Dr. Sunita Sah

speaker

332 appearances 4 recordings 4 series first heard Jan 2025 last heard 6 Feb

Dr. Sunita Sah’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Feb 2026 with 1.

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Hidden Brain · Marching To Your Own Drummer · 24 Feb 2025 podcast

Yes, and I think this is maybe a dynamic that is familiar to first-generation children of immigrants. So I do remember my dad getting me out of bed in the middle of the night because I hadn't practiced my flutes and I had to do the scales.

So we were in London around 2012 for the Olympics and I was really excited because the Olympic flame was going to pass where I used to live in London and I wanted to take him with me to see the flame. And he was nearly five years old and we were walking along. It was a hot day and he was tired because he'd already been out in the morning and he didn't want to go.

So he kept holding me back and I told him to hurry up, come. And then he just like, no, I don't want to go. He was jutting his chin out. And I know that look very, very well now. And he just refused to go. So I tried to pick him up and carry him. He was too heavy. And he just sat down in the middle of the pavement. And whatever I said, I couldn't make him go.

So I had to give up on seeing the flame. And I walked back home with him. And I looked at him and I said, why can't you just be good? And those words stayed with me afterwards because I remember telling my husband about it in the evening and he was like, you sound like those people, do you remember? And I do.

I remember when my son was born, he was a little baby and well-meaning relatives would always be asking me, Oh, is he good? And I was confused. Like, what do you mean, is he good? He's a baby. What they meant was, does he sleep when you want him to? Does he eat when you want him to? Does he do what you want him to do? And this was a powerful realization for me that if...

We equate being good with being compliant, doing what other people want. Then we equate also being defiant with being bad. And that's what I was brought up like. So that kept me awake that night, for sure.

So the manager, her name was Donna Summers. She's an assistant manager in her early 50s, and she's worked here for a while. At 5pm, the phone rings in the small back office, and online is just a deep male voice, someone who identifies himself as Officer Scott. And he says he's investigating a theft. So a customer has had her purse stolen.

And he describes the person that they think has stolen the purse. That person is a young girl, about 90 pounds, with dark brown hair. So immediately, Donna Summers says, that's Louise. But she's surprised because Louise is quite irresponsible. She's a high school senior and she's never been known for being dishonest in any way. She's hardworking. She's bound for college.

She's looking after her sick mother. And yet that is who they identify as responsible for this theft.

So Officer Scott tells her that they are also investigating Louise for dealing drugs. And it's very serious. The officers are on their way and they need to detain the suspect as soon as possible. They don't want the suspect to get away and they don't want her to get rid of any evidence. So they request Donna Summers restrain the suspect Louise in the back office and follow their instructions.

So Officer Scott is on the cordless telephone giving orders. And he orders Donna Summers to conduct a strip search, first of all. So Summers does. She asks Louise to remove every item of clothing. She shakes each item and places it in a plastic bag.

And even though Louise starts crying and Summers comforts her and she thinks that the strip search is over the top, she thinks that she must obey authority. She must obey the police officer.

So she asks Jason Bradley, who's a 27-year-old cook, to take over. So Jason comes. He takes over the phone. And Officer Scott demands that Louise drops her apron so she can see whether she's hiding any evidence.

So at this point, Donna Summers says that she can't spare any more staff because it's getting really busy in the McDonald's. And Officer Scott asks whether she is married. And she said, she's engaged. And he asks her, do you trust him? And she says, yes. And he tells her to call him, call your fiancé.

He rings his friend and he immediately says, I've done something terrible. So it's only when he leaves that he recognizes that this was wrong. And after he's left, Officer Scott continues. He asks Donna Summers, who else is there? Is there another man that can monitor Louise? So at that point, Donna Summers goes back into the restaurant to look for someone.

And the only person that she thinks of is Thomas Sims, who's actually a 58-year-old maintenance man who is there just on his day off. He's having dessert and coffee. So she asks him to come with her to the back room. And then she hands the phone to him and Officer Scott asks the same thing again.

He asks Thomas Sims to tell Louise to drop her apron so that Thomas can see whether she's concealing any evidence. And Thomas now immediately feels alarmed. And he says, looks directly at Louise and he says, you keep that apron wrapped around you. And he hands the phone straight away back to Donna Summers and he says, something's not right about this. This is wrong.

Yes, that's right. But it took Thomas Sims to come in and puncture this compliant atmosphere and say this is wrong for Thomas Sims to really take a step back and think about this. And when Thomas Sims said these words, she decided, like, what's going on? And she picked up her cell phone to call her manager, Lisa Siddons, who Officer Scott said was on the other line.

And Lisa says, what are you talking about? And only then does she realise that this is a hoax. She puts the other phone to her ear and the line is dead.

That's right. Once you start complying, you do a little bit more and a little bit more. And then at what point do you start saying no? It's harder to say no to end the compliance now if you didn't do so early on. You know, what is the line that you draw that this has gone too far now?

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