Why is it that a visit to the doctor’s office is such a time consuming chore? I know that many comedians have joked about this, but it really is an annoying problem.
Take last Monday when I had to see the doctor. The only time they had was 10:30, so I took it. I get there a few minutes early and found that the waiting room is packed with people waiting to see one of the doctors. This was not a good sign.
I signed in and managed to find a seat. It was a good thing that I brought my Japanese lesson book with me as it always seems that this doctor’s office is crowded. As it turns out, I got a good hour of studying done before my name was finally called. I felt bad for the poor saps who were there before I was, yet still had not been summoned to the back.
Once the vitals were checked, it was time to wait some more. So I got another 30-minutes of studying in. Hey, I’m getting pretty good at this Japanese!
Finally the doctor comes in. Five minutes later, he’s off again to check to see if he has some drug samples. Got to love them drugs.
Ten minutes pass and the doctor returns. No luck on the free drugs, so I’ll have to pay through the nose. However, he wants to see me again in a week. *sigh* Another expense I don’t want, yet I must have if I want to get better.
So fast-forward to today. This time I scored an 08:30 appointment. In the waiting room were only three other people. Two were there for blood work and one to see the doctor. Since I was so early and the waiting room so empty, I didn’t bother to bring my Japanese lessons. Boy was that a mistake.
Some thirty-five minutes later, I (the lone soul in the waiting room) was summoned.
Sheeze! What the smeg was that wait for?
Again, vitals were checked and the waiting started again. This time another thirty minutes passed.
“Smeg!”, I thought. “This is getting ridiculous. There’s no crowd, yet I’m