As the level of study progresses, the numbers of batch mates come down, and when working in small groups, like a surgical unit, even a small disagreement can turn the workplace to hell.

To conclude, I would say acting a ‘good senior’ is an art.