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Okay, I know a story
I haven't told you yet.
No, no, I did.
Hey, here's one.
No, never mind.
Got one. Intermission at the theatre.
This woman comes out
of the ladies' room
and her dress is tucked
in her pantyhose.
I'm about to tap her on the shoulder,
and she turns around and it's
- Diane Sawyer, yeah.
- Diane Sawyer.
You told us that a thousand times.
Well, excuse me for trying.
You're so damn interesting,
you tell a story.
Fine, I will.
Okay. The night I got engaged
to the former Mrs. Bob,
I took her to this fancy
foreign restaurant, right?
Heard it.
And, Bob,
Taco Bell is not a foreign restaurant.
Okay, did I ever tell you about the guy
that left me a $5 tip?
Oh, God. Welcome back
to Penny Ante Playhouse.
Gee, is it really possible that we've
spent so much time together,
we have nothing new to talk about?
The sad part is, we had
this same discussion yesterday.
Well, once again, the city has that
wonderfully unique New York aroma:
Two parts armpit, one part jock strap.
I never thought I'd say this,
but thank God Becker's here.
Coffee to go, Reg.
Oh, yeah, yeah,
and if my morning didn't stink enough,
Margaret has me signed up
for some sort of mentor programme
at "Do You Want Fries With That"
Junior High.
So now I got some stupid kid
following me around all morning.
Hanging out with the average
American school kid,
and me without my bullet-proof vest.
At least the thing about the kid
was something new.
No, he told us that yesterday.
Twice.
You call about a stopped-up drain?
Yeah, four hours ago.
Come on, I need that exam room.
You gonna bust my hump,
or you gonna tell me where to go?
I like both choices.
Second door on the left,
and make it fast.
Hey, it takes as long as it takes.
Plumbing is a mercurial mistress.
I call a plumber, I get a poet.
Hey, Margaret,
here's that gauze you wanted.
Finally. Where have you been
for the last 20 minutes?
Well, I'm sorry, but that storeroom
is so messy, you can't find anything.
Someone should really organise
that place.
Yeah, you.
I've been asking you to do that
for the last six months.
I swear, Linda,
sometimes you are just so unreliable.
You know, Margaret,
when you constantly criticise me,
you virtually assure my failure.
You have got to stop
watching Oprah.
Okay, Linda,
the storeroom is your project for today.
Organise it any way you want.
It's all yours.
Wow.
You'll see, Margaret.
I'm gonna do a great job.
It will be more than a storeroom.
It will be a place to put things.
I guess "*** University"
isn't turning out
the quality graduates it used to.
You're late, John Becker.
Yeah, the late John Becker.
I should be so lucky.
That kid here yet?
Oh, don't start.
He's only here for one day.
Did you give him
some sort of orientation?
Yes.
I pointed down the hall and I said,
"There's Dr. Becker's office."
Now he didn't take notes,
so we don't know if he got it all.
Very helpful. Thank you, Margaret.
No, don't touch that.
I'm sorry, Dr. Becker.
I'm Jeff Andrews.
Yeah, look, kid, uh, we're gonna be
moving kind of quick today,
so you may have to struggle
to keep up.
Try to remember, this is medicine.
I'm not gonna be able to stop
and wait for you.
Oh, don't worry about me.
Just pretend I'm not here.
I can do that.
I just wanna thank you
for letting me come here today.
I've always been interested
in medicine
and this is a great opportunity
to see a professional up close.
Everybody says the surgeons
are the hot shots,
but to me,
the family practitioner is the real hero.
You know something,
we're gonna get along just fine.
- Jeff.
- Jeff, right. Jeff, yeah.
Come on now.
Thank you, Margaret.
Okay, kid, listen and learn.
Patient's file is the cornerstone
of a medical practise.
This, of course, is a lunch menu?
The man knows everything.
Thank you, Margaret.
Oh, all right. Now, ahem,
this is an orthopaedics case.
- I think you'll find that interesting.
