Some "Top Ten" oldies about Salem

Poirot

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Nov 23, 2006
Messages
38,656
Reaction score
182,313
Early Edition did a series of different fun things, and this series was about different items about Salem, and various citizens......A few for your enjoyment..

TOP TEN
“ YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM SALEM……..”

10. TIME ZONES & WEATHER
….only in Salem can you be skating on your pond, admiring the snow falling, remarking about the cold, then hop in your car to drive around town where trees are abundant with leaves, lawns are green, flowers are blooming. While shopping at an outdoor mall in middle of winter, you warm up with a giant cup of coffee or hot chocolate at an outdoor café. While you are eating breakfast, your friends two blocks away are formally dressed to go to dinner at Tuscany, and school is nearly out for the day, and your next door neighbors are putting their children to sleep for the night. No matter where you are, it is the same time of day, Salem, Paris, Italy, Virtual Eden., and it only takes an hour to get there if you fly, which is maybe why you can get a ticket to anywhere on a moment’s notice. And any airport in Europe will give you a ticket for a direct flight to Salem USA, no problem. They even know exactly where it is.

9. CONVERSATIONS WITH YOURSELF….you can stand 1 foot away from everyone in the room and talk (audibly) to yourself, and no one even notices you telling the world your secrets……except the one person you absolutely do not want to hear what you are saying. This is why you repeat the same sentences over and over, to the same people, day after day, and they always act as though it is the first time. They really do not listen.

8. PERSONAL SAFETY….you or some member of your family has been kidnapped, shot, accused of rape, or brainwashed at least once a month. Tho present during explosions, fires, massacres, car wrecks, you have no emotional after effects, and recover from any injuries in two days. Thus, you can be kidnapped, held captive in a cage, been stalked by a strangler and a stabber, and cannot seem to have sex unless there are strawberries and whipped cream involved.

7. MAGIC CELL PHONES… everyone has a cell phone no matter how poor they may be. It is mandatory. Heck, you are issued one immediately upon entering town. All cell phones have a range unknown to mankind, reaching Europe, Chicago, across town and never need recharging. They work anywhere - in hospitals, airplanes, in the middle of the woods, out on a lake, and have replaced your usual wall phone at home.

6. REFRESHMENTS…. No matter how bad you feel or how your life sucks, everything looks rosy after one bits of one of Gram’s donuts. ….hmmmmm, I always wondered what the secret ingredient was….you don’t suppose?….Nah…..They say she has a wonderful garden and a green thumb thought…..(note, you never gain an ounce and remain a size 2) No matter whose home you visit, you are served gallons of that calming tea. When you are out somewhere, you consume gallons of coffee served in gigantic cups, and sometimes given sophisticated names. In spite of drinking all that coffee and tea you NEVER have to use the bathroom. Tis a Salem miracle. However, women do use the restrooms…just not for the usual reason. They only go to have a nasty confrontation with another woman . This answers the age-old question about why women take longer than men, and why they always go in pairs….they’re in there having cat fights!

5. RETURN FROM THE DEAD…..you or some member of your family has returned from the dead at least once. There have been a minimum of 2 funerals or memorial services in your honor. You die, and come back, then you die again, then come back, then die, then come back as yourself, but you look like Chris Kositchek, and nobody notices the change.

4. ENDLESS DAYS & ENDLESS NIGHTS..You can wake up, argue with several people over breakfast, have coffee in Salem Place while chatting with other Salem residents, make a 5 minute appearance at work before going on break, go shopping, scheme a way to get your man/ bring down your enemies/hide your secrets/ or embezzle money, have lunch at the diner, bond w/your parents/friends/significant other/children, arrive home just in time for your children to be coming home from “Hall” school, choose from your 10 formal dresses and assorted diamond jewelry something to wear to go out to dinner at Tuscany…..where you will meet every other person you know doing the same thing……change outfits 6 or 7 times, as well as hairstyles, attend the Last Blast Dance (even if you’re not in high school, make love or at least try to… You wake up the next morning, and find 3 weeks have gone by. .Could be this is called DAYS LIGHT SAVING TIME.

