A little prick

Now that I have your attention......

I am putting my hospital ID around my neck. You know the type. A bundle of plastic cards hanging from some thin stretch material with a photograph, purporting to be mine, faintly visible. For our sins we volunteers also have to wear a plastic name tag even though the formal hospital ID already bears our name and status. I have my name tag pinned to the stretch material to avoid having to pin holes in my shirt everyday.

My tag

Anyway, as I was saying before I interrupted myself, I am putting my hospital ID around my neck when I notice that my tag is missing. How can this be? The tag is securely pinned through two ends of the stretch material. At least I thought that it was. There is no evidence of it having been ripped from the material and I have never noticed the pin to have been loose previously.

I retrace my steps all the way to my locker but cannot see my tag. Maybe it has come off in my car when I swiped my ID to enter the car park? I will check my car at the end of my shift.

End of shift, seven hours later. I check my car but no tag is visible. Lost! I had already alerted my co-ordinator and she has ordered a new tag for me.

I drive home from the hospital calling into my local shopping centre to pick up some groceries. I return to my car and place my groceries on the passenger seat, carefully checking again for the missing tag. No luck.

I move around the car and am about to resume my seat on the driver's side. What's this small black object barely visible against the black fabric of my car seat? That object with a sharp looking needle pointing up!

The reverse of my tag with needle pointing up

Yes my name tag. On my driver's seat. I have driven from the hospital, almost home, sitting on this needle stick and not noticed it. Or felt it! A little prick on my bum and I never noticed.

Nothing else to say really.