This question was originally posted on Quora.com and was answered by Cathy Nconnu. I'm gonna differ with some of the answers here. We don't really trash talk, but there is definitely s lot of commenting on some folks. Most of the time, talk is about the case, currrnt events, somebody’s vacation, etc. But if you code brown, we will joke about it. If things smell terrible (peri-rectal abscess, cheesy crap in pannus folds), we will comment and run for the oil of wintergreen/cloves or mastisol. If you are very large or have an offensive or interesting tattoo, there will be a comment, especially if you require a special tourniquet size to be brought out, a larger incision to be made, special retractors/effort or we are making the incision through said tattoo. Super skinny or muscular, we might exclaim over great landmarks. Trouble getting the foley in, the standard jokes will be made about finding the hole. If you snore, that may bring up a whole discussion on sleep apnea, who has it, why it's becoming epidemic, if people’s spouses snore, do folks working in the room sleep in separate beds, who has sex when they are on call and whose spouses get grumpy when the hospital pages at night. Then we discuss different kinds of snores and the joys of Flonase vs Claritin and if drinking alcohol or taking Benadryl make normal non snorers snore. If you take a lot of anesthesia, we will remark on your chronic pain med use or alcohol intake. Or, we might call you a cheap date if they gave you a tiny dose and you are hard to wake up. If you had your accident in an interesting way (broke leg escaping from law or angry husband), we will discuss it. If you were particularly something prior to surgery (in clinic, in pre-op, in a previous case) we will talk about it. It’s not trash talking, it's the same to us as if you have a customer who comes in everyday and gets smokes and a six pack and smells bad. You might comically say “peeeyoooo!” when he leaves. You are fixing a car that has wrappers and a half eaten sandwich inside. You tell your coworkers. Third time some lady comes into your store with a black eye - you'll comment on it. It's just a regular workplace. Some people are more subdued, others are jokesters, some are assholes. Some of it is clinically relevant (I will tell anesthesiologist if I think you have a low pain threshold or high narcotic tolerance and that is good for your inter-op and post op pain control) and some is not. Don't take it personally, it really is just like commenting on the weather or a customer’s fondness for huge amounts of mayo on their subway sandwich. Source
