31 August 2007
♥ burritomania / emergency
Yesterday, Lex and I went to Chipotle because we felt that after a long week of being very, very good pandas, we deserved a reprieve from our homecoming starvation diet. We ate our little burritos outside on the patio, and at the table next to us was a group of forty-to-fifty something paramedics.
Their conversation seemed to be pretty standard paramedic talk, but after about ten minutes Lex and I noticed that the ambulance they had driven there was still running. Finally, nearly half an hour after we'd arrived, they gathered their little paramedic gear and got ready to leave. All three of them ambled out the door and mosied on over to the ambulance, where they laughed and joked and took their time getting in.
We didn't think much of the ambulance idling in the Chipotle parking lot, but we did start to wonder about the ethics surrounding the fact that once everyone was in, the siren was suddenly on and no red light seemed to be an obstacle.
Now, not wanting to believe that our hard-working law enforcement and healthcare professionals would ever exhibit such blatant disrespect for the system, I've come up with a couple of possible circumstances which may justufy the suspicious behavior.
1. Dying person in back of ambulance begs paramedics to stop and get him a burrito. Knowing he will die at any moment, paramedics abide by his last wish. Patient dies as paramedics pull up to Chipotle. Not wanting to disrespect patient's wishes, paramedics decide to enjoy a burrito in celebration of patient's life. After perfectly justifiable eating session, paramedics use sirens because they must rush to the hospital to have the corpse declared, etc.
2. Paramedics are called to Chipotle to rescue someone choking on a giant burrito. After saving life, they are treated to free burritos. As soon as they step back into the ambulance, another fast-food joint calls and requires their assistance to perform Heimlich maneuver on a choking client.
3. One of the paramedics' wives is pregnant and craving burritos. The paramedics go to Chipotle to get her one because their shifts are ending and as they are heading back to the ambulance to put up for the night, the wife calls and has just gone into labor. Sirens ensue.
I guess those are really the only three circumstances under which I can imagine the paramedics would have needed the siren on the ambulance so shortly after polishing off their giant turd-looking burritos. In any case, were I in some position of law enforcement (or really anything where I had a car with a siren), I feel confident that I would abuse it.
Their conversation seemed to be pretty standard paramedic talk, but after about ten minutes Lex and I noticed that the ambulance they had driven there was still running. Finally, nearly half an hour after we'd arrived, they gathered their little paramedic gear and got ready to leave. All three of them ambled out the door and mosied on over to the ambulance, where they laughed and joked and took their time getting in.
We didn't think much of the ambulance idling in the Chipotle parking lot, but we did start to wonder about the ethics surrounding the fact that once everyone was in, the siren was suddenly on and no red light seemed to be an obstacle.
Now, not wanting to believe that our hard-working law enforcement and healthcare professionals would ever exhibit such blatant disrespect for the system, I've come up with a couple of possible circumstances which may justufy the suspicious behavior.
1. Dying person in back of ambulance begs paramedics to stop and get him a burrito. Knowing he will die at any moment, paramedics abide by his last wish. Patient dies as paramedics pull up to Chipotle. Not wanting to disrespect patient's wishes, paramedics decide to enjoy a burrito in celebration of patient's life. After perfectly justifiable eating session, paramedics use sirens because they must rush to the hospital to have the corpse declared, etc.
2. Paramedics are called to Chipotle to rescue someone choking on a giant burrito. After saving life, they are treated to free burritos. As soon as they step back into the ambulance, another fast-food joint calls and requires their assistance to perform Heimlich maneuver on a choking client.
3. One of the paramedics' wives is pregnant and craving burritos. The paramedics go to Chipotle to get her one because their shifts are ending and as they are heading back to the ambulance to put up for the night, the wife calls and has just gone into labor. Sirens ensue.
I guess those are really the only three circumstances under which I can imagine the paramedics would have needed the siren on the ambulance so shortly after polishing off their giant turd-looking burritos. In any case, were I in some position of law enforcement (or really anything where I had a car with a siren), I feel confident that I would abuse it.
8/31/2007
