Saturday, June 7, 2008

Have You Seen This Man?

My friend B* and his wife, K* had a new baby this week. My friend C* and I decided to drop by the hospital after work to congratulate the parents and greet the new arrival. I haven't been to a hospital to see a baby in a long time.

When we entered, we were directed to a security desk, staffed by uniformed personnel. We were each required to provide a photo ID, which was placed on top of a little box containing a camera. "Look at the camera," the guard told me. The camera swivelled around on gymbals, and took my picture, then swivelled upwards to photograph my ID. A badge was printed, bearing my name and a photograph that could not be used to identify me in any court in the world:

badge1


Clearly, it was intended as a deterrent, not an actual security device. A door was unlocked, and we were directed to an elevator, which took us up to the Obstetrics floor.

There, we were met outside the nurse's station by another security officer. She logged us in to a logbook, then unlocked the door admitting us to the rooms.

K* had delivered her new daughter via C-section, so she had a bit of recovery ahead of her. Their two boys were excited by the new arrival, and I took this shot of B* oldest son, demonstrating what real security is. Future boyfriends are gonna have to go through this guy:

big_brother


After we said goodbye, C* and I got lost on the way out. We wandered around the hospital unchallenged, wondering if the two of us could manage to carry an MRI machine out to the car.

1 comment:

Burton Meahl said...

You should have seen the photo on one of K's mom's badge. Her face was so dark that all you could see was the shape of her head AND they cut her head off so you only saw from the nose up (approximately, since you can't see the nose!).