3. RAPID AGING......you go to bed a 3 yr old and wake up 16, you reach sexual maturity 6 years after your were born (which of course was while your mom and “father” were awaiting rescue from a plane crash, being held captive, or was in prison, or snowed in, or........(You have no father; you have several fathers; you have one one father, but his identity alternates).......One day you’re eating graham crackers, learning the alphabet and watching Teletubbies. The next you’re graduating high school, and having a torrid affair with your cousin. But you don’t know it’s your cousin. This is undoubtedly why simple disguises stop even own parents from recognizing you.

2. THE MONEY TREE.....you do not have to show up at work regularly, you never have money problems, you can leave for weeks and months at a time, nobody questions your absence, your rent is paid, so are your other bills, job intact, even your house plants are self-watering. You can drop out of high school, yet have your choice of any executive position in any Fortune 500 company. No employee training necessary once you come up with one fantastic idea (like Bella’s new faces) making you an instant success. You need only show up for work once every 2 or 3 months, unless you work in the greasy spoon diner, then is 24/7/365. Hardly anyone works, or shows up for the job they do have, but everyone walks around in upscale clothing, flies to Paris on a whim, Money does grow on trees. Need some for that quick Paris getaway? Designer shopping at the Salem Mall? Engagement ring or the “meaningful” pieces of jewelry? Want to buy a house. Just pluck some from the money tree. THIS is what makes those trees green in dead of winter. You never have to pay in a restaurant, go to the store or cook a meal. You never have to wash a dish or cook a meal, as your house miraculously cleans itself. Only in Salem can a waitress in a burger joint become President of a company, replacing the ousted president, who then becomes a waitress in a burger joint.

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM SALEM IS.......

1. RELATIVES...... Your family tree has so many criss/crossed branches that you easily relate to the old song “I’m my own Grampa”. Your family album consists of 36 volumes that include footnotes & a cross-referenced index. You are simultaneously someone’s uncle, brother, grandfather, half-cousin AND you go to school & are totally fine with being weirdly related to your best friend. You need a DNA test before you can go out on a date, and a double one if you decide you want to get married. Your boyfriend’s father is your brother’s uncle, your sister is your step-mother, your father’s son is your boyfriend’s brother or your cousin’s brother, etc. etc. You start thinking of dating Rolf or Bart since they are the only eligible men in Salem to whom you are not related.
 
Last edited:
And some things never change....


TOP TEN REASONS NOT TO BE A PATIENT AT SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL


10. VERY SMALL HOSPITAL….- Only 3 rooms –1 regular room, 1 ICU, and the ER. In the ICU, Nancy redecorated, replaced the oxygen and nasogastric tubing wall unit with a painting, cause the other stuff looked way too tacky. Anyone who goes there for any reason flatlines, goes into a coma, wakes with amnesia (except Nancy, who only had to burp – then again, a belch like that probably awakened the coma patients). A broken wrist means at least a week, gunshot wounds - ,just a day or two, or like JT, are kicked out within a few minutes after major surgery. No one ever asked to pay a bill, or for an insurance card, except in the case of extreme vaginal bleeding, when the Chief of Staff refuses to treat you without advance payment.

9. LACK OF STAFF…. Not only is everyone either on break or taking care of personal business, doctors seem to just disappear…Neil Curtis & Marcus vanished after going on rounds, Father Francis, still in a coma, must be hidden in a supply closet somewhere. For a university hospital – where are the students? Only qualifications to be hired are previous experience altering records, leaking confidential info or kidnapping. They do have a psychiatrist, (Marlena) who is never in, and her stand-in, Laura is also among the missing. Thus Nurse Brenda has to do it all…..which accounts for her wonderful bedside manner. NOT!

8. PRIVACY/CONFIDENTIALITY……Everyone has access to your room while you are unconscious and defenseless. You are subjected to taunts, harassment and tirades, and even people having parties while you lie there, helpless. Your room just may have been turned into a makeshift radio studio. No patient confidentiality as the entire staff, from doctors. to janitors has diarrhea of the mouth.