- Oh, of course I will.
Orthopaedics is the infrastructure
of the entire body.
Oh, I swear,
it's like looking into a damn mirror.
- Mr. Ford.
- Hey.
This is, uh Don't tell me.
- Jeff.
- Right.
Right. Jeff's a student.
He's gonna be observing me today
unless you have any objections.
- No, no, I don't mind.
- Right. Right.
Okay, why don't you, uh,
tell us what happened.
Okay. Uh, well,
it was the damnedest thing.
I banged my ankle
getting out of the car yesterday.
Yeah.
Swelled up like a son of a gun.
All right. Now, Jeff, pay attention.
This could be serious.
Now the first thing we do is, uh
Wash our hands?
Right, right, right.
Okay, now the second thing we do
is to check for range of motion
and for evidence of a sprain
or a break.
Now, Mr. Ford, when I rotate
your ankle, tell me when it hurts.
Okay, well, you know what?
That's the thing, see.
Um, by this morning my ankle
was back to normal, good as new.
You wanna tell me
what the hell you're doing here?
Oh, well, I, uh
I already had the appointment,
and, well, heck,
it would have been rude to cancel.
Plus, I know you.
You'd have torn me a new one.
This guy's a walking time bomb.
Slightest little thing,
and boom, explodes
Thank you, Mr. Ford.
You have any problem with your ankle,
give us a call.
Nope. I'm good.
Think I can grab
some tongue depressors?
My kid's making a birdhouse
for school.
That's the real reason
you came in here, isn't it?
Yeah.
Go on.
Hey, they're not
all emergencies, right?
Yeah, yeah, that's right, Jeff.
That's right.
- Dr. Becker.
- Wow.
Down, boy.
I want you to know you won't be seeing
much of me today.
- I'm reorganizing the storeroom.
- Oh, good for you.
I have lots of exciting ideas.
For example, the storeroom
is so small and cramped,
we don't have room
for the stuff that we have.
I was thinking of putting mirrors
all along one wall.
Then it will look like
we have twice as much room.
What does she do here?
Uh, before the storeroom thing?
I have no idea.
All right, abdominal pain, cramping,
possible intestinal blockage.
Now, obviously, this could be
very embarrassing to the patient, Jeff,
so the important thing is to be delicate
and to put the patient at ease.
Sorry, doc, I hope you don't mind
my taking a load off.
No, that's what it's there for.
Uh, this young man is a student.
He's gonna be observing me today.
Do you mind if he's in here?
Yeah, sure, whatever.
All right, uh,
tell me what the problem is
and we'll try to solve it together.
Okay, but it's no big mystery.
There's just a lot of blockage.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, have you, uh
Have you experienced this before?
About six times a day
for the last eight years.
Well, that's a lot of blockage.
Are you gonna be all right with this?
- I think so.
- All right.
Look, before I see for myself,
I want you to know
that we have a lot of options.
Trust me, doc, I already stuck my hand
in there and it's jammed but good.
Feels like a lot of hair and grease.
I even tried a good solid blast
of compressed air but no go.
Look, look, Mr. Danzetti, see, l
Danzetti? Who's that?
I'm Chuck, the Drain King.
I'm here to unclog your sink.
You're the plumber?
- Am I paying you by the hour?
- You bet.
Well, then get off your ***
and get back to work, for God's sake.
Don't worry, doc.
A visit from "Uncle Miltie" here
will do the trick.
All I gotta do is shove this in
and give it a couple of good turns.
Hey, come on,
it was just a bad burrito.
I'll wait it out.
Ugh.
Come on.
Okay, I know I haven't told you
this one yet.
This one time some friends
and I are going camping.
- We got lost
- Hey, Eyes-Wide-Shut.
You told us that a million times.
Oh. Right.
Did I ever tell you about the time
I got the modelling job in the Bahamas,
and I went out with?
Diane Sawyer?
No, the head of the agency.
And we went out to dinner
And you had lobsters
as big as babies.
