If you saw my last post, you know I am in the hospital.
Like Gilligan it was supposed to be a three hour trip.
Then it became an overnight. Then three more days, now they say 'weeks'.
Life pro tip: if you find yourself in a hospital, do not make friends with the doctors and nurses. No matter how good looking and friendly they are.
If you do, they will never let you leave.
Now, where you come in. I need ideas on how to thank my captors.
This whole thing has been a horror show for me. The only reason I have kept a shred of sanity is because of how outstanding the staff has been. They have all done more for me than I could ever ask for or expect. One doctor came back after she finished a 30 hour shift, so she could bring me her phone charger after my battery died.
She's a saint. And she's not alone. I have worked in many hospitals, and never seen such an outstanding and caring bunch.
Lots of hospital staff are good. But these ones are next level.
They hang out with me when they are on breaks.
I need to show them my gratitude. But how? I want to do more than just say thank you. I am willing to spend money.
So I came to the smartest, wisest group of people I know for ideas.
They were busy though, so now I am asking you.
I want to do something special.
Ideas?
Sucks about your stay, brother-man. May you not be stuck for 3 years like Gilligan was.
Money helps, but others' favorite gifts I've given to them were based more around the heart and effort surrounding it. My wife says her favorite thing I ever gave her was something I did one Christmas while she was asleep. It was homemade, looked like absolute dogshit, I got glue everywhere, and it was extremely cheesy in the end (figuratively). But the effort was obvious, and I figure that's why she still likes it so much.
So you want a gift that requires effort and shows that you really care. That's not going to be easy for my to judge what does and doesn't fit those criteria, because I don't know these people and your circumstances and how you interact with them. The gift should play off your relationship with them in some way. So for the doctor that gave you her phone charger, if you wanted to do a joke gift, you could give her a potato battery or something. Maybe your relationship with one of them is filled with sexual jokes and innuendo, so you make them a chocolate shaped like a dildo or something. I'm really just spit-balling, though. Something more basic and not risky would be making something like a banner that says "Best care anywhere" or something.
Perhaps they have a common interest? Well, medical care, obviously. You could try something with that, getting something for each of them that fits that general theme, while making a slight modification to personalize it for each one. A bedpan with their name on it. A new stethoscope for that lady doctor, or new scrubs for the nurses. No idea how those things work, so you might want to ask a third party if they have their own or are provided uniforms, etc. Something more simple along these lines, and requiring less effort and easier to get would be fine too; the gesture will be obvious, and I'm sure it'll be appreciated.
I hope this helps some, because it feels rather useless; I'm personally of the mind that knowing the relationship, their personality, their individual likes and dislikes matter a ton when picking a good gift for someone; most of us in western countries have gotten lots of gifts over the years, from Christmas, and birthdays, and just because. I personally forget most of them rather quick; if I remember it was a gift at all, I can't usually tell you who it's from. The ones I do remember are the ones that show the effort put into it. The ones that are based on some off-hand comment you made that showed they were listening and cared; or reflect your personality and values so well that it's obvious they understand you as a person. Those are the ones you always remember, years and years down the line. Finding that level of gift is a hard target to hit, but it's one worth shooting for.