I did not plan to write this one ever. I felt the medical fraternity was sort of violated when I witnessed it. Even today I feel the same way and as strongly. I am writing it down so that perhaps it will help me forget and move on.
This happened a few years ago. The Boss had called me to see him at 9:00 A.M. to discuss some issue concerning my department. When I reached the place, I saw a posh car with the civic logo on it.
"It is the Boss' Boss - the Big Civic Boss' the peon told me. "He wants a check up." So I waited a little distance away, not wanting to interrupt anything that did not concern me. Out walked the Civic Boss, wearing a three piece suit. He was followed by the Boss, wearing a coat and a tie. He was followed by the Head of a superspecialty, wearing a three piece suit. Normally he was seen in a shirt, but this seemed to be a special day.
"Meet us in your department" the Boss told him while the Civic Boss got into the car. "Meet me afterwards" the Boss told me while getting into the Civic Boss' car. He pulled the door shut and the car drove away to the building housing the superspecialist's department. The superspecialist just stood there, stunned. I just stood there, stunned and embarrassed for the superspecialist. He noticed me, turned around without a word and followed the car on foot.
"Could they not take him with them?" someone asked me when I related this story. "The Civic Boss wanted a check up from the superspecialist. What was the point in making him follow them on foot?"
I knew what the point was. The point was that the Civic Boss did not consider this superspecialist to be in the same league as he. He considered him to be much lower down on the social rung. He probably considered himself to be something like a King, who did not associate with such people. He felt that it was the job of such people as the superspecialist to serve him, and that was to be done maintaining the distance between them. I did not say all this, because the person I was talking to probably felt all this too.
