Hooray! It's Monday afternoon and I'm off! It's my Friday! I had my first shifts at the ED here in Washington, and they were GREAT! The ER is really well run and the staff (RNs, MDs and techs) are professional and fun to work with. I had so much trepidation about working nights, but the past three days have allayed those fears!
Last night was particularly fun. I was a float nurse with two others, one of whom is a friend I worked with in Virginia, and we had a very low patient census, meaning the number of patients in the department was lower than had been projected by staffing/scheduling. Sunday nights are usually really busy- some really sick people and some people that, as one nurse put it, "tore themselves up over the weekend and now would like to take Monday as a Day of Rest....and want a note from the ED to prove it!" Anyway, the charge RN asked us at 2:30am if we'd like to go home, which we did! My friend, M, asked if we wanted to go to the casino for a bit and we were all up for the adventure, mostly because we'd expected to be there another 5 hours and had just had coffee.
I have never been to a casino before, and it was a particularly surreal experience at 3 in the morning! The parking lot was full of cars, and the lights from outside were brighter than daylight. We were in our scrubs, which I thought would seem strange, but when I saw how some of the other patrons were dressed, I realized that we were far from abnormal. At least we were wearing clothes that should be worn in public. I walked past one lady who was wearing essentially a skin tight swimsuit. With heels. And a body that perhaps would have benefited from clothes that were tailored to her large frame, rather than said polyester/rayon swimsuit. On the other hand, she was winning more money than I did, so maybe it is her lucky outfit! :P
We played the slots, and after an hour, the twenty dollars that I had allotted for the Casino Adventure was gone, my friend A's money was gone, and M was up sixty bucks! We decided to leave and get some food at the casino deli, but as we walked past the blackjack table, M suggested we take her winnings, split them, and go play blackjack. She wouldn't take no for an answer, so we ambled over to the blackjack tables. I have seen blackjack on TV and movies, and thought I knew how to play, but I definitely did not have the niceties of blackjack etiquette down. Luckily, it was a slow night and the dealer was really nice about telling me what to do. We played for about an hour, and were hootin' and hollerin' and whooping it up, generally being loud and having fun. The dealers around us who didn't have any customers were laughing and smiling and yelling with us. People thought we were high rollers and kept coming by to see what all the commotion was about, but quickly left when they saw our dollar bets and realized we were just overly excited!
We tired of blackjack around 4:30am, and the pit boss (I guess) came over and asked us if we'd like to have a comp card for food. He gave us each a ten dollar voucher and we feasted like queens on nachos, chicken strips and fries, and free cokes. It was SO FUN. We left after our food, which was actually pretty good, and I went to sleep around 6:15am with a smile on my face, and only down ten bucks thanks to the free food, which was a win for me! I'd rather have food than money under normal circumstances!
I'm off the today and tomorrow and I am so happy to be able to enjoy the sun, but happy to have had our nocturnal casino adventure!
Last night was particularly fun. I was a float nurse with two others, one of whom is a friend I worked with in Virginia, and we had a very low patient census, meaning the number of patients in the department was lower than had been projected by staffing/scheduling. Sunday nights are usually really busy- some really sick people and some people that, as one nurse put it, "tore themselves up over the weekend and now would like to take Monday as a Day of Rest....and want a note from the ED to prove it!" Anyway, the charge RN asked us at 2:30am if we'd like to go home, which we did! My friend, M, asked if we wanted to go to the casino for a bit and we were all up for the adventure, mostly because we'd expected to be there another 5 hours and had just had coffee.
I have never been to a casino before, and it was a particularly surreal experience at 3 in the morning! The parking lot was full of cars, and the lights from outside were brighter than daylight. We were in our scrubs, which I thought would seem strange, but when I saw how some of the other patrons were dressed, I realized that we were far from abnormal. At least we were wearing clothes that should be worn in public. I walked past one lady who was wearing essentially a skin tight swimsuit. With heels. And a body that perhaps would have benefited from clothes that were tailored to her large frame, rather than said polyester/rayon swimsuit. On the other hand, she was winning more money than I did, so maybe it is her lucky outfit! :P
We played the slots, and after an hour, the twenty dollars that I had allotted for the Casino Adventure was gone, my friend A's money was gone, and M was up sixty bucks! We decided to leave and get some food at the casino deli, but as we walked past the blackjack table, M suggested we take her winnings, split them, and go play blackjack. She wouldn't take no for an answer, so we ambled over to the blackjack tables. I have seen blackjack on TV and movies, and thought I knew how to play, but I definitely did not have the niceties of blackjack etiquette down. Luckily, it was a slow night and the dealer was really nice about telling me what to do. We played for about an hour, and were hootin' and hollerin' and whooping it up, generally being loud and having fun. The dealers around us who didn't have any customers were laughing and smiling and yelling with us. People thought we were high rollers and kept coming by to see what all the commotion was about, but quickly left when they saw our dollar bets and realized we were just overly excited!
We tired of blackjack around 4:30am, and the pit boss (I guess) came over and asked us if we'd like to have a comp card for food. He gave us each a ten dollar voucher and we feasted like queens on nachos, chicken strips and fries, and free cokes. It was SO FUN. We left after our food, which was actually pretty good, and I went to sleep around 6:15am with a smile on my face, and only down ten bucks thanks to the free food, which was a win for me! I'd rather have food than money under normal circumstances!
I'm off the today and tomorrow and I am so happy to be able to enjoy the sun, but happy to have had our nocturnal casino adventure!
Fun!! Haha, I love the casino trip, but don't bash the bodysuit...they make them in Grey's Anatomy scrub color you know! (looks great with some Danskos) ;)
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