#533 – Gloved
Posted on December 20, 2012 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comic
I remember being a kid and there being a transition where dentists were newly required to wear gloves. My dentist was pissed. He was in his 60s at the time and this was a huge adjustment for him. He was frustrated at just putting them on let alone it interfering with his technique.
Tags: dentist, germs, sewage
Usually, these comics just make me smile. This one made me laugh loud enough for others to hear, and almost got me in trouble for reading comics on my phone at work (fortunately there aren’t many people around during the holiday season).
I don’t know why, but I found the patient’s face in the third panel, considering the context, hilarious.
My ultimate goal is to get people in trouble. SO CLOSE!
Back in the family’s Oakland, CA. days, Ma was a Dental Assistant for the district’s Native American Health Clinic. Today’s sewer joke is nothing compared to the tales we heard of the horrible mouths some of the patients had. She was glad they all had to wear gloves.
I know a dentist who still doesn’t use gloves unless you specificially tell him to.
I only went to him once.
As a professional cook with 29 years in the business, I can relate to this. I’ve gotten used to the gloves, but in my current job it’s not that big a deal. I’m doing banquets for hundreds of people, so when I’m working on something I can put the gloves on and then do one thing (plating 400 desserts, arranging raw vegetables on a tray for an appetizer party, etc.) for however long it takes me to do it.
But a problem comes up in a restaurant “line cook” situation. There, I’m not just doing “one thing”. But the health department wants gloves, so … *don gloves, slap raw steak onto the broiler*. Oh, now I need to make a salad *change gloves, make salad*. Throw a hamburger patty on the grill, oops, gloves contaminated with raw meat, change them again before touching anything else… etc. etc. Good grief, I could go through an entire box of 100 gloves in a single shift.
The better answer is “common sense”. Handled raw meat? Wash hands before handling something that will be served raw. 29 years in the business, and I’ve never had a report of somebody getting sick.
I wear two pairs of gloves when I’m cleaning the restroom. I do some sweeping and harmless stuff like that first. Then I clean the toilets and change the paper bags in the Kotex disposal box. Then I take off my toilet/period gloves and clean the sinks and mirrors and all that fun stuff before finishing off with the trash. Sometimes some idiot will try to flush paper towels, and if I happened to forget my picker, the easiest thing to do is just reach in with my gloved hand and pluck it out. Then I have to change my gloves early. Don’t make me change my gloves early. You won’t like me when I have to change my gloves early.
Man in chair: “I amth tho suwingth you.”