I worked part time on Intensive Care for over ten years and for most of that time had another member of staff's face on my ID card.
I must admit, I was at fault there as the clerk who was originally responsible for giving me the card had underlined that I should only use it as long as the " machine" responsible for making them had been fixed.
But there was my name on the ID proclaiming that I was an ITU Nurse
Underneath a photo of a robust, handsome Asian man in his thirties who was sporting a full beard.
I never bothered to change it.
I liked my alter ego's " look"
Perhaps it's says a lot about apathy and lax security within the NHS that not one person pulled me up on my unlikely ID photo.
Ok I got a few double glances from relatives when they strained their necks in order to remember my name, but at no time did anyone say
" That's not you!"
Even the security guard who I turned the card into on the day I left the trust never said a word.
He just glanced at the photo then looked at me and sighed
Don't all security guards look at you and sigh?
ReplyDeleteAt their rate of pay, so would I
DeleteTasker took the words write out of my mouth. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteRight... not write! Damned autocorrect!
ReplyDeleteI once switched passports in a queue with someone who looked nothing like me. The Customs man looked at both of them and us, then let us through.
ReplyDeletelol I enjoyed this one too
DeleteWhat makes those Security Guards sigh in Tasker's comment I wonder? My mind boggles at the possibilities.
ReplyDeleteWhat What? A robust and handsome Asian man in this thirties? Who is he? I suppose he would have aged too. Oh well, fun thought for a minute.
ReplyDeleteHe WAS a dish
DeleteAnd someplace out there, is a hunky asian man with a beard, with John's face on his ID badge, saying, that is what I look like without the beard.
ReplyDeleteFunny if I had ever met him!
DeleteI never did
You should have seen one of Alan's previous security passes … he looked so much like a thug I would have denied him entry into everywhere.
ReplyDeleteYour pass this time looks very nice :-)
Thank you dearheart
Deletewho knows what that bearded man is doing in your name with that badge and your face on it? you could have a whole 'other' life you know nothing about!
ReplyDeleteI wish I was THAT interesting
DeleteHahahahaha, great story! Maybe the Asian guy had YOUR face on HIS ID too. Wouldn't that be a blast?
ReplyDeleteLove your rainbow lanyard, by the way.
Debra , email me your address and I 'll send you one
DeleteOh thanks, John, I'd love one!!! I don't seem to have your email address though (and couldn't find it on your blog). I only have your mailing address from entering your postcard contest.
Deletejgsheffield@hotmail.com
DeleteA friend stuck a photo of a monkey over her ID badge for work and got in and out of the building for a month before SHE removed it!!! Now it's all automated so while it would still work I guess the photo issue never arises!
ReplyDeleteShe'd be done now for that
DeleteA friend of mine got to Harwich to take the ferry to The Hook of Holland and when she got her passport out she found she had picked up her building society Pass Book in haste. They waved her through.
ReplyDeleteThere is a theme unfolding here
DeleteEvery year at my husband’s workplace they had to indicate their ethnic group for statistical purposes. He is white, but every year he checked a different box and he was never questioned.
ReplyDeleteMaverick
DeleteMy skin colour has definitely changed in the last 10 years as it was olive ish but now pale and hair was dark and thick and wavy - now thin,grey and straighter-oh well x
ReplyDeleteI've not changed THAT much
DeleteDelightful story, as usual, and I, too, love your rainbow lanyard.
ReplyDeleteYears ago, DH was paying bills and to the utilities company he should have written 'Light, Gas, and Water' but instead wrote 'Loot, Gouge, and Weasel'. Our bank cashed the check without contacting us. You have to wonder who is paying attention to accuracy.
Hugs!
Email me your address and I will send u one
DeleteThis made me chuckle. I knew a guy who used to refer to the "Pacific Gas & Electric" company in California as "Pacific Graft & Extortion." Don't know if he wrote his checks out that way though. He was pretty ornery, so there's a good chance he did.
DeleteI read years ago of a young man who pasted a photo of the face of a cocker spaniel on his passport and was never questioned when he traveled all over Europe ( prior to EU).
ReplyDeleteI'm sighing right now.
ReplyDelete💕
In the hallway of the UCLA hospital, they used to have group photos of every med school class. A client of mine with OCD pointed out that the 1976 photo was irregular. Someone we dubbed Wigman had filled in for all the absentees. Always in the same choppy wig, head thrown back, grimacing, somber. I loved Wigman’s audacity and how unnoticed he was to the passing throng.
ReplyDeleteThat is excellent! Your new photo is very nice. I actually look dead on my passport photo!
ReplyDeleteYou look very handsome on your new ID and the rainbow lanyard is lovely. IDs can be important to patients---I have been hospitalized many times due to chronic illness and when very ill found it hard to remember the names of the staff helping me. I would always try to read the ID names, tho I admit I never looked at the photos.
ReplyDeletelizzy
Playing passport games doesn't seem worth the hassle. Who wants to be pulled aside for a full body search? Here they scrutinize the pictures and secondary IDs quite closely, or at least give that impression.
Delete"Nyrs Staff" - I would never have understood what that meant but fortunately the translation into English is just below.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't wear a lanyard in my hospital, Infection Control used to cut them up along with the material elastic tourniquets. Heaven forbid.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the giggle, full of cold, all of us over a week, not funny.
ReplyDeleteHusband had his passport stolen several years ago, his temporary passport photo to get him home said it all ....
I like the ribbon on your new one.
ReplyDeleteThis really made me smile. I miss working in our wonderful NHS!
ReplyDeleteGot you beat! Went through my 4 year enlistment in the US Navy with my name spelled Synder.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it won't happen in palliative care but a lady I know who used to work in a nursing home said they had to switch from lanyards to name pins because the more confused old folks kept grabbing the lanyards and strangling the workers! (not on purpose)
ReplyDeleteThat's hilarious!
ReplyDeleteWow! I wish you had a picture of that card. I like your rainbow lanyard! You're right -- this does say something sobering about security, doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteThis name tag post snafu is both funny and ridiculous. So much for security via name tags.
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