Oh, I did already tell you.
Hey, what about
when I was at that hotel bar
and I saw Gwyneth Paltrow
and Winona Ryder making out?
Bob, are you making this up?
Yes.
I'd kind of like to hear
the rest of that story.
So you see, Jeff,
very often when a child is nauseous,
it loses control quickly
and without warning.
Well, it's
It's good that this happened.
Really? How?
What? Oh, how. Um
Well, I, you know, um
It just drives home the point that
you need to be prepared for anything.
And you have to
You have to listen to your patients.
Try to hear what it is they're telling you
and be sensitive to their needs.
- Oh, Dr. Becker?
- Oh, God, not her.
Dr. Becker,
I have a question for you.
Oh, yes, Mrs. Recinos.
You told me I shouldn't go out
in the sun without putting on sun block
with an SPF rating
of at least 30, right?
- Yes, yes, that's right.
- I'm going to the park today.
And all I have is some SPF 2
and some SPF 5.
Is it better to put 15 coats
of the two or six coats of the five,
or, say, ten coats of the two
and two coats of the five
or five coats of the two
and four coats of the five?
Mrs. Recinos, I'd say offhand that
you've had way too much sun already.
Why don't you just?
Why don't you go to a drugstore
and buy some SPF 30?
Or maybe I should just sit
under a tree?
Which would be better,
an oak or an elm?
You can take this one.
- Oak?
- You're the doctor.
Well, I'm off. Thank you.
So, what are we supposed
to learn from her?
That some people
are just freaking nuts.
What's the big deal? Why can't
you just park someplace else?
You're not listening.
It's the principle of the thing, Jeff, you
Forget it.
You smoke? You're a doctor.
Research.
Oh, uh, right. Don't smoke.
So, what about lunch?
This is my lunch. Oh, you meant
Hold on.
Oh, it's the office. Hmm.
Hey, maybe it's an emergency.
Hey, you know, you're right.
It could be.
You see, you never know
when a crisis is gonna hit.
It's all part of the fast-paced,
unpredictable
Yeah? Yeah, Margaret.
Uh-huh.
Got it.
So, what's going on?
Is there an emergency?
No, uh
No, Margaret wants me
to bring back some Sweet 'N Low.
Was Becker just in here?
Yeah, with some kid?
No, that was yesterday.
But I don't get it.
It sounds like you gave
a guy a heart attack
by yelling after you hit his car.
You're missing the point of the story.
The point is that I was able to spot
the problem instantly and act on it.
But what you really did
was called an ambulance
and they took him to an ER so another
doctor could treat him, right?
Actually, someone else
called the ambulance.
But that That
You know, go on back to my office
and wait for me there, Jeff.
That's a good boy.
I'm dying here, Margaret.
The kid thinks I'm an idiot.
Don't we have some patient that's
bleeding or broken or something?
Oh, I know. I'll be right there, Jeff.
What about Mr. Silverman?
He looked like he was on death's door.
No, no, no, he called.
Those pills you gave him
worked like a charm.
- He feels great.
- Inconsiderate ***.
Ha, ha. Well, cheer up.
Maybe he'll have
some horrible side effect.
Yeah, well,
I can't wait for that, Margaret.
Room One.
All right.
Come on, Jeff.
Mrs. Gutierrez,
what can I do for you?
You told me to come in
any time I need help, right?
- Right.
- I can't reach my toenails.
I was wondering,
would you cut them for me?
Look, Dr. Becker,
maybe these small,
seemingly insignificant visits
help you to develop a rapport
with the patient
which could, down the line
Hey, kid, don't jerk me around.
I'm cutting an old lady's toenails.
I'm tapped out.
I got nothing. Nothing.
It's my honeymoon all over again.
Yup, we've been sitting here all day.
We can't come up with anything
we haven't already told each other.
And I think I know why that is.
It's just like the rats in my psych lab.
If they spend too much time
without any new stimuli,
they just sit there
and stare at each other.
