Life said no

Brent Spiner tells the unbelievable story of his first and last day as a hospital orderly. Brent Spiner: “I was an orderly at St. Luke’s Hospital in Houston, Texas, when I was 16.” Jonathan Frakes: “How old are you?” Brent Spiner: “16.” “My uncle was a doctor. And he wanted everyone he knew to become doctors, so he got me a job working in the hospital.” One day, a patient recovering from surgery looked up at Brent while he was taking his blood pressure. Brent Spiner: “He said, ‘Am I dead yet?’ And I said, ‘Not yet.’” “They grabbed me and pulled me away. ‘Don’t you ever say that again.’” “The head nurse said, ‘Take this man’s temperature.’ I said, ‘Well, he’s asleep.’ And she said, ‘Just roll him onto his side and put the thermometer in.’” “I put the thermometer in and I was looking at my watch going, ‘Okay, two minutes, let’s go.’” “Two minutes went by and he had rolled back onto his back. When I rolled him back over again, there were beads of mercury and a little piece of broken glass on the bed.” “They had to take him back into surgery and remove the other half of the thermometer before he woke up and sued the hospital.” “And that was my last day as an orderly.” Noah Wyle: “And your Uncle Cole said, ‘Maybe go to acting school.’” Brent Spiner: “Yeah, go to acting school, exactly.” Noah Wyle: “Wow, that’s an unbelievable story.”