Joking Isn’t Always Funny

Betty was a licensed practical nurse. Over the years she worked in many areas of the hospital. One evening she was working on the step down unit. Patients who were placed there either came out of the critical care area still needing monitoring overnight or new admissions that needed low level monitoring were often placed there.

Betty was a bubbly woman who enjoyed joking with her patients and making them smile. One evening she her assignment included two older ladies in the same room. The lady in the first bed had been admitted to our hospital several times before and knew Betty. She began to tease the LPN as soon as she entered the room.

The other woman was a nun, but because she was in a hospital gown, Betty didn’t know she was a nun. More importantly the nun didn’t know Betty or Betty’s sense of humor. The nun had broken her leg and was wearing a cast. She was being monitored because of the syncopal episode that caused her fall.

Betty coaxed the nun out of bed and got her to dance while helping her to a bedside chair for the evening meal. The nun smiled and the woman in the other bed laughed. She knew her roommate that Betty was helping was a nun and started to joke with Betty.

The woman asked, “Betty how’s your husband?”

 “Oh, I killed him,” Betty replied flippantly.

The nun stared at Betty opening her eyes wide.

“Just like all the others.” Betty continued.

The nun’s eyes opened a bit wider. All the while the other patient was laughing. She knew Betty was teasing. By continuing to goad Betty, she was getting back at her for teasing at her other admissions.

“How many is that now?” the other woman asked.

“Let me see,” Betty paused like she was counting. “It’s three, now.”

The nun stirred uneasily.

“Did this one die like the others?” the woman in the first bed asked.

“Yes!” Betty acknowledged. “I killed him by having sex.”

The nun blanched. Betty finished what she was doing and left the room.

Later someone informed Betty the second patient was a nun. Betty was so embarrassed. She never had three husbands, nor did she kill anyone, but the nun probably slept with one eye open all night.

Betty said, “I wondered why the nun grabbed her rosary and was running it through her fingers so fast there was smoke coming from the beads.”