Campground Shenanigans

An incident at the campsite reinforced my belief that people will shop around for the answer they want to hear, disregarding all "professional-type" advice - no matter how illogical that sounds.

After all,  don't most people usually shop around for the best advice about how to repair their car from the most experienced mechanics, and then turn around and get the local homeless guy on the corner to fix the car just because he advised a magical easy fix for the problem that cost only pennies?

Thought so.

I was minding my own business, in the campstore lineup waiting to purchase some easy-start campfire pods and this woman was running around the little camp store (despite it not being a fully stocked drugstore) yelling - "where's your Benzocaine" and "what! Don't you have Benzocaine??"

She attempted multiple times to interrupt the poor kid on the phone taking a reservation - while several others, including myself, patiently waited in line for their purchases.

In hopes to get her off the kid's back - and also to perhaps help her out - I asked why she needed the Benzocaine.   She replied that one of her kids cut his knee and she needed benzocaine for it.

I identified myself as an RN and suggested she just wash the cut thoroughly with soap and running water for 5 minutes using ordinary dishsoap - don't use mercurachrome, alcohol or hydrogen peroxide because it could damage healthy, healing skin - put a simple dressing on it and keep it clean.  

The kid was young enough to have his tetanus up to date, thankfully - if he was actually immunized.

I reviewed with her the parameters of what kind of an assessment would take her in to have it stitched....and then .... it happened.

Along came Joe Schmoe with his "first aid kit" telling the woman how he would fix the wound with his out-of-date-numerously-used neosporin tube harboring heaven knows what bacterial growth (yes there is an expiry date on those tubes!) from all the fingers that scooped a gob off the tip .... giving the exact opposite advice that I *just* gave the woman.

No medical background whatsoever.

Of course she listened to him  because he was the one offering the first aid kit and I don't even carry so much as a bandaid with me. 

Of course she listened to him because my instructions were much too simplistic and didn't include fancy magical concoctions carried in a decades-old first aid kit.

They both walked off together to "fix" the kid.

That's ok.  I am now so used to that. 

Daily occurance, believe it or not.

It's almost amusing....but I am getting to the point of - why bother???