Becoming a model patient

CHAPTER 4 - CONFIRMATION OF APPOINTMENT & BASIS OF SALARY

Peter smiled at me and said that he was pleased to announce that I had successfully passed both the interview and the assessments. He went on to say how impressed the three of them were with how I had behaved during what must have been a very gruelling interview and assessment process. They would like to offer me the position of “Model Patient” providing of course I still wanted the job and that I am happy to sign the contract they had drawn up. I beamed with pride at the compliments and replied that while, yes it was the first time I had experienced the various activities it certainly hadn’t put me off from applying for the job, if anything I was even more determined to be successful in the role considering what I had been through to get it!

Peter reached into a draw and pulled out a folder containing the contract, job specification and salary details and pushed them over to me inviting me to read them carefully before signing the contract.

Turning to the salary page I stifled a broad grin at what I read:

1st week - £100 per day
2nd week - £120 per day
3rd week - £140 per day
4th week - £160 per day
5th week - £180 per day
6th week - £200 per day
7th week - £220 per day

Successful completion of the initial seven weeks will result in a 50% bonus being paid.

Wow, I thought that would be a total of £8,400 cash in hand. Where else could I earn so much money so quickly and it would be totally legal?

Reading on:

After the successful completion of the initial seven weeks and it is mutually agreeable the contract will be made permanent and free life-time medical cover will commence. The annual salary will be £57,200 tax-free and paid in cash on a monthly basis.

I cleared my throat and confirmed that the salary was most agreeable to me. I then went on to read the job profile.

Job Title – Model Patient
Reports to – Tom Wallis (Head of Student Services)

Main Role – Assist lecturers in promoting and facilitating the gaining of practical experience and intimate hands on “knowledge” of all medical students enrolled at the University.

I thought this sounded rather vague and queried this with Tom. He replied that it was deliberately left like this because it was a new venture so the role would evolve with time, not only that but it would give the model greater flexibility when helping in lectures and at other times. That sounded fair enough to me.

I then started to read the contract’s terms and conditions:

1. Whenever the employee is on campus he is obliged to comply with all requests made of him by senior management including lecturers. In return no request will be made which will incur permanent physical harm.
2. The employee will treat staff and students with respect at all times, in return he will be treated with all due respect afforded to members of staff.
3. During lectures and other teaching scenarios the employee is obliged to comply with all reasonable requests made by students providing it does not contravene terms 1 & 2.
4. The employee shall maintain a professional attitude at all times to facilitate the increased learning of the students and success of the University as a seat of medical excellence.
5. The employee agrees not to divulge any information to the public unless expressly permitted by the University.
6. The employee has free access to any part of the University and use of its facilities to assist with terms 1 – 4.
7. During the initial period the employee will undergo a medical at the end of every week. Once a permanent contract has been attained the medical will occur on a monthly basis.

I couldn’t see anything which caused me concern so I happily signed both copies of the contract. One was for me and the other was kept by Peter. All three men warmly congratulated me and welcomed me on board as a new recruit. It was only when I stood up to shake their hands did I realise that I was still naked! I laughed and said I guess I should get dressed now; Tom smiled and agreed before adding that it was great to see that I was relaxed and comfortable in my natural state especially as I had such a good physique. I blushed and walked over to where my clothes lay folded and started to dress.

Peter came over and shook my hand again, said it was a pleasure to have met me and wished me every success for the future. Tom came over too and gave me a joining pack which gave me further instructions for the first day and that he looked forward to meeting me again on Monday.

With that Adam led me out of the building and off campus before confirming that he would be overseeing my medicals mentioned in the contract. I found this reassuring as I had come to trust him and feel comfortable with his calm authority.

I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying the spare time and preparing myself for my new job next week.

CHAPTER 5 – WEEK ONE - INDUCTION DAY

Monday morning came all too quickly and before I knew it I was walking through the campus back to the lecture complex where I had been interviewed two days ago. I walked straight past the security desk waiving my temporary staff pass and waited where instructed in the main concourse. Within five minutes I was joined by three other guys who I discovered had also applied for the job and also been successful passed their interviews. We made small talk for a few minutes before Tom joined us and led us into a large meeting room on the first floor overlooking. Once inside Tom closed the door behind us, told us to make ourselves comfortable and help ourselves to tea and coffee etc.

To break the ice we introduced ourselves and gave a brief resume about ourselves and our aspirations for the future as a model patient. First to introduce himself was Ethan, a slim clean shaven blonde guy in his early twenties. He had just graduated from university himself and was trying to pay his student loan off as quickly as possible. Next was Marc, a black guy, early forties, heavy set, close cropped hair with a goatee. Like me he had recently been made redundant and desperately needed the money to pay the mortgage and finance his children’s education. Then came Tang, a petite Chinese guy around about the same age as myself who had simply applied for the job because he thought it sounded interesting. Lastly I introduced myself.

