abrevations confusion

many times during our training, we were told never to treat the patient as a case but rather as an individual. hence we were encouraged to talk with the patient about other subjects and not just pertaining to the case, to built up better rapport and confidence in the doctor-patient relatioship.

last week, i had a pregnant mother who was at the polyclinic for her antenatal health checkup. as i went thru her records, under the pekerjaan(occupation) columm it was written "SRT." 'ah, a factory worker,' i thought to myself. so i tried starting a conversation with her.

ME: dah lama kerja ke kak??
mother:(puzzled look) agaknya.....dah lama juga
ME: kerja line ini susah tak?
mother: susah juga. hari hari kena kerja. tak de 'off'
ME: tak de cuti!?? betul ke?? habis gaji sebulan berapa??
mother:eh gaji, mana ada gaji?? tak de gaji la.
ME: (what!! slavery in this country!?!?) tak de gaji!!! mana boleh macam ini. you tak report sama jabatan buruh??
mother: huh?? mana ada orang report sama jabatan buruh!! apa dia orang boleh bikin??
ME: jabatan buruh boleh tolong dakwa dan bawa kes kak ke mahkamah.
mother: you gila ke!!
ME: tak tipu kak. biar saya tolong kak buat laporan. ini kilang SRT ini kat mana??

than the staff nurse shouted from behind me, "HOI!! SRT itu surirumah tangga la bangang!!"