A failure to communicate
Jana Dubes shared this story.
"My very first job when I was 18 was in a doctor's office."
This was back in the late 1960s.
The doctor would make notes, speaking into a tape recorder. And Jana would transcribe the tape.
"Well, one day Dr. Robnett came out of his office and walked up to my desk and started listening to my chest. I said, 'What are you doing, Dr. Robnett?'
"And he said, 'I wanted to know what breasts sound like.'"
Jana's face got red and everyone else in the office started laughing.
"I didn't know what was so funny until he told me that he was dictating that the patient's 'breath sounds were normal' and I was typing the patient's 'breast sounds were normal.'"