7. LAB TESTS …… Since no one works, who can trust test results, especially with Sami and Brandon around. Well - according to the paternity test...I'm Laney's daughter! No wait...Barb's daughter....okay wait..for real now...I'm Linda's daughter..yeah that's it. (admittedly, Linda has not been the same since the night of the full moon…..BUT…due to Salem University Hospital usual screw-ups….you are the child of….STEFANO!!)….(See, it is not nice to try and fool the Early Edition!!)

6. SAMI WORKS THERE…. How can you trust your files (thru blood testing you might discover you are related to everyone in Salem…..but only if Sami has access to your files) She may not ever have graduated from high school ---but she gets to handle computers, and confidential files. She may be answering the phones...so don't count on friends or family getting through to you; you are NOT her priority! When she’s not harassing patients who are bleeding all over the place, trying to switch results on paternity tests and blood types or pretending to be in a coma and/or paralyzed (thus occupying a room that could be used for a REAL sick person), she is distracting the libido-driven staff at the hospital with her outrageous get-ups (How DOES she get by Nancy or Nurse Brenda?) . You awake from an unconscious state, not knowing where you are, spot Sami “working” the halls, think you must be in a brothel, and have a heart attack from the shock. Sami must think the ward is called I SEE YOU!

6. BABY SWITCHING … Babies are randomly reassigned to families. With enough money someone can switch babies if they don't like the one they have and want yours… AND none of the supposedly highly trained and professional hospital staff will ever notice (isn't one of the first things they do is a blood test on a newborn baby? No one ever mentioned the boys having the same blood type) Maternity just might swap your baby for a mechanical doll w/bleeding eyes….oops, wrong storyline.

4. NO ONE REALLY WORKS
…. The nurses work two 15 minute shifts, with an 8 hr. break in between. The entire staff may take a coffee break……..in Paris! Employees jet off to Europe or Chicago at will, gone for weeks and months, but somehow have jobs waiting upon return. Maternity leave are over a year long. Everyone mills around the halls, gossiping, drinking coffee, baby sitting Isaac & JT, or go shopping in Salem Place. Those who DO work there do not practice medicine…..They have radio talk shows, legal hearings, are married or involved with someone they hope to run into there, have family reunions. And if Sami, Nancy, Lexie, Marlena, Brandon all work there, and none are ever there, who’s gonna change your bedpan?

3. SECURITY SUCKS…. Anyone who wears scrubs or a uniform is allowed in…..heck, surgical masks cover the mustache. Or the brilliant disguise of a baseball cap and sunglasses works just as well. If you have a guard at your door, you are guaranteed the posted officer will walk away to get a donut, right after telling the person they are guarding you from to “just watch the door, I’ll be right back” Anyone is allowed to use a cell phone (a no-no in ANY hospital) And you’d probably end up with Stefano’s patented mind controlling kidney instead of the one your sister donated.

2. STAFF BLABBERS…. Nurses roam the halls, hollering your most intimate medical information to anyone and everyone. Your medical history is all over the halls before you leave the ambulance. Nurses immediately tell complete strangers every detail of your medical condition, past history, and especially giggle and laugh about patients where they are sure to be overheard.

AND THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOU DON’T WANT TO BE A PATIENT AT SALEM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

1. ONE DOCTOR FITS ALL….There are no doctors ever on duty except for Craig, and he is supposed to be chief honcho, but cannot tell the difference between a heart attack and gas! However, he will lance your boil, do brain surgery, set your broken wrist, do an organ transplant or cure your toenail fungus. As a patient, you will be given a cure from the jungle that’s not FDA approved, be forced into a death bed confession for a murder you didn’t commit, have your Amniocentesis stolen, wind up with the wrong baby, get thrown out for lack of insurance, despite giving hospital millions in donations.. PLUS, while waiting for an executive order to save your life, the Chief of Staff is drinking champagne and frolicking with Nancy in the hot tub in his office.
 
