Anyway, there's a great debate, in the style of the Melbourne Comedy Festival but done for medicos by medicos and it's surprisingly funny. Then there is the trivia lunch, orations, and oral and poster presentations pertaining to recent research.
But what really gets everyone excited is 'free stuff Wednesday'. Notepads, pens, lanyards, post-its, baggies, coffee, cake, lollies, more notepads and more pens (I hear there's even t-shirts and caps this year), all from either pharmaceutical or insurance reps trying to secure their stake in the mega business that is a hospital spending budget. If you clean up on stationery at Hospital Week, you're sorted for the rest of the year, if not the next two years. It's a free-for-all where some of the worker's are only just polite enough to not elbow you out of the way to get to the goods.
Sometimes, I hate the press of the freebie - I hate the feeling that I'm like a vulture circling for the goods to finally die (read: get put onto the display table) so that I can get my fill of post-its like the scab I am. Then there's the upside - I get coloured stationery to reduce the boredom of grey in the office without having to pay for it and knowing that I wouldn't get it if I asked the admin ladies to order it for me. One of the ladies here called it 'Jawa-ing' rather than scavenging. I liked it.
I only took one of everything that I liked the look of, even though I was shopping for both Curly and myself (she was running late for work and I didn't want her to miss out) and divvyed the spoils. So even though I scammed free stuff, I was very restrained in my haulage. I am now one with my inner Jawa.
3 comments:
Free Stuff Wednesday! Bec would be jealous!
I would to! Oh in the old days Elieen and I would compete for who got the best stuff. The year I got the nice glass coffee plunger was probably the best. The Viagra shaped sorbolene dispenser was the funniest (G didn't want to touch it). I am still using pens and postit notes from Hospital weeks past. I am particularly fond of my Australia-shaped postit note pad and keep it with me on my overseas travels. Don't forget the free blood pressure and cholesterol tests. Ah the memories...
You'd be shocked, Bec, at the miserliness of it all now. I think the best I got was a re-tractable Id-holder-thingy, amongst the pens and post-its.
No more free cholesterol checks, no free espresso, you need to sell your soul to get the free lunch, not even the Berri fridge this year... The world's going to hell in a handbasket. :P
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