You hear some fantastic stories in my line of work.
Take, for example, the miserable tale of a one Dr. Drobkin.
Dr. Drobkin is a world famous authority in a highly
specialized field of cardiology. He had received his undergraduate degree, his
medical degree, and his PhD in his hometown. After that he was practicing as a
research doctor at the highest level in New York.
A while ago he wrote a significant paper and had been invited to deliver
the paper at a conference, which by coincidence was in his hometown.
He is
called to the dais. The room is full of distinguished personages; the men
wearing tuxedos, the women properly attired for such an august event. Dr.
Dropkin approaches the dais and puts his papers on the lectern. As he’s about
to give his talk, suddenly the papers all slide down to the floor. He bends over
to pick them up, and as he does his tuckus is against the microphone. And at
the very wrong moment, he lets one ride. It reverberates around the room,
magnified by the microphone.
Somehow he regains his composure and delivers the paper. No
sooner is he done but he grabs everything up and makes a quick exit through a
rear door, vowing never to come back to the town again.
Many years pass, his mother is on in years and he has to go
back to town to care for her. He does so under the name Dr. Cohen. He makes a
reservation at the local Hyatt under that name and gets there under cover of
darkness. As he checks into the hotel, a bright eyed and bushy tailed room
clerk says, “Good evening Dr. Cohen, have you ever been in our town before?”
The doctor says, “Yes, as a matter of fact, young man, I
grew up here and I got my education here; got my undergraduate, my doctorate, and
my medical degrees at the university and I moved away.”
The young man asks, “So why haven’t you been here for so
long?”
“Well, a number of years ago a very embarrassing thing
happened here, and I just didn’t feel I could come back and face the people in
the town.”
The young man says, “Doctor, far be it for me, a young
stripling, to advise a distinguished older gentleman such as you. But, if I can
give you anything from my experience in my young life, things that I thought
were embarrassing and people noticed, I later found out that nobody even knew
that they happened. And I’m sure that’s probably true about the thing you think
is so embarrassing.”
The doctor says, “No, I doubt that anyone has forgotten what
happened.”
The young man says, “Well, was it a long time ago?”
“Yes, it was a very long time ago.”
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