I went to see the doctor today. Nothing serious, just my yearly check-up to make sure that everything is ok and still hanging the way it should be.
The appointment was for 10am and I arrived 5 minutes late. Not to worry, I thought. Doctors’ schedules hardly ever run on time and seeing as I had an appointment, he should be able to see me right away.
Ha! Think again, jackass. I had to wait 40 minutes(!) to see him. What the fuck was up with that?
Ever noticed how you derive absolutely no pleasure out of paging through a magazine in a doctor’s office?
When I pointed out to the nurse that I had an appointment and that I needed to get back to work, she looked at me as if I had crawled in from the gutter and merely said, “You were late. Doctor is busy and has many people to see… so please sit down and wait until I call your name” (No shit!)
“But I had an appointment… for 10”, I protested
“And you are late”, and she promptly ignored me. I felt like I was back in school.
Where did all the other people come from? If I had an appointment for ten, then why were they here? This was my time dammit… I reserved it! Did they just show up in the hopes that someone would be late?
I thought of piling on the charm, but something told me she would be impervious to that. Nurses have no sense of humour. If they did, they would not be so eager to plunge a needle in your arse.
I wonder if they intentionally penalise you for being late? Perhaps they highlight your name in yellow and automatically bump you to the bottom of the list if you show up late, just to teach you a lesson?
We run a tight ship, young man and tardiness will not be tolerated. Now get back in line!
All this meant I had to call to the office to let them know that I was running late and would not be able to make my meeting on time. [harumph] The big guy was not happy. He sounded like I had just sucker-punched him in the gut. I could go back to work and make an appointment to see the doctor tomorrow, but there is no guarantee I would fare any better.
I often wonder what would happen if I had shown up for the appointment 5 minutes ahead of time. Would the doctor see me at the appointed time and if he didn’t, could I accuse them of a delay and bill them? Somehow I think not. Would the nurse come over, pat me on the head, tell me I am a good boy and give me a lollipop? “There’s a good boy. Now drop your trousers so that I can give you your complimentary blow job”. I do have 5 minutes to spare after all, and deserve a treat for showing up early… don’t I?
Whoever said punctuality yields its own rewards has obviously never been to a doctor’s surgery. Come to think of it, I don’t know of anyone who’s ever said that. What the fuck is an own reward anyway?
What kind of shit is “you were late”? When has a doctor ever seen a patient on time? If you’d actually made the great worker of medicine magic wait for a few minutes, it would have been the first such event in the whole of recorded History. It seems more likely that Ms Snippy McSnip, the almighty tin god of the reception desk, just coudn’t bear the idea of an untidy appointment book.
Doctors are never late for appointments. They are the gods of time. Remember that.
40 minutes is a long time to wait when you have an appointment. Just be glad you did not spend the time wearing one of those hosptital gowns. It gets breezy under there, if you know what I mean.
it’s obviously a typo. The original quote was more likely “punctuality yields its own reTards.”
An own reward would be something in the order of a hand job, administered by yourself, of course. lol.
Had a similar episode last year when I went to the doc. Seems like they have this holier-than-thow attitude when it comes to being punctual. The nurse told me that they have better things to do than to wait for me – and i replied with “like what, playing scrabble”… needless to say my cocky attitude was not appreciated and I’ve not been back since.
I’m too scared to touch those magazines – you never know what germs hides in the pages.
See, the reason he kept you waiting was because of a looming doctor shortage in SA ~ because they’re all bloody *here*. I have run across more South African doctors, and a nurse or two, in the past year than the population should reasonably warrant. Mind you — I’m not complaining! They all remind me of my Jo’burg auntie and that can only be good :). It must be because they’re trying to remedy (get it?) the shortage of MDs here.
It is good to know that Doctor’s surgerys are the same everywhere in the world. To see the doctor in my surgery at your allocated time you have to come in 20 mins earlier. Even though you have an appointment they operate a first come first served policy.. Mind boggles
I know exactly what sugar007 is talking about! Unbelievable! Appointments mean nothing to doctors over here. You walk in, announce yourself at reception, take a seat and then wait in a first-come-first-served queue. Doesn’t make sense!
At least we don’t have to pay to see the doctors!
KN: She does not have much of a life if she cares that much about a tidy appointment book. I can see it working for her though, she seemed particularly unsociable.
IB: Don’t get me started on hospital gowns. Deep down all people in the medical profession are preverts.
Blue Water Lily: And very rewarding it can be, purely from a hedonistic viewpoint. 😉
TP: Nice come-back! You are right about the magazines… they are greenhouses for all sorts of nasties.
Moonflake: LOL. True, in so many ways!
ANdrea: Doctors and nurses are some of South Africa’s biggest exports. We are so good at doing it, we are have to import doctors from Cuba to fill the gaps.
Sugar: Yeah, the appointment book is only there to keep track of you and to penalise you for future visits.
Del: He he. They should convert surgeries into drive-throughs! Come by whenever you like.
No consultation fees… lucky bastards you are.
That “own reward” is something they tell us when we’re still young and impressionable, in an attempt to make us do stuff we probably don’t really care about, like be punctual. Oh… and never underestimate the power of The Chitster’s charm – I would’ve loved to have heard the outcome of that..!
Had a similar experience this weekend! The doctor was running half an hour late which means we couldn’t pop in to Maw’s to visit. I called her and explained that we don’t make it because I had a doctor’s appointment and the doctor was running late. So, she sulked and said ja, it’s okay. Only an hour later did she ‘phone me and ask me what was wrong. Luckily the nurses down here are quite nice though, this one was most apologetic!