I started watching The Resident, where a first-year intern complains to the nurse practitioner about the gruff manner of Conrad, the third-year resident to whom he has been assigned. Here is her response to him:
“Let’s say your car has a rattle. So you take it to a mechanic and this guy’s kind, polite, eager to help. For two days, he runs every test in the book. And then he calls you and says it’s gonna set you back a thousand bucks. So you max out your credit card and on your drive home, guess what? You hear the same rattle. Or, you could take the same car with the same rattle to another mechanic. And this guy is rude, dismissive, arrogant, but he tightens a bolt, fixes the rattle, charges you five bucks. Problem solved. Watch and learn. Conrad’s the guy who tightens the bolt.”
It reminds me of the adage that in every job you should either earn or learn. Ideally, you’d learn from a nice guy but you can put up with a lot if you’re learning from someone who is less than pleasant. As a good friend says: “Nice is nice, if what you need is nice.” If you need to learn, maybe nice is negotiable.
