How have you handled vindictive attendings/residents?

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So, what have you done in situations in which an attending/resident seems to disdain you from day #1? Have you sucked it up, tried your best, and taken the bad grade? Gotten a surprisingly good evaluation? Gotten into a brawl?

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I had an attending on medicine (who I happened to be placed with for 4 weeks) who hated my presence from essentially the first day. She was from New Jersey and I am from the South, I wear pink and she thought pink was silly, I got ready in the morning and she showed up with wet hair, etc. So before actually getting to know me, she made an instant judgment of the kind of girl I am and made it known. She asked me (more than once) whether I had even passed Step 1 (always after asking me the most ridiculously obscure question). There was never a day where she didn't find something wrong with what I was doing. She critiqued every little thing that I did-my interviewing, my note writing, my walking speed, you name it-she had an opinion. I was terrified what would show up in my medicine evaluation. She wrote a GLOWING evaluation (probably the best one I got all year). That may not be the case for everyone but she rode me the whole rotation and essentially wrote how well I did under pressure, how willing I was to work, etc. and offered to write me a LOR this year. SO, it may not be the same for everyone, but that's what happened for me.
 
So, what have you done in situations in which an attending/resident seems to disdain you from day #1? Have you sucked it up, tried your best, and taken the bad grade? Gotten a surprisingly good evaluation? Gotten into a brawl?

My advice for when you meet a truly mean and vindictive resident or attending: turn the other cheek. If you want, you can try to "earn their respect" so they treat you like a human being, but what's the point?

These are miserable people, and they'll get what's coming to them, but it won't be from you. Don't put your butt on the line because your ego is bruised. Often students have fantasies of telling the person off, or exposing them as a jerk or an idiot, but these are just fantasies....I had them myself in med school...they don't come true, and any attempt at enacting your well-planned comeback/retort will only lead to more trouble for you.

Be humble, keep your head down, and work hard...that's all you can do. Remember that they can hurt you, insult you, and beat you down...but they can't stop the clock.
 
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