# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 214
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2024, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4267 "2024-10-24T23:06:31Z")
I assume everyone here has read the book _ **Microbe Hunters** _ at some time in their lives. I ordered a copy when I was in sixth grade and found it fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4268 "2024-10-25T05:42:40Z")
Somebody needing to sober up incredibly quick, and using coffee, spicy food, or even just splashes of water in their face and they’re able to sober up completely in just a few minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4269 "2024-10-25T12:15:59Z")
Or someone is falling-down drunk (usually for comedic effect), but then something serious happens and somehow they are immediately sober. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4270 "2024-10-25T23:37:27Z")
Wish I could find the exact quote (Archive .org is NOT back even in read-only mode), but in Blish’s novelization of the ST:TOS episode “Spectre of the Gun” (novelized as “The Last Gunfight”) McCoy says something to the effect that alcohol is an extremely undependable anesthetic, that probing one root canal nerve is enough to send someone from alcoholic unconsciousness to cold sober. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4271 "2024-10-26T00:19:22Z")
I remember visiting a house, 60 years ago, with that setup. I guess it’s to sort-of mimic an en suite bathroom, but to me it winds up being the WORST of all possible solutions. You never know when someone’s on the toilet. Older dorm buildings often have this setup; my first college dorm did (2 rooms, one bathroom) though at least the toilet was in a little stall. My daughter stayed in a dorm with that setup, a few years ago, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4272 "2024-10-26T00:21:18Z")
Actually, that reminds me that my dorm room junior year had that arrangement with the shower and toilet shared between two rooms but sinks in each room. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4273 "2024-10-26T00:55:59Z")
Definitely calls for door locks with those red/green indicators you see on public restrooms. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4274 "2024-10-26T00:58:12Z")
I think both the toilet and shower were in stalls. ---
**Author:** ![Strenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecae2f/32.png) [@Strenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strenger)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4275 "2024-10-26T06:31:11Z")
Well, this goes back a few hundred posts, so ~~I bit zombie-ish~~ whoops, **a** bit zombie-ish. Others have shared much cooler stories about walking into bars/taverns/pubs and silence and inspection of the interloper. But I’ve found many average dive bars where most everybody knows everyone else, in some fashion, that’s de rigueur. Not as though people drop their forks or spoons or similar, nor simultaneously turn their heads in a choreographed manner. But if you’re not “known” I find you’ll get some hard glances, although not outright hostility (mostly). Conservation mostly comes to a hushed murmur. You’ll get eyed over, head to toe. I haven’t found it that unusual IRL, although when I pass the time for some reason at such a place, I stick to regular places where I’m at least recognized, even if only a few of my acquaintances are there at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4276 "2024-10-26T18:16:59Z")
“Man bites zombie”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4277 "2024-10-26T20:28:48Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Definitely calls for door locks with those red/green indicators you see on public restrooms. Yeah, I like the indicators but not door locks as you just _know_ that one half will forget to unlock on their way out. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2024, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4278 "2024-10-26T21:40:23Z")
I accidentally triggered the alarm in a handicapped toilet at a supermarket recently and had to tell the worker who came to check on me to shut the effing door. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4279 "2024-10-27T01:20:46Z")
The important thing to understand (though not to excuse), is that the sepsis he was trying to prevent, was the result of cutting-edge training techniques and cutting-edge medical science, which was saving the lives of mothers and babies, and he was suggesting what appeared to be w00-w00 pseudoscience. Ignacz Semelweisz was the one who appeared to be claiming that “vaccination causes autism”, and yes, there was kickback. Specifically, the sepsis he was able to prevent was linked to obstetric forceps training, using the bodies of women who had died before childbirth. Doctors were carrying infection from the training room to the examination room: “infection” was not an understood or accepted concept. Obstetric forceps were a recent development. Use of obstetric forceps is difficult and requires training. Use was initially quite restricted, because misuse causes fetal fatalities. (Modern practice is just to go straight to Caesarean in most cases, but obstetric forceps predate anesthesia: caesarian was performed only after the mother died). Teaching and training was initially very difficult: even when they started using life-size dolls, they couldn’t recreate the feeling of use, or the characteristics of the human bodies. The medical breakthrough was the use of recently deceased mother-and-child bodies, with retrieval of the fetus using obstetric forceps. Trainees could experience rotating the fetus, and learn important stuff like “how not to pull the child’s head off”. And then this batshit-crazy doctor with his wacko theories about infection starts making claims about how modern medical science – which we know is saving lives – is actually killing people. Yes, it took a while for the message to get through. ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4280 "2024-10-27T01:47:16Z")
That’s because they probably aren’t saying anything. I’ve been in such a scene and we extras just whispered. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4281 "2024-10-27T01:51:01Z")
> [@Strenger](#): > > Others have shared much cooler stories about walking into bars/taverns/pubs and silence and inspection of the interloper One of my friends was served, and with his beer was told that it was a one-off: the public bar operated as a private club, and although he could visit, he could not bring friends. (In context: Aus pubs often had a lounge bar as well as a public bar: the lounge bar had fewer customers and a more open acceptance policy) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4282 "2024-10-27T02:07:14Z")
My brother and I walked into an English pub in 1980 at around lunchtime. I thought it was a little odd all the doors were shut, and yes - all the locals turned and looked at us over their beers, one said “we’re closed”. It turned out England still had laws dating from WWI that pubs had to close at lunchtime to stop the munitions workers from working drunk in the afternoons. No doubt the local constabulary were in on it. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4283 "2024-10-27T02:37:51Z")
Not accurate. Pubs were open for lunch, serving food and alcohol. It was legal to go for a pub lunch and a pint on working days. Whether their workplace permitted it is another matter. But they did close after lunch until early evening. I guess you must have arrived around 2:30 where the pub had just closed, but people with pints were on “Drinking up time”. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4284 "2024-10-27T02:41:34Z")
Ever watch soap operas where the principals are served food and spend the next 2–3 minutes in deep conversation without touching a bite? The plates are then invariably taken away still full of food. (If this is in the home, one principal—usually the woman—just puts them in the kitchen sink without emptying them.) ---
**Author:** ![TheTooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/919ad9/32.png) [@TheTooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTooth)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4285 "2024-10-27T02:48:47Z")
They’d be stuffed and/or always be running to the bathroom if they had to eat all day. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/4286 "2024-10-27T03:10:15Z")
I thought it was because doctors felt that the filthier their outerwear, the better a doctor they were, and were doing things like going straight from autopsy, to delivery room, without even washing up first. I’ve never heard about it being associated specifically with forceps. Nowadays, doctors are actually more likely to use a vacuum extractor than forceps, but I’m sure forceps are also warranted. Don’t know of any OBs here but they would know. Regardless, Dr. Semmelweiz was indeed ridiculed for insisting that doctors wash their hands with disinfectant (bichloride of mercury, no less!) before delivering babies. Let’s resume our regularly scheduled programming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=213) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=215)