- John Carter: [sighs] I thought I was gonna be sick.
- [pause]
- John Carter: I'm sorry.
- Dr. Mark Greene: Don't ever say you're sorry. See, there's two kinds of doctors: there's the kind that gets rid of their feelings, and the kind that keeps them. If you're gonna keep your feelings, you're gonna get sick from time to time. That's just how it works.
- [pause]
- Dr. Mark Greene: Keep your head down.
- [pause]
- Dr. Mark Greene: [squats down beside Carter] People come in here and they're sick and dying and bleeding, and they need our help. Helping them is more important than how we feel.
- John Carter: [nods]
- Dr. Mark Greene: But it's still a pain the ass sometimes.
- John Carter: [laughs]
- Dr. Mark Greene: Sometimes, I just want to quit and do something else.
- [looks at Carter and smiles]
- Dr. Mark Greene: Yeah.
- [pause]
- Dr. Mark Greene: Why don't you take a few more minutes?
- John Carter: [nods]
- [whispers]
- John Carter: Okay.
- Dr. Mark Greene: By the way, I was in medical school with Benton. He used to get sick all the time. So don't let him give you any crap. You'll be fine.
- Dr. Peter Benton: Anybody want any coffee?
- Dr. Susan Lewis: Yeah, I do.
- Dr. Peter Benton: How do you take it?
- Dr. Susan Lewis: Same as yesterday and the day before that.
- Dr. Peter Benton: And they call me a smartass.
- Dr. Peter Benton: Do you know how to start an IV?
- Dr. John Carter: Uh... actually, no.
- Dr. Peter Benton: I thought you were third year.
- Dr. John Carter: I am, but all I've done are dermatology and psychiatry.
- Dr. Peter Benton: The well-dressed specialities, huh?
- Nurse Lydia Wright: [after Hathaway has been brought into the ER on a gurney from an overdose] Why'd she do it?
- Dr. Mark Greene: Doesn't matter why she did it. We don't ask that about any other OD that comes through these doors and we don't ask it about this one.
- Dr. Peter Benton: [showing Carter around the ER] This is Dr. Morgenstern. He's the head of ER. Watch out. He eats students for lunch.
- Dr. David Morgenstern: [shaking hands with Carter] David Morgenstern.
- John Carter: John Carter.
- Dr. David Morgenstern: [to Benton] Uh, when did that severed hand go up?
- Dr. Peter Benton: Vascular took it up an hour ago. I just hope they can do it right.
- Dr. David Morgenstern: [turning to Carter] Dr. Benton is one of the best residents we have. You learn everything you can from him, except attitude.
- [Morgenstern leaves]
- Dr. Peter Benton: He didn't mean that.
- Dr. David Morgenstern: [offscreen] Yes, he did.
- Carol Hathaway: [as she enters the lounge and all the doctors stare at her] Is something wrong?
- Dr. Peter Benton: Oh, you bet there is. We're out of coffee again because the nurses have been taking it, that's what's wrong.
- Carol Hathaway: So make some more.
- Dr. Peter Benton: Make some more? We work 36 hours on, 18 off, which is 90 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. For that, we are paid $23,739 before taxes, and we also have to make the coffee?
- Carol Hathaway: My heart is breaking.
- Dr. Mark Greene: [as he is giving orders to an intern as doctors begin scattering] Do you know what this is all about?
- Dr. Peter Benton: Building collapsed in the Loop. They're sending us a dozen hot ones.
- Dr. Mark Greene: Yeah, well who's on?
- Dr. Peter Benton: Just us.
- Dr. Mark Greene: [to intern] OK, forget all that. Call Susan Lewis, call the 7th and 8th floor. Tell them we need anybody they can spare.
- Dr. Peter Benton: [showing Carter around] X-Ray is around the corner. They're a bunch of idiots. They scare the patients and make them wait.
- Dr. Peter Benton: [to Haleh] Do we have anybody to sew up?
- Nurse Haleh Adams: How would I know?
- Dr. Peter Benton: You know, I love this great spirit of camaraderie. Everybody wants to help, you know?
- Dr. Susan Lewis: [a patient is worried he has lung cancer] Mr. Parker, if there's one thing you learn in my job, it's that nothing is certain. Nothing that seems very bad and nothing that seems very good. Nothing is certain. Nothing.
- Dr. David Morgenstern: [Benton performed an emergency surgical operation, even though he wasn't qualified to] Peter? You did a good job. You were lucky as hell, but you were right to open him up. Good work.
- Dr. Peter Benton: [the regular ER doctors are watching new med student John Carter wait nervously at the desk] Oh, man, would you look at this?
- Dr. Mark Greene: Huh. That's the first tailored white coat I've ever seen.
- Dr. Peter Benton: Isn't he lovely?
- Dr. Susan Lewis: Lovely.
- Dr. Mark Greene: Think he knows anything?
- Dr. Doug Ross: He knows how to dress.
- Dr. Peter Benton: Well, he's my student. I'll find out.
- Nurse Lydia Wright: Doctor Greene. Doctor Greene. Mark!
- Dr. Mark Greene: [wakes up] What is it?
- Nurse Lydia Wright: Can I give Mrs. Wilson some Demerol, she's complaining of pain.
- Dr. Mark Greene: Fifty milligrams. I M.
- Nurse Lydia Wright: Thanks, Mark.