Whittaker clicker training is rotting my brain rn
Robby who has a sneaky clicker in his pocket that he uses to pavlov whittaker
Like every time says "ah ah" or pulls his collar or places a warm hand on his shoulder or tells him he did a good job, he sneakily clicks the clicker.
Whittaker feels like he's going crazy at first. He casually asks Santos or Dana if they "hear that noise too"
Santos says "schizophrenic huckleberry era alert" and Dana says "With these ears?"
Obviously, whittaker eventually starts to associate the clicks with praise.
Then it got less frequent.
He didn't suspect that Robby could've been avoiding him, but more like their rounds just didn't cross paths for a day or two, 4 days, 2 weeks. He forgot about the clicking noise until he saved a patient by noticing something that went under the radar.
Robby said he did a good job and he heard that clicking again. He was so happy! He really looks up to robby and it felt good to be validated as a rookie.
Those little moments of contact and presence felt so much more satisfying.
Eventually, Robby simply passed whittaker in the hallway while he was sitting and filling out his charts to click the clicker in his pocket.
As if on reflex, like it was coded into his very DNA, whittaker stood straight up and snapped his head towards the sound, pushing his rolling chair slightly out while he did it. Warm fuzzy butterflies flooded his chest for some reason, a rush of unexpected dopamine to the brain.
Santos, who was sitting adjacent to him, gave him the biggest weirded-out side eye you've ever seen in your life.
"You good....?" she asked.
Whittaker was disoriented and just as confused as she was.
He looked at her with surprise and confusion in his big watery eyes.
Santos leveled him with a judgy stare that said "you tell me??"
"sorry..." Whittaker sheepishly chuckled and clumsily sat back down
He was fully pavloved now and ready to be moulded into the perfect puppy!
