Tell us what superstition you believe in and why.
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Healthcare superstitions.
1: Never try to sleep with your back to your pager.
2: If you say the word "quiet" before end of you shift, the whole world will be in your ER within 10 minutes.
3: Full moon effect is real.
During Chinese New Year Day: Avoid sweeping on New Year's Day to prevent "sweeping away" luck. Do it the day before so that you get rid of all the bad luck.
Make sure your salt, pepper, sugar are all full, so that you enter the new year with flavor; my mom tacks on "a full wallet" so you go into the new year with money. Not sure I believe but why tempt fate?
Touch wood (double tapping the wood to not jinx yourself)
The horse shoe has a right way to go (it is up to stop the luck falling out)
I am not sure if these are officially superstitions, but most nurses will relate.
1. Never, ever, use the word Quiet in relation to work - The sh*t WILL hit the fan! Especially on night shifts.
2. "It must be a full moon tonight!" is frequently said when working the night shift from hell.
* Normally sane, calm patients will temporarily misplace their marbles.
* I have been given a left hook from an elderly lady that was so hard, I ended up against opposite bed - She had a broken right wrist and was genuinely scared, confused and irrational.
* Those with acute mental health issues are likely to be more irrational or volatile.
* I have been stabbed by a tiny elderly confused lady; she pulled out the needle that was being used to deliver her palliative care medicines and stuck in me really hard.
* I have had to separate 2 ladies as one was having a psychotic like reaction to medication. She was trying to attack another very unwell patient - We eventually managed to distract her and wheel the bed of the other patient to a different part of the ward.
* I have also had to help stop the start of WW3 when a very confused gentleman was looking for a urine bottle and the patient in his bed caught him weeing into his water jug.
In all cases this was no fault of the patients, just their condition, meds and the full moon.
I have so many stories that I am collecting from my 41yrs experience of nursing. I am contemplating trying to collect them in a book for publication!
So, you were attacked at your workplace by different people, and you say they were "just" "confused". Let me tell you something. 2 years ago I was ending up in a hospital, here in Germany with a final diagnosis of severe pancreatitis caused by gallstones. I was the living, dictionary-worth example for the word "confused". Sure, I knew, something wasn't right, therefore I was going to my home-doc, who very urgently sent me to the best hospital in my matter. The very same day, I was by him .So, I was the living, walking flag for the word CONFUSED. At no point in my mind crossed an idea to harass, attack, abuse or some same shít the medical personal, who did nothing else "just" taking care of me for the 2 weeks I was spending there. From which 1 week in intensive care (yeah, it turned out that bad). I was very very CONFUSED (and in pain), but anything I could feel towards the medical profis was gratitrude.
-Never sign your name with a red pen (bad luck)
-Someone once told me in a stairwell that it is bad luck to go up/down the stairs when someone is going passed (opposite). Now I wait whenever someone is on the stairs and start going up/down when they leave
my culture tends to believe that ghosts haunt hotel rooms, even if the hotel is brand new
so before I ever set foot in my hotel room, I tend to knock on the door to alert any ghostly preoccupation of my presence, so they leave me in peace during my stay
(only the first time though, the following countless times I pass through the doorway were fair game for some reason)
In Thailand outside most hotels and many businesses you find spirit houses to keep the ghosts from haunting the hotel. The kind of look like mini temples on pedestals. Many times it was built after a tragedy occurred there. The large the spirit house the more people died. One hotel I stayed at had one big enough to park a car in. I was told that shortly after the hotel was built there was a fire and 72 people died.
"The Scottish" play.
Bad Dress rehearsal, great opening night.
Never whistle back stage.
The phrase, "Out! Out damn Spot" was in reference to a small incontinent dog
Magpies.
I always say "I'm not superstitious, but..." when it comes to lone magpies, I always salute them and ask how the missus is.
I didn't do it once, and I ended up face-planting in the middle of the city center, on the road, and my phone, handbag and suitcase went flying. I ended up taking a few layers of skin off my knees because my trousers never ripped, but I slid on them. Took forever to heal and one of them healed awkwardly, leaving lovely scars.
So now, I always, ALWAYS salute a single magpie.
