In early September of 2019, Gail Contreras, a reader of The Epoch Times, sent an email to my editor regarding a column I’d written on cursing:
“I really enjoyed the article in the August 22 paper. I, for one do not like cussing. I am a nurse in surgery and sometimes act as the day charge nurse. I have made it a request at work when staff are in the front office they do not cuss. We are educated professionals and I feel it is demeaning and frankly unnecessary when we are talking to each other. We would never talk like this in front of patients, why would we talk to each other this way. The great thing is people are actually complying. So much so that the secretary will say something when staff cuss in the office who may not know my request. It hasn’t been that difficult to get people to change their behavior on this topic. I think if someone simply brings it up, change can happen.”Intrigued, I emailed Mrs. Contreras and asked if she might be willing to speak with me by telephone as a follow-up to her note.
Gail, as she preferred to be addressed, has a pleasant, lively voice and a quick wit. The hospital where she works is near San Francisco—“Be sure to mention that,” she said. “We’re not all crazy here in California.” She told me she had gotten tired of cussing—“We wouldn’t talk that way in front of our children”—and as the nurse in charge of that particular office asked that everyone stop using foul language.
