So, just as a side note I’ve decided to call my life updates ‘Chai Chats’ instead, just because I really like Chai and it sounds cool :))))))))))))

So, I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but I have decided that I want to apply to do Medicine at uni, so in July I actually did some work experience in the hospital and it was really good. I was so worried I would hate it, because obviously that would mean I wouldn’t apply for Medicine, and all the lectures I watched, books I read and extra work I had done over the past school year would’ve basically been for nothing. Anyway, the week was really interesting and I was able to learn so much about the NHS and general hospital life. Thursday was “interesting” to say the least, and that was because of the creepy man.

I was sitting in a hospital out-patient clinic, shadowing my dad (who conveniently for me is a doctor). An outpatient clinic is kind of like a GP, expect the patients are having a follow up session after having an operation, or they have been referred by their GP to see a specialist. In this case, these patients have had heart problems, or have recently had heart operations, as this area of the clinic was to do with cardiology. So, this man comes in, he’s in his late 30’s, and I sit in on his appointment. He occasionally looked at me but not an excessive amount, and staring was normal because most of the patients were just curious and had looked over at me once in a while. He finished his appointment and left.

It was only until 45 minutes later, when various other patients had been in and out of the consulting room, that I left to go to the toilet. I was walking back to the consultation room when I saw him in the patient waiting area, which was odd considering he had already been seen and so should’ve left by now. He noticed me and when I walked past him (I had to in order to get back to the room)  he initiated a conversation.

He started saying something like ‘oh, so are you a doctor?’.

I said “no, I’m just doing work experience, I’m still a student”.

He started laughing, saying “oh, I thought you were another doctor that was just sitting in”, to which I said “hahaha no I’m just shadowing my dad and his colleagues for the week”. He goes “oh, that your dad? Wow!”.

He starts talking about me dad, and he tells me about how he had waited for this appointment, because he had requested to see my dad specifically, and didn’t want to see anybody else. I didn’t really have a reply to this because, a) I was really tired and b) how do you even respond to that? I really can’t take a compliment, and I sure as hell can’t take a compliment on behalf of another person, especially if it’s my dad. I wasn’t gonna suddenly go “Yeah I agree, my dad is the best!”. Idk. 

Basically, I thought the conversation was dead because I hadn’t replied, but he then asked “what school do you go to?”. And I told him what school I go to. He then asked if I got in on a scholarship (I still can’t work out why he asked), and when I answered “no”, he asked who pays for my school fees (again, don’t know why he asked). And I told him.

REALLY FLIPPING STUPID I KNOW because now that creep knows where I go to school (and who pays my school fees).  My mum kindly pointed out that it was a bit stupid to tell him all that stuff when I told her that evening. I think during the conversation I was trying to justify the things he was asking in my head. Had I been hearing this from a friend I would’ve been shocked at how nosy and weird this man had been, but being in the actual situation is different I guess.

The conversation then continued like this: “oh, so are you interested in Medicine?”. “Yes, I think so”. (pause while he looks at his phone) “You know, you are very good looking”.

I didn’t know how to reply, so I just went “oh…..”, longing it out while I thought of something. “Thank you?”.

Later on in the day, I realised that I should’ve got annoyed at him right after he said that, because even after he found out that my dad was the doctor who had just seen him, and I was a student, he still somehow thought it would be a good idea to say that. It was inappropriate, and I didn’t even clock it.

I kept on trying to leave the conversation (clearly I didn’t try hard enough) but he kept on asking questions and I just stayed put because I didn’t know what to do, and my dad wasn’t going to come out looking for me because he was seeing more patients.

He eventually came out with “sooooo do you have the facebook?? or email?” (yes, he said “the Facebook”, that wasn’t just a typing error). This is super duper overdramatic, but I honestly had this weird feeling of panic and dread and my stomach basically dropped, mostly because I then realised that this man, who I just thought was curious, was actually using all info about me to decide whether to hit on me or not. Yay.

I obviously wasn’t going to tell him I had Facebook, so I just replied with “no”, and he made this weird loud sighing noise and went “what, you don’t have Facebook?”. I quickly just went “I’m not allowed, nice meeting you, bye” and ran off. Looking back, I definitely wish I had told him that what he said was extremely inappropriate to be asking a young girl.

I went back to the my dads consulting room and after about 15 minutes the patient he was with left, and I told my dad what happened. The outpatient clinic finished so we packed up to leave and go to another hospital. What my dad found a bit strange was that the guy had still been sitting in the waiting room even though he had finished his appointment long before I went out to the toilet. So, we went back to the waiting area (the exit is though there) and I was expecting to be able to point him out to my dad, but the man was gone.

I know this was a really long post, but I tend to waffle a lot so congrats if you managed to stay focused and read until the end! I just wanted to write about it and then just get rid off it from my mind. It’s not even a big thing, but for some reason it made me really upset right after it first happened. Not upset in like a crying way, but more in like a really  uncomfortable/unsettling way, probably because that has never happened to me before. Sure, you encounter creepy men on the Tube all the time, but I’ve only ever witnessed them being creepy to someone else. At some point in your life you will probably be hit on by some creepy man, and that is a very sad fact but apparently that’s life.

Stay Fresh (and safe),

Minty xo