When Peer Pressure Works Out Perfectly

About two years ago, there was an "ushering pandemic" in school. We were in 5th year of medical school and the next exam was about 18 months away. We had time on our hands literally and we all utilised it as we deemed fit.

A few friends of mine were always getting ushering gigs at various events and they were encouraging me to join that I would love it. They also made me know that our lecturers were the ones giving them the works and it helps to get closer to our teachers.

After much persuasion, I decided to join them especially because they usually got paid in cash and given enough food to go home with. So I regarded it as a win win situation.

The first one I joined was an interesting meeting that had almost all the "senior men" in our profession in attendance. I saw the various names I have been hearing of but never seen.
Men who had made a name for themselves in their various fields of specialty.

During the meeting, while serving food, I overheard an announcement about an upcoming event and training hosted by anaesthetists and that medical students were invited. The announcer briefly mentioned the various contents of the training and I was immediately interested.

Anaesthesia is one field of medicine that really interests me because of the role in the overall management of patients.

I found time and set a reminder on my phone for the training so as not to miss it. It was in a few days time from the ushering event.

Fast forward to the D-day, I was there on time inorder not to miss much.

There was a session of teachings where a lot was exposed about advanced techniques for achieving results.
Some of the things being discussed was way above my level while some were easy for me to understand.

After the teaching session came the practical session which was the highlight of the event for me.
There were models and a lot of instruments and equipments for effective learning.

I was able to practicalize what I learnt and when I noticed that the organisers were not happy with the low turn out of students, I sent a message to our class group and within a short while, more of my classmates came and they were glad they did.

At the end of the training, we not only learnt theories but also got the opportunity to practicalize what we learnt by trying it all out on a mannequin.

My classmates were very happy that they met up with the event. Even though they missed the teaching session, the practical more than compensated for it.

When I went back that day and realised that I got a chance to be in that meeting just because I was coerced to attend an ushering job, I smiled at how the whole thing went on in my favour.
The experience and what I learnt that day is still fresh in my memory while the skill is one that remains of high value.