So you're saying we need cheese?
I'm saying, well,
maybe we don't trust each other.
All we talk about
are superficial things.
Hmm. Maybe you're right.
So I say that we share
something personal.
But if we do, we have to agree.
No making fun, no *** remarks,
and no immature snickering.
You didn't look at Jake once
during that whole speech.
Okay, okay, agreed.
Okay, so who wants to go first?
I will. Ahem.
When I was little,
well, my grandmother used to take me
to see the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
You know, I used to be amazed by
the grace and beauty of those dancers,
and, well, I always dreamed
of doing that when I grew up.
I still wonder
what things would've been like
if I'd become a ballet dancer.
Well, there'd be a lot of ballerinas
flying through the air
and not getting caught, ha-ha-ha.
I thought we weren't gonna laugh.
All right. I'm sorry.
Okay, I'll go next.
Uh, I had just started modelling,
and it was the night
of my first big runway show
and I was nervous.
But by the time I got
to the end of the runway,
I felt terrific, completely in charge.
And then I saw someone
way in the back of the room.
Who? Diane Sawyer?
Sorry.
It was my father.
And he didn't approve
of my being a model.
But there he was in his best
coat and hat, watching me,
you know, and he looked so proud.
Then afterwards
we were all going to a party,
and, uh, they were all older than me
and I really wanted to fit in.
So, uh, instead of stopping
to talk to my dad,
I walked right past him.
I was embarrassed
so I pretended not to see him.
We never talked about it,
but I always suspected that he knew.
Bob is moved.
Bob is open and vulnerable.
Now I want to tell a story
I've never told anyone.
I was just 9 years old
and I went to visit my Uncle Gene
at his paint store downtown.
And to this day,
I still can't change my clothes
unless it's completely dark.
Wow.
It feels great
to finally get that off my chest.
So you met Diane Sawyer, huh?
- Yeah, she was really nice.
- Uh-huh.
Well, uh, thanks for letting me
observe you today, Dr. Becker.
It was, well
- Good night.
- Come back tomorrow.
Come back tomorrow.
It will be better, it will.
Dr. Becker, you're hurting me.
Oh.
Besides, I was thinking I might go
hang out with my dad tomorrow
and see if I like his job.
He's a garbage man.
At least he gets to drive around
in a cool truck.
Hey, everyone,
the storeroom is finished.
Come and look.
Oh, all right.
I suppose my day
can't get any worse.
Now I know you were sceptical,
but believe me, I delivered.
As the French say,
ta-da.
Linda, it's wonderful.
Oh, it really is.
Look at all that extra space.
- Ha, ha. Good job.
- Thanks.
See what happens when instead
of "commanding me to do,"
you allow me to be?
You know something,
she's gotta stop watching Oprah.
Oh.
Well, apparently my day
could get worse.
I'm thinking even Oprah
would kick her butt.
Don't worry, John, I'll have her take
everything out first thing tomorrow.
Oh, it's not just this.
This whole day I've been looking
at myself through that kid's eyes.
I feel so useless.
I mean, I knew the rest
of my life was garbage,
but I had the illusion
that I was doing something here.
John.
No, I mean it, you know.
Is this the life I dreamed of
when I was that kid's age?
And if I had seen this day coming,
would I have still become a doctor?
You would've been a doctor
no matter what.
It's just in your nature
to help people.
Oh, Margaret.
And even though today
wasn't that satisfying,
you know that they're all
not like that.
Hmm.
You're right. That's Thank you.
That That helps.
Well, that's what working together
is all about.
We do things for each other.
Oh.
That's nice.
- What?
- You got my Sweet 'N Low?
Oh, yeah, I'm sorry.
Dr. Becker, come quick.
There's a man that needs your help.
Hurry, please.
He barely got through the door.
I don't know what's wrong.
I'll call 911.
Chalky pale, laboured breathing.
Margaret, get my crash cart.
This could be an infarction.
Oh, and, Linda, go get that kid.