First, you have to schedule. Then you have to show up on time. Then you have to sit in the waiting room for a period of 15 minutes while listening to the fellow patients cough all over the magazines.
The nurse finally calls your name. You think to yourself, “Okay, now we’re going places! Let the doctor’s visit commence, because I am going to be seeing my doctor in a minute!” The nurse covers the basics--you know, like making sure you have a pulse and everything. After she types up a bunch of crap on the computer, she tells you the doctor will be in shortly. She leaves.
After the nurse leaves, you stay pretty patient for the first two minutes, feeling slightly self-congratulatory of your patience. Two minutes turns to five, five turns to ten, and ten turns to 15. You are no longer patient. You think seriously about leaving. You think, “Hey, at least I made an active attempt to be health-conscious today, but I’m not about to spend the rest of my life sitting in the exam room waiting.”
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| a text I sent my fiance from the doctor's office |
In the midst of your daydream of fleeing the doctor’s office, you hear the familiar knock on the door. You know what is going to happen next; the doctor is going to come in and talk to you! Doc cranes his head in and says, “It’s going to be a few more minutes...I am sorry for the long wait.” You say it is no problem, although it is. You are quite pissed, and in this very moment, you want to tell the doc that you hate him. You applaud yourself at your ability to keep cool on the surface when in reality you are fantasizing about setting him on fire.
Finally, the doctor makes a real appearance. The actual visit part takes no more than 7 minutes. Talk about building up a bunch of suspense for nothing!
And that is why I have little patience and am often on the brink of losing my cool on my doctor's visits. I'm assuming I'm not alone in this. Readers, can you relate? What situations test your patience?
I find myself being most impatient when I'm waiting on the queue at Verizon because you can obviously see that the sales reps are not busy. Drives me crazy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that would drive me crazy too. What a bunch of a-holes. Hey, when are you going to write another blog post? I kind of love those. I feel like I showed everyone the public restrooms post. That was hilarious.
DeleteOh shit. You already did. I'm sorry. I'll go check it out right now!
DeleteHaha, for sharing my posts, you're too kind! Yeah, this recent one is much more serious than my earlier stuff. I think that's where my blogging is headed, but hopefully it won't be too serious all the time :)
DeleteSerious posts can be just as good as funny ones.
DeleteThe thing I can never understand about going to see the doctor is that in every surgery I've been to in the last few they've had signs everywhere saying that if you don't show up ten minutes early for your appointment the doctor won't see you and you'll have to rebook. And yet I've never once been seen any earlier than thirty minutes after my appoinment time. It just seems like such an unreasonable rule.
ReplyDeleteThat's ridiculous! 30 minutes early? I'm not sure if I'd be able to follow that rule.
DeleteThis situation is what gets me. Only, my doctor is almost always running late.
ReplyDeleteMine is always running late too. It makes me crazy. Nobody likes the doctor's office to begin with, but being there longer than necessary is what makes me lose my mind.
Deletemy dr's appts are pretty frequent at the moment, and often i am seen by two or three people per visit. my problem is i never know when i'm done at the end- there's always like 5 minutes when i'm sitting there in my little assless gown just thinking "so... am i done? i hear footsteps...nope not for me... should i get off the table?" before i up and bail.
ReplyDeleteHow frustrating. That's a whole lot of people to be seen by in a single visit. I'm sorry :(
DeleteAny time someone I'm meeting up with is running late it tests my patience. Being prompt was drilled into my head as a child, and while I'm not as fanatically early to places as I used to be, tardiness is still a pet peeve of mine.
ReplyDeleteYes, it makes me a little bit crazy too. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants though, and sometimes I end up being 5 mins late for something, but usually no later than that. I can understand 5 minutes, but any longer is annoying.
DeleteI found out, by accident, that at my doctor (Kaiser) they have "long" appt times and "short" appt times. So I always ask for the long ones because I like to bombard my doctor with questions!
ReplyDeleteWow! Really? I wonder if all doctor's offices have long and short appointment options. That's interesting. If they do, it seems that every patient before me books an extra long one. My doctor is always late.
DeleteGAH I so agree. I have zero patience when it comes to waiting for a doctor's appointment. I swear, with how long they make you wait sometimes, the chances of contracting something worse than what you're in for is very likely. I'm always looking over to the next person like, "oh god...what are THEY in here for???"
ReplyDeleteHa ha I always think the same thing when I look around in waiting rooms...especially when I go to the Quick Care place where people go when they're in need of more urgent care. Yikes.
DeleteI once left the doctor's office after a long wait and bugged the nurse's station about when the doctor would come back. Haha. I'm an awful patient.
ReplyDelete