Dinner conversation question…

[JulieBeeRN]

How is it theft if it has been paid for, whether "a la carte" or as an included item for a procedure? Again, I am speaking ONLY of items whose sterile seal has been broken. This is not packages of usable supplies that are still sealed walking out the door. It is items that would go into the trash, probably as hazardous waste, which costs the hospital more to dispose of.

Because it’s paid for by the hospital and it isn’t my property. Things change over time and you are talking about sometime that occurred decades ago. At my hospital, right now, it is addressed in our Code of Conduct policy.

Plus, I really wouldn’t want to take home anything that is on a sterile field with other used (bloody) items. Surgeons don’t nicely place used supplies on the field. They are focused on the surgery. And at the end of the surgery, the circulating nurse & tech (or doc) count every single item. They do so by picking it up (with gloves they used for the surgery) and showing it to the circulating nurse. So everything is touched by someone with bloody gloves. No thanks.

 

[focusondisney]

How is it theft if it has been paid for, whether "a la carte" or as an included item for a procedure? Again, I am speaking ONLY of items whose sterile seal has been broken. This is not packages of usable supplies that are still sealed walking out the door. It is items that would go into the trash, probably as hazardous waste, which costs the hospital more to dispose of.

The EMPLOYEE didn’t pay for it, the hospital, patient or their insurance did. It is not the employee’s to take. I was a union delegate for years, and taking anything from the hospital was theft & cause for termination. And FYI, not all hospital trash is hazardous waste. Unused clean supplies are not hazardous waste. Maybe you ought to give up on topics you know nothing about instead of arguing with people who actually know what they’re talking about.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't think the topic itself is inappropriate, although it is not one that I would bring up. I do feel that when a dining companion asks to change a subject it is good manners to do so. I am not getting hung up on the subject matter, because it seems that lately a lot of people have lost their ability to use their conversation edit button. I have asked someone multiple times to please stop the conversation, to the point that I physically turned away from them at the table. If you are asked to stop, unless there is a really good reason to continue, how hard is it to change the subject? The reason should never be because I am stuck on a thought that I just need to share and I dont care if you are not comfortable

I think that's why it matters who is involved in the conversations. A one on one conversation is really different if you're asking to move onto a different subject and someone ignored you and kept on going. But to ask the entire table (or majority) to move on who is engaging in that conversation just because you're not liking the topic is different.

Generally, in a group setting, I am able to just surf on my phone for a while and tune it out if that situation comes up.

In recent memory that only time I interjected to request a move of topic was when my sister-in-law's now husband (this was a few months before they got married) was talking to myself and my mother-in-law while getting food in a buffet setting at the house about shooting his dog instead of taking them to the vet to be put to sleep and then discussing that he would shoot the neighbor's dog if it came onto their property (frankly that scares be given he has PTSD and drinks a lot of alcohol and honestly I prefer to not be around him long if I don't have to but that's besides the point about topic changing). I did say "let's not talk about that please" in a polite but firm way.

 

[MsChristy12]

I think anytime if someone at the table is uncomfortable w/ the conversation topic, and they polite ask to change the subject but the rest keeps going, that's inconsiderate. I would ask once, and if they keep at it, I'll politely excuse myself from the table.

 

[DodgerGirl]

I have never understood when people are talking to on the phone or in mixed company no matter if it's a friend or a relative "mainly relatives" the first subject that always is mentioned is always about health and I believe when you talk to a friend or a relative you cannot talk about health problems or anything about other relatives health problems especially if there is children present and are hearing the conversation because all you'll hear from the kids questions such as "What's happening to Grandma/Grandpa? Or why is Grandma not feeling well?. Because it used to be that when people talked to friends and relatives no matter if they chatted on the phone or went to visit friends or relatives they would always have a lot of topics to talk about such as attending a birthday party for a close friend vacations their family took or calling just to say hello and wanting to see how things were going in your day. Why health and illnesses suddenly became a hot topic to start a conversation with people especially in mixed company i'll never figure out. I also dislike these types of conversation because there are lots of subjects to talk about other than health and illnesses because if you have children present who are listening to this subject you need to change the topic because topics like illnesses can scare children at times

 

[Karin1984]

I believe when you talk to a friend or a relative you cannot talk about health problems or anything about other relatives health problems

The weather and a person's health were once considered the safest topics to talk about.

In the play Pygmalion (or the musical adaptation My Fair Lady) by George Bernard Shaw, the main character Eliza Doolittle is advised to stick to these two subjects.

HIGGINS [rising and coming to her to coax her]: Oh, that'll be all right. I've taught her to speak properly; and she has strict orders as to her behavior. She's to keep to two subjects: the weather and everybody's health--Fine day and How do you do, you know--and not to let herself go on things in general. That will be safe.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

My brother in-law started that exact conversation at dinner... somebody shut him down really quickly.

 

[MillauFr]

I would respond by telling the joke that Michael Scott used at Chilis...

First guys says, "Well I'm an astronaut so I drive a Saturn." Then the second guy says, "Well I am a pimp, so I drive a cheap Escort". And the the third guys says, "I got you both beat, I'm a proctologist so I drive a BROWN PROBE."​