WORK FUNNIES

Part 5: A Case of Disappearing Psychiatrist

To the newcomers to this blog: I work in an architectural firm that basically specializes in two areas: municipal and healthcare projects. The first involves building and renovation of jails (both adult and juvenile), police precincts, schools, homeless shelters, ect.; the second involves the building and renovation of hospitals and laboratories; pretty nifty, actually, till you have to deal with one of my favorite population segment: people described by the oxymoron "public servants". But this story is actually about the other part of the firm.

The "healthcare group" has a few projects with one of the local hospitals; one of them was simply coded "Dr. Q". OK, computer accepts, and I definitely do not care; that is, till somebody actually explained to me what the project implied. Apparently, Dr. Q was some kind of hot shot psychiatrist with celebrity clientele, and the whole project involved converting a place originally designated for seven employees into a place designated for two employees (completed with private shower room), so that those celebrated clients can have privacy.

The project already went into a construction phase, and yesterday the project manager went to the job site, accompanied by a couple of assistants. Upon arrival, however, they were informed by one of the hospital's project managers that an interoffice e-mail was circulated the evening prior, informing the select few amongst the hospital staff that Dr. Q was no longer with the hospital. Our firm, in turn, was advised that the project is officially "on hold", and that was basically all the information we would receive.

My co-workers, being creative people, decided to hold a contest by providing explanations of what actually occurred. The best came from the guy who explained to me the meaning of the project to begin with: Dr. Q was probably the one who supplied ARod (or whoever he is) with steroids!