Okay, so at the request of my wife's OBGYN I go in to have a blood analysis done to see if I carry the same inverted Y chromosome that my unborn son does (Which, apparently will yield no more significance than a "Huh... so that's where he gets it.") The fun part is that I've been sick the last couple of days, so I was flying on cold medicine when I walked in. Getting in to see the doctor was easy enough - it was the lab work that pissed me off.
After a short chat with the doctor, he sends me downstairs to get a blood sample taken - a process that takes all of four minutes. I get to the desk and lo-and-behold... no one is there. I sign in on the clip board and slap the little service bell that's there. A few minutes later I'm still standing there, and I can hear voices from the back - sounding like giggles and cheerful conversation. Patiently, I slap the service bell again.
Within moments a middle-youngish Filipino woman appears and, upon seeing me, gets an instant scowl on her face. I simply state that I was sent for a blood test. She askes if I signed in, I replied "Yes," to which she says "Have a seat." She disappears again.
Forty minutes later, I'm still watching Iron Man on my iPod. While not particularly miserable from being sick, I was quite drowsy from thre cold mediciene, and had been nodding off. Filipino Lady appears occasionally to look at her computer. Glances up to see that I'm still there, and disappears again. In that time three people come in, sit for a while, get ushered into the back, and then leave. Filipiono Lady then walks out the door carrying her purse. Latino Lady and Persian Guy suddenly appear behind the desk. Another fifteen minuets and two more patients get cycled through. Latino Lady finally asks me "Sir, are you waiting?" I say "Yes". She and Persian Guy look at each other. "What is your last name?" I tell her. A few minutes later Persian Guy takes me back and takes my blood sample.
I'm calm throughout the whole thing, because the person I needed to be angry at left. It seems to me that Filipino Lady intentionally blew me off, and then left without alerting her colleagues to my presence. What, was this my punishment for impatiently ringing the bell during her social hour?
Whatever. By the time I got out, I wasn't interested in yelling at anyone, I just wanted food. Upon relating this story to my wife, she says "If I were there I would have raised hell." Usually I try to counter my wife's short fuse. This time I wouldn't have.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Sounds like Sweden. Socialized medicine = entire country in one cheap HMO.
About a year ago I went to get blood tested. You take a number and wait. There were 5 people ahead of me and two technicians, but it still took 45 minutes to get to me because they took their coffee break together.
When it finally was my turn, the first tech tried about 10 times but couldn't get a vein. Then the second tech tried a few times and told me to come back in two weeks when the person who knew what she was doing came back from vacation.
I was one pissed-off pincushion, yet I didn't bother to make a fuss. It just wasn't worth any more of my time or energy.
If nothing else, watching "Iron Man" should have motivated you to get up and get something done. Hell, the soundtrack alone would have made me take action.
Post a Comment