Suburbia Verses Inner-City

Yesterday, I was sitting outside a coffee shop in my quiet suburban neighborhood, when suddenly an overweight woman wearing an apron ran out of her ice cream shop, yelling and pointing at a young man who was running away from the scene. "He stole the tip jar!", she yelled. "Does anyone have a cell phone?! Someone, call the police!". Within one minute two police cars arrived and as I watched them get out, hands over their guns, I couldn't help but laugh. Has working at my clinic jaded me? All this police activity for someone who stole a tip jar from the ice cream shop. I tried to imagine a frantic phone call to the police station near my clinic about a stolen tip jar. I could see the officer answering the phone and then looking at it with a quizzical face, shaking his head at the idea that someone would bother the police for this, then hanging up. 

Today, I was busy assisting with a procedure on a patient when there was a little action outside the clinic. The security guard told me he was standing in our parking lot and was watching and listening to two men argue. All of a sudden, one of them pulled out a gun and shot it, missing the person with whom he was arguing. I'm assuming he meant to miss since they were in such close proximity. As he was telling me the story, one of the doctors asked what happened. When he told her, she very casually  said, "Oh, is that what I heard." And then continued working at her desk. 

Our security guard's only weapon is his walkie-talkie. His company hasn't even provided him with a cell phone. So he stayed outside to keep witnessing, and asked a patient to go in the clinic and call the police. He then called his boss and told him he really thinks he needs a cell phone. Gee, ya think?