Short Story: Bad attitude, or an enquiring mind?

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John was always a caring, compassionate, kind, and loving person. He had lost his office job, due to a downsizing in his Company. He thought that as there was an epidemic in his country, right now, that he would retrain himself into a helping profession. There was a hospital orderly course being run at his local hospital. John enrolled into this. The Course Director was a brute of a man, not at all the sort that should be in charge of giving a course of this nature, John had thought to himself, upon meeting up with him to enrol in the course. He was shabbily dressed, uncouth in his manor. John knew that his time on this course might be difficult for himself And it was so. This man was rude, nasty, and uncaring. He fluffed off questions, and he was not really wanting to do anything extra for the students. John enjoyed his interaction with the other hospital staff, and with the patients, that he had to deal with too, as a part of his practical training on the course. John was not one to be put off by anyone though. He continued to ask questions, which continued to annoy the teacher. One question of John’s really got him riled up. John was learning how to mop the hospital floors. He said to the man, jokingly, innocently: “My mother taught me to mop like this when I was only ten years old. Why do we need a course to learn how to do this simple task?” The grumpy man grimaced angrily, “Just mop, and stop, asking stupid questions.” He forcefully answered John. John had thought that any good teacher would talk about the difference between professional mopping, and non-professional mopping, as we do in our own homes, but this guy couldn’t care less about anything much at all, it seemed to John. John enjoyed the rest of the course, and at the end of it, the Course teacher, arranged a wine and cheese morning tea, in the small classroom in the hospital, on the east wing too. The results were announced there, and the man smiled meanly, with an evil glint of satisfaction, in his eyes, at John. “You failed, mate,” he said. “We cannot have people with your bad attitude working in a hospital environment.” John said, “Bad attitude?" "You are the one with such a bad attitude." "How did you ever get picked to run a course such as this?" "I bet you did not even check with any of the patients, or staff, or other students here about my attitude, now, did you?" “You mix up a spirit of enquiry, with a bad attitude.” “Do not worry, though. You will get your comeuppance one day, if not today.” The guy looked queerly at John. “Get out. Get out of my classroom now”, he shouted, roaring like a lion, at John so noisily, while also adding a few cuss words, under his breath, but loud enough for everyone in the classroom, including John, to hear what he had said to John. John "did" get out. He went straight to the managing director’s office of that Hospital. He told him that alcohol was being served right now in the Hospital. John knew the hospital rules. No alcohol could be assumed on hospital grounds, nor within hospital buildings, any buildings at all, at any time. The managing director came with John, back to the classroom. He saw what was going on in his hospital. It was just the excuse that he had been waiting for to sack this obstreperous, brute of a man. He sacked him on the spot. He gave John an immediate passing grade. The reports had even come up to his office, about this new orderly, and of his extraordinary interactional ability with patients, doctors, and staff alike. In time, John became the new course director of orderly courses held there at the hospital. An enquiring mind is never a bad attitude. John had achieved his aims in the end. His good attitude was noticed by all, and his face, and person, were greatly loved, by all in the hospital, who remembered fondly how he got rid of this psycho, from his teaching so badly, in this hospital, for so long. Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com When John mopped the floors you could see your face in them. They shone like a mirror.