In case you are wondering, the year was 2001....


TOP TEN REASONS TO LOVE (?)
THE SALEM P.D.

10. FLEXIBLE HOURS....and a very stress free work schedule. Show up one day a year, or one month. Does not matter. You can start at any hour, leave at any time, never do reports, and never have to give an explanation of why you have not been around for weeks or months or hours or days. You do not have to wear a uniform, and unlike those sissy detectives on The District, Law & Order or other detective shows, you do not have to wear a suit, tie, etc. Anything goes.

9. JOB SECURITY......Even if your DNA is no longer on record, you could be declared dead for years and still come back to a steady job, which you never have to attend. You don’t have to look like yourself, you can have amnesia, and even be 3 inches taller. Your fingerprints won’t even be compared. You can even alter your face, & still be accepted as the person you claim to be, Even when everyone in Salem thinks you are really Chris Kostichek. AND you have world-wide jurisdiction, whether you are in Italy, France, England, or on a train traveling thru Europe. Just flash that Salem badge, and you are immediately in charge.

8. STEFANO IS STILL FREE.....You can kidnap many people, attempt to murder them, bury people alive, brainwash them, keep them prisoner, and still be walking around Salem with your only problem being those pesky Bradys. Evidently, when you are believed dead, your file is deleted, & when you show up again – not dead after all – Whoops! Plus why worry about being arrested when your daughter is married to the Police Commander.

7. SAFE PLACE FOR CRIMINALS...Where else can someone switch babies, switch blood type files, plant probes/listening devices/close circuit TV into anyone’s home, insert brain chips into people you want to control, and be able to steal any body right out of the morgue. You can dress up as a cop, enter the jail & break someone out of maximum security. BAD BOYS, BAD BOYS, What’re you gonna do if they come for you. Why, run to Salem, of course, where they never see thru flimsy disguises. You can wear a pencil thin mustache, or a Hitler hairdo, or just don a pair of dark sunglasses and a baseball cap. No Salem policeman will ever recognize you or even think you look suspicious. AND the Salem P.D. will even validate your van for parking.

6.CIVILIANS GET TO STEP IN AND TAKE OVER.....especially for a big arrest! The SWAT team has a building surrounded, but cannot seem to stop just one guy from entering DiMansion. And then they politely just walk away when said super hero, Master Detective, John Black (oh, wait, he is NOT on the force) tells them to get lost (and that’s a fact!!). Makes one want to join the Salem PD as a Swat team member, just so you could SWAT Abe, Roman & Bo upside the head when they are clueless or just plain idiots, which is generally 100% of the time. In fact, the Salem PD is so clueless, they make Barney Fife look smart. One thing, their heads are not weighed down by brains. In fact, there seems to be only one communal brain in the Salem P.D. And on a warm day, it’s IQ may go up to 60.

5. ALWAYS AT THE DINER....And no wonder, with the yummy menus there. LOL. They down so much coffee, they must be awake for months on end. You cannot blame the department for being slack jawed idiots. Where are the two highest ranking officers? Spending most of their time at the Hudson St. Diner flirting with the waitresses. (Note: Roman has flirted with all of them – Kate, Fay, Hattie) Then again, the cops do the town a favor, keeping any possible cases of salmonella in check, just by all the food they consume there. Abe & Roman spend so much time there, Bo is forced to do all the work...must be why we have not seen much of him lately.

4. BO BRADY!!......”Best cop in Salem” (according to family) but never around. Hmmmmmmmm! Even though nearly every case involves his own family, you would rather be arrested by this oh so handsome cop, than anyone else. His wife, Hope, was a cop once upon a time, got a 6 months suspension.....and 6 years later has still not been reinstated. But was good training to go on and become a highly paid fashion model. Just as Lexie’s suspension from the force led her to become a doctor (forgot her police training pretty quickly.....cannot look at a dead body without screaming.) Since the town is not very big, so Bo does not have to spend a great deal of time patrolling. This is a good thing, because if he did have to do any REAL police work, he has to use his own car, because Salem PD does not actually have any police cars, per se.

