Certain things about calls are universal though...
Here follows a brief guide.
Pre-call blues.
Calls always start about 24 hours before the actual call - you have to go through the mental paces of preparing yourself for 24 hours (plus) of work. Naturally, a certain amount of depression accompanies the mental anguish of the task. The necessity of mental prep is most obvious when a call is sprung on you (i.e finding out on the day that you're on call that you're on call) when it suddenly your day goes from being an ordinary work day with the usual 'me time' at the end to suddenly being the day that never ends, with very little 'me time' at all.
On call food bags
Food bags are always excessively full when you come on call. This is simple - if you're gonna be miserable at work, no reason why you should be hungry miserable too.
On call karma
There are some people who, whether by stupidity (people who look for work) or dumb unluck, have horrendously terrible calls. Their penchant for attracting nearly dead P1 patients is freaky. They're usually amazing doctors, and if the proverbial pawpaw is going to hit the fan you'd want them nearby - but still. If you're on call with them your pre-call blues are always a little more intense because there is always hope at the start of a call that it won't be too bad...sometimes though, you just know - unlikely!
The Q-word
Much like saying 'Macbeth' in a theatre, no one refers to a call being 'Quiet' until the call is over. Legend dictates that invoking the Q-word calls down the mischief of Murphy and somewhere nearby a passenger train derails, 30 cars pile on top of each other at high speed, labour ward fills up with twin pregnancies and breeches and someone starts bleeding - a lot. My rule is if you say the Q-word, you do the work that follows.
Post call EUPHORIA
The unexplainably, yet very real endorphin rush, when you walk out of the hospital post call. No matter how little you slept, how hard you worked, how dirty or smelly you are, whether people lived or died, whether you pulled any rockstar moves or not - you always leave with the same elation.
Post-post call
This is probably the most famous phenomenon. It is widely described by medics of all ages, disciplines and universities.
Mostly, post call days are spent supine...on a bed or a couch of death...with junk food...watching mindless TV (E entertainment never fails). But these are great days actually. It's the next day - the one when you have to go back to work that you feel the weight of too much work.
It's a mystery. You would think 18 hours of sleeping would leave you refreshed.
Best explanation I've had to explain it is "you're still actually tired from the call. Problem is you now lack the post call euphoria."
Haven't found an explanation that comes closer.
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