...what would you pick, arriving on time or not smelling/looking like a heap of garbage? Semi-serious question. We've all had that moment when we miss an alarm and end up running behind schedule, so if you wake up late one morning, what do you think looks worse to your attending, showing up 5 minutes late or looking like you just rolled out of bed?
This happened to me at the end of my away rotation, except I actually woke up late. I slept in my scrubs that I grabbed as I left the night before, so I just grabbed shoes and ran out of of the door. When I got to the hospital, the parking lot was completely full, so I parked at a correctional facility across the street and asked them if it was okay to park there. I ended up showing up about an hour late to morning rounds/report.
It worked out okay for me though. Since it was at the end of the rotation, they knew I was a hard worker...They had actually been teasing me all month about how hard I worked. After rounds, I approached the attending in charge and said, "I'm really sorry I was late for rounds this morning. I'm just so lazy, you know?" He looked at me and said, "Yeah, I know. I'm surprised you even showed up at all." Laughed and said, "Don't worry about it." Later, he found out that I was late because I was with a case until about 2 AM the previous morning. He approached me and called me a lunatic.
The advice I guess I'm trying to give you is this: Work hard, don't make excuses, and everything will work out for you. Oh, and show up as soon as possible, looking like a slob if necessary.
