I just graduated from medical school, and my new hospital has some very strange rules

I just got accepted into a hospital as a doctor a few weeks ago. Other than that, my life is pretty normal. It’s a large hospital with multiple departments that work together to try to find cures for all sorts of diseases. But this hospital has some strange rules, and things seem to be going downhill fast.<br><br>Some rules that we have to follow make sense, like the 3pm rule: we never, ever look up at 3pm. Why? I have no idea. It just says so in huge letters on the first few pages of our handbooks. What happens at 3? I don’t know. I don’t want to know. I was warned about it the day I got here, and everyone I’ve asked about it only says the same thing: never, ever look up at 3. I’ve been working here for about three months now, and it’s not as hard as it sounds. Just don’t look up.<br><br>The other rules are also pretty run of the mill. Don’t get too attached to patients, always act professional, never walk alone in the corridors at night. Stuff like that. <br><br>One thing they stressed, besides the looking at 3 rule, was the buttons. <br><br>The elevator only goes to two floors: floor 1 and floor 2. Floor 1 consists of multiple departments, like maternity, surgery, and the ER. All the typical hospital stuff. Floor 2 is where we do research into new treatments for diseases.<br><br>On each floor, there are offices for the doctors working in that department. Each office has two buttons on the desk, one red and one green. Apparently the green buttons don’t do anything, but we have to press them at least 5 times a day to keep our patients healthy. I spend most of my time working in the hospital on floor 1, and I usually only go to floor 2 if I have to do research for a specific patient. <br><br>Now for the red buttons. We don’t know what they do, but the handbook specifically says that if you’re feeling stressed, you press the red button. However, you are not allowed to press the red button unless you’re extremely stressed. This isn’t a stress reliever, it’s an option we can take if we can’t handle the pressure any more. <br><br>I was warned by multiple people, especially after the 3pm incident, that pressing the red button too early is very bad. You should only do it when you think it’s the only thing that will keep you from having a breakdown. <br><br>I’ve never felt the need to press the red button myself, but it’s comforting to know it’s there. There are tons of stories about doctors who couldn’t handle the stress and went insane. I don’t want to end up like that.<br><br>I saw one of these doctors today. She worked in the maternity ward like I do, and we’d talked a few times. She was always very kind. <br><br>Today was her birthday, and we threw her a big party. She was overjoyed with the gifts we gave her, and when we sang happy birthday she looked like she was going to cry. We celebrated for about an hour, and it was all going great until 3. <br><br>Everything was fine at first. We all knew about the 3pm rule, and none of us had ever broken it. But this woman was not having a good day. When we sang happy birthday, I don’t think she was crying because she was happy. I think she was crying because it reminded her of when she was younger and actually had a future ahead of her. <br><br>Now, she was just a shell of what she used to be, and she knew it. <br><br>She’d been working at this hospital for over 20 years. She’d seen countless patients over that time, most of whom never made it out. She’d developed this chronic cough over the past 5 years, and she’d pretty much resigned herself to the fact that it was terminal. <br><br>But for some reason, all of this hit her today, of all days, when we were singing happy birthday. <br><br>We all started looking for her when she didn’t come back to the office. The first place we looked was the maternity ward, because that’s where she worked and usually spent most of her time. <br><br>She wasn’t in her office, and neither was one of the patients under her care. <br><br>We found them a few minutes later, in the hospital canteen. They were sitting at a table, and she was looking straight up at the ceiling. <br><br>She didn’t move or say anything when we approached her, and the patient she was with looked like she was in some sort of trance. <br><br>We tried to move them, but it wasn’t working. She was too strong for us to move. <br><br>Eventually, we gave up and decided to leave her in the canteen. <br><br>There was nothing we could do, after all. <br><br>I wonder what she’s going to do about her birthday cake. We left it in her office.<br><br>EDIT: Some of you guys have asked what would happen if someone looks up at 3, or what happens if the red button is pressed. I didn’t include these details because honestly, I just don’t know. The only things I know about this place are what’s in the handbook and what I’ve been told by coworkers. <br><br>If I ever find out more, I’ll let you guys know. Until then, that’s all the information I have.