I will never EVER use a ouija board! I don’t know if I truly believe that spirits roam the earth, but I am not going to willingly summon them. If there are evil spirits, and many cultures are adamant that there are, inviting them into my presence seems dangerous. There are so many unexplained occurrences around the occult that I don’t mind being cautious about that and, in fact, being wary about it doesn’t change the way I go about my life.
Me and a friend made our own Ouija board. I won't go into details. No one would believe me what we experienced and let in for a long time. Even my mom experienced stuff, but I think before we played it she did. It wasn't just to play. We suspected something was in my home, letting it's presence known in small ways. But once we started playing the activity picked up and we freaked out, properly said goodbye and tossed the thing out. Still had some activity after that until we moved.
As far as I know, none. If Occam’s razor says it’s not true, and you can’t show me evidence to prove otherwise, I’m not buying it.
I wonder if I am in fact believing in any superstition without knowing that it is.
No matter the town, no matter the time of day, the guy at the stoplight next to you will be picking his nose.
Not really an official superstition but I think Sundays are bad luck. Basically every major fight my family has had seems to have been on a Sunday so it just feels unlucky
I do not considered myself superstitious, but I do have this strange habit of stepping out of my bed on the right side and making sure the right foot touches the floor first. I normally do it when I have something important to do that day.
People I know have these superstitions:
-Never sleep next to a mirror, especially one that reflects your face when asleep.
-On New Year's Day, take a suitcase outside and walk around your building or bloc, so you travel that year.
-Never leave a white tablecloth on your dining table overnight. Soon the household will need a shroud.
-Never pass salt on the table from hand to hand. Make sure the shaker touches the tabletop first.
-If you prepare spicy food while angry, this will be extremely spicy (in Mexico, that's a lot).
-In the countryside, never lend your horse to another man, unless he is a priest (you will be cheated on).
1. Jinxes, kinda. Hey, it's not gonna hurt to say "so far" or whatever.
2. God*. Some days. Maybe a third of the time. It's complicated. Half the time I'm ignostic** and the last third I'm agnostic*** and then there are days when I'm atheist.****
*The Reform Jewish one.
**The whole debate on if God(s) exist doesn't really matter until we properly define it. Coined by Sherwin Wine, a gay rabbi who founded a branch of Judaism that, perhaps not entirely unrelatedly, never actually mentions God, humanistic Judaism.
*** I don't know if God(s) exist/there is _no way_ for humans to know if God(s) exist
**** I know those sum to over 100 percent. Haven't _you_ ever prayed to a God you're pretty confident doesn't exist?
In geography at school I learnt that in Japan about 116 % are followers of some faith. Maybe just to be on the safe side.
I also believe some superstitions:
I always knock on the wood not to jinx myself, if I can't find wood I use paper (as it's made from wood)
I believe full moon affects people (especially in hospitals)
I tend to my garden or sow the seeds when it's waxing crescent as plants grow better
I also know these, but not so much in believing them:
If black cat crosses the street - I am not afraid to go after it as I know it has white balls I just can't see it
I don't believe that if you brake mirror you will be unlucky for seven years
Magpies.
I always say "I'm not superstitious, but..." when it comes to lone magpies, I always salute them and ask how the missus is.
I didn't do it once, and I ended up face-planting in the middle of the city center, on the road, and my phone, handbag and suitcase went flying. I ended up taking a few layers of skin off my knees because my trousers never ripped, but I slid on them. Took forever to heal and one of them healed awkwardly, leaving lovely scars.
Not so much a lored superstition, but, I MUST put my left sock and shoe on first. If not, "bad things will happen." Proved it to myself once by putting my right house shoe on first and my stereo record button snapped off. Never put my right shoe on first again after that.
Always put the toilet paper hanging over towards you, not the wall. If a broom falls over when no one's near it, expect company soon. (It happened not long ago at my mom's. She believes this superstition, and many of them I did learn from her.) Horseshoes are hung up the right way, so the luck doesn't fall out. Breaking a mirror is 7 years of bad luck.
Always put the toilet paper hanging over towards you, not the wall. If a broom falls over when no one's near it, expect company soon. (It happened not long ago at my mom's. She believes this superstition, and many of them I did learn from her.) Horseshoes are hung up the right way, so the luck doesn't fall out. Breaking a mirror is 7 years of bad luck.