"On the dedicated research days when I dare to wear jeans, boots, and a fleece, when I can masquerade as anything but a doctor as I make my way to my office for

"On the dedicated research days when I dare to wear jeans, boots, and a fleece, when I can masquerade as anything but a doctor as I make my way to my office for a day of writing, I can truly hide in plain sight. I watch the way no one makes space for me in the hall and contrast it with the small but impregnable berth my white coat typically provides. I watch the way that students and residents continue their beelines in my direction, assuming I will be the one who swerves when the time comes. I watch the way security guards try to hustle me along if they perceive me to be in the way of a patient they are escorting..." Speaking as a half-Filipino who looks white (some think I look mixed, but I don't), it's experiences like these that I truly wouldn't be able to understand on a personal level. With that being said, I try to be cognizant of these things. "...I watch the custodian continue to mop as I walk by, even as he stopped mopping for the young male surgical resident who had just walked in front of me." I'm curious, though, but if the resident was in plainclothes would the custodian have paused to let him walk by?