Tom asked us if we had familiarised ourselves with the information pack he had given us, we all nodded that we had done so. Did we have any questions? No? Okay then we’ll begin with a tour of the campus and the facilities available to you as staff. After the tour we’ll be meeting the media team who take all the photographs and videos for the team. Then you’ll break for lunch before meeting with the media team again so that the course and publicity photographs can be taken.

Wow I thought, no hanging around eh? Jump straight in, why don’t we? I’m not complaining though, at least there’s no time to get nervous.

Tom’s guide of the campus was actually very informative and he was really quite a funny guy, putting us at ease with little effort. By the end of the tour we felt that the five of us had been best buddies all our lives. It was probably late morning before we walked back into the meeting room; waiting for us was a group of nine men and women. The leader of the group was a middle aged lady called Fiona who headed up the media team; she introduced the rest of the group. They were by and large final year students at the neighbouring Art College who were looking to gain valuable experience in a realistic working environment. Ah I thought to myself, now I know why they look so young to me! Tom reassured us that they were highly professional and subject to the same respect and privacy clauses that we were because they would be with us all the way, so to speak. They seemed a friendly bunch and I thought we would all get along just fine.

At lunch time we (the models) walked over to the canteen to have our lunch having been asked to return an hour later, this time we were to reconvene on the top floor in the main staff room (where I’d been interviewed on the Saturday). We chatted away, curious and excited about the afternoon, wondering what would be involved and were we to become famous film stars?! All too soon we made our way back to the lecture complex and walked up to the top floor and pushed the door open.

Well, I didn’t recognise the place. It had been transformed into a photographic studio, although the consultation and wet areas remained the same. Seeing our surprised expressions Brenda laughed and said we’d get used to the place, nothing stays the same from day to another!! She explained the first photo session would be as a group and then as solos wearing the University uniform (black trainers, black jeans, black polo shirt with the university logo on the left breast) in formal and informal poses. This was easy enough and the camera guys were a laugh and it passed all too quickly. Then we were asked to change into sports clothing which had been provided for us, again group and solo photos were taken. Finally, when we were just beginning to get bored with all the posing and we thought that must be it, Brenda wandered over and asked us to remove our clothing because they needed nude shots of us (I gulped) but before we could say anything she assured us it would be done very tastefully as this was for publicity, not pornography! Well, we all glanced at one another, none of us wanting to appear to be the reluctant one, so we quickly stripped and started posing for the camera again.

When she was satisfied that she had enough material for her purposes, she said we could dress into the gym gear again and that the next shoot would take place in the gymnasium across the campus. Walking across the campus I felt like a star, with the film crew in tow following the four of us and Brenda, students stopped and stared for a moment before carrying on again. Brenda explained on route that she wanted the four of us to use the all of gym equipment in turn so that a video could be recorded and photos taken. If we thought we’d have the place to ourselves, we were very much mistaken, the gym was in normal use and we had to suffer the curious gazes of the other occupants. After a while I grew accustomed to their staring and took no notice of it. By the time I completed the whole circuit I was exhausted and sweating profusely, when I commented on it I was told, “don’t worry, it all adds to the realism of the film”. When we had all completed the circuits, Brenda gave us all pats on the back and congratulated for being ‘naturals’. “Right then, time to get showered” she said, following us as we made our way to the shower area. There was a large sign at the entrance:

WARNING: Filming will be taking place here at various times throughout the day, only use these facilities if you are willing to appear within the footage.

Brenda instructed us to enter, strip naked chatting all the while, as a group walk into the showers and wash as you would normally do. No horseplay was to happen and we should interact as little as possible with anyone else in there. Once washing & rinsing is finished we were return towel dry and put on the clothes that would be provided. I was beginning to enjoy myself, exposing my body (which I’d always been quite proud of) to anyone who happened to want look at it. Surprisingly, despite the notice – or perhaps because of it, the changing room and showers were busy, with many guys busy trying to watch without appearing to do so. However we managed to do the filming in one shoot and obeying all of Brenda’s directions. The clothing we found on our return to the changing room were smart suits with shirt and ties, again all in the University’s colours. We looked damned smart by the time we had finished dressing. Brenda told us we were to walk as a casual group starting at the main entrance to the campus all the way to the Lecture Complex, to enter, walk up to the security desk and that would be the end of the filming for that day. It was getting late and we were getting tired, so although it was a relatively simple task it took three takes to get the right casual ambience to the film. Finally we were finished and escorted up to the staff room on the top floor where we were met by Peter and Tom.

They praised us for the patience we displayed today in what can be a frustrating task satisfying demanding media staff and the willingness to comply with all requests made of us. If we continued to maintain this attitude we would all succeed in passing the initial contract period. We beamed with pride. Tom asked if we had any questions at this stage, when we didn’t come up with any, they thanked us again and said they would see us tomorrow when we would get to meet the students and start working for real. I said goodnight to Ethan, Marc and Tang before making my way home feeling mentally exhausted.