we have ways of making you think

Nice tackle
-Elliott Stabler, Law & Order SVU

Having recently had my stethoscope stolen has caused me to be on the lookout for the perp. This is a little ridiculous, as I'm on call at VGH now, and there are more than a few people packing 'scopes. Also, I lost mine at St Paul's.

I'm actually fairly certain mine was taken on purpose, as it had my name, cell phone and pager number displayed clearly on an ident-a-band wrapped around the neck. And it disappeared in the early morning hours. Likely around 5am. Prime stethoscope thieving time.

Anyhow, this has made me think of what I would do if I found someone wearing my stethoscope. And it reminds me of a story from undergrad.

When I lived at 3 Aberdeen St during my time at Queen's, we would often have people come up to our door asking for bottles, or donations to vague charities, or sometimes they would just ask if "Johnny" was home. These young males would be carrying an empty duffle bag and have an old mountain bike ditched on the lawn. You are probably getting the idea, as we eventually did, that these fine gentlemen weren't actually wondering if John was home, but were in fact hoping that he wasn't, if you know what I mean. A few times we actually did get robbed. One time someone came in when we were all sleeping and pinched our X-Box and a few winter jackets. I was pretty into Halo at the time, and mostly sad about the X-Box, but Jason was more upset that his new winter jacket was gone. He had this idea, however, that we could just stay on the lookout and he would probably find it. I wasn't as hopeful.

Anyhow, as the story goes, we did. I was downtown coming home from having dinner and had run into some friends. While we were chatting, I noticed this guy wearing a jacket identical to Jason's walking down the sidewalk. I wasn't sure what to do, but I decided I should do something, so I hurried after him and struck up a conversation. I started asking him about the jacket and he was less than happy to talk about it. As time passed, I realized he was generally pretty dishevelled, except for the new jacket of course. I wasn't certain, however, how to deal with it.

Luckily I didn't really have to. Turns out Milk and Jason were across the street waiting in line at The Brass and had also spotted the jacket. It also turns out that the dishevelled snowboarder, later revealed to be Kingston resident Paul Kaye, wasn't particularly savvy, and suggested that we call the police to resolve the dispute. That hadn't occurred to us. Upon arrival of the Police, Paul talked his way into trouble, repeatedly changing his story and eventually admitting that "a friend" had given him the jacket two days prior (the same day we had filed a police report).

It was a story to tell, and Jay was happy to get his jacket back. I was happy I didn't have to break my record of never being involved in a fist-a-cuffs. It was hard not to feel guilty though. The cops made him just give back the jacket on the spot. It was cold and he was just wearing an old t-shirt underneath. You had to feel sorry for the poor guy. That's pretty unlucky.

If I find someone with my stethoscope around their neck, I doubt I will be as sympathetic.