3. JOB PERKS.....Unlimited vacation time, days off, extended leaves of absence. You will be paid no matter what, your job will always be waiting for you. You can go home in middle of the day to see your baby, have sex with your wife, and immediately leave town for a getaway. You never even have to tell anyone, or arrange for someone to cover for you. Great Health Insurance. Your wife gets shot at a wedding, son falls over a ledge, new wife gives birth, special needs child with multiple surgeries and special care, counseling...no worry. You’ll never max over your yearly cap.

2. BIG SALARY........Every single cop (or ex-cop) in Salem lives in a plush mansion/house/apartment, can afford to dine at Tuscany several nights a week, buy expensive engagement rings over and over again, AND can pay for elaborate funerals for their significant other every time they are declared “dead”. Picture Bo & Hope, curled up in front of their warm fireplace on a luxurious couch, looking at a photo album. “And this is the floral arrangement at your second memorial.” “Ooh, looks expensive!.....was that the time I fell in the acid, honey?” “No, that was the time the avalanche buried you alive.” “Wasn’t your other girlfriend buried alive, too?” “Yes, but she had a real coffin, love. Not the same thing at all”, “You did put the nasty man who kidnapped me behind bars, right?” “No, some deranged DiMera kid shot him for us.” “But he’s in jail, right?” “Only because an angelic talk show host tricked him into confession. We had nothing to do with it.”

And the #1 Reason to Love(?) the Salem P.D. is....

1. NEVER HAVE TO REPORT FOR WORK...Salem cops are at home, at the diner, in their cars, at the park, the mall, anywhere but at work. No wonder the Department is placing want ads in the newspaper:

EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Law and Order Professionals Needed. No experience necessary. Are you ready to become one of Salem’s finest? We offer the highest pay of any civil service job in the country. You can buy your wife designer gowns and jewelry. Send your kids on exotic summer school trips. Eat at Salem’s swankiest restaurants. Enjoy unlimited vacation time wherein you can leave the country for an unspecified period of time with an unlimited budget, come back, spend more time with your family.

Then, once back on the job, mostly take extended lunch and coffee breaks, or hold a hospital vigil for a sick spouse or child. Work the equivalent of one month per year.

As for learning the law, don’t worry. You can make it up or even break it as you go along, in order to suit the storyline. All you need to do is learn a few simple phrases. For example, you’ll be repeating “WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING” in no time. And before you know it, you’ll be using the words, “that’s a fact” in everyday conversation. Rookies welcome. Apply today!

If you don’t hear back from us right away, don’t be discouraged. We’re probably on vacation....or out to lunch.
 
Thanks so much Poirot. I laughed all over again. My favorite:

"Sami works here"!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
TOP TEN
“ YOU KNOW YOU ARE FROM SALEM……..”

7. MAGIC CELL PHONES… everyone has a cell phone no matter how poor they may be. It is mandatory. Heck, you are issued one immediately upon entering town. All cell phones have a range unknown to mankind, reaching Europe, Chicago, across town and never need recharging. They work anywhere - in hospitals, airplanes, in the middle of the woods, out on a lake, and have replaced your usual wall phone at home.
#7 is dated, but still funny.
 
Poirot, this is great stuff. Who knew that University Hospital once had an ICU and an ER? The chief administrator, Mr. Burns, must have decided to get rid of such frills. After all, one hospital room with two doors and a nurses' station with a coffee-maker is surely sufficient. As for the Salem P.D., things have gotten even better for the dysfunctional and unqualified. Now a police officer can go to prison for a major felony and then be immediately reinstated to his/her old position with no reduction in pay grade and no probationary period. Perhaps, this is because there are no suitable replacements available. After all, who would want to be a Salem cop when top CEO positions are instantly available to those with no discernible qualifications and people can live large with no apparent means of support?
 
Back
Top