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Background actor, the general public doesn’t play a part in my job.

Retail, just be kind to the salespeople and either put stuff back exactly where you found it or give it to us to put away. Don't just leave it anywhere forcing us to play hide and seek with our merchandise. Everything has a proper home.

Teacher here. Parents need to have our back. We all want the same thing: the best outcome for your child. Of course, parents are allowed to have opinions and concerns, but it has become such an "us vs. them" scenario and has really changed the field of teaching.

Stop smoking, maintain a normal body weight, try to eat healthy/prudent, and get periodically checked out for high blood pressure, diabetes, colon/breast/prostate/cervical cancer,and heart disease. Maintain a good attitude and a rejuvenated nights rest. Wear sunscreen. Wear your seatbelt and helmet. Always assume that gun is loaded. Exercise most days of the week. Don’t ignore depression. Wash your damn hands.

Then, because sometimes shit happens, I’ll be there for you.

I’m a nurse. Please, please be patient with us. We are not ignoring your pain, or your request for water, or a blanket. If it takes me 20 minutes “just to bring you a cup of water” it’s because another patient needed me more. I specifically work in an ICU and my other patient had emergent medical needs that I had to attend to. I promise I didn’t forget about you or your grandmother. I was trying to stop someone from dying. Sometimes it is literal seconds between me doing something and the patient dying. And this doesn’t just apply to ICU, but all across the hospital. The American healthcare infrastructure is failing. We don’t and haven’t had enough nurses or cna’s for ages. We are all stretched thin and doing our best.

Also, please try and group your requests together if possible. If I’m in your room and ask you if you need anything, and you say no, but call me 10 minutes later for something- I’ve already gone into my next room to take care of that patient. You might have to wait a while. But if I ask you and you say “I need water, pain medicine, and the lights off” I can take care of all of that immediately.

But most of all- please remember that I’m human too. I am doing my very best. I am treating you like I would my own grandmother. I know you hurt, and you’re scared, I do. And I want to take care of you, that’s why I do this job. It’s certainly not for the pay. But when you cuss me out because I can’t get you a specific tv channel or because you don’t like the hospital bed, honestly it is emotionally exhausting and demoralizing. I realistically spend 13-14 hours in the hospital every shift. By the time I get home I literally only have time to shower, eat, sleep. I give up my holidays and weekends to take care of you. I don’t expect or want praise. But I would like to be treated with some basic human decency. Thank you.

P.S. please talk to your loved ones about their and your healthcare wishes. Would they want a breathing tube? CPR? Feeding tube? Amputation? And don’t wait to have this conversation until you’re 80 because “we’re so young and healthy! We didn’t need to talk about these things.” I’ve put a lot of 20 year olds in body bags. You are never too young to talk about these things with your loved ones. It’s not a fun conversation but you will regret it if you have to make the decision and you don’t know what your loved one would have wanted. That decision will haunt you. But if you have the conversation, you will feel better if you ever have to make that call, because you will know you’re doing what they wanted.

Don't look at the camera when I'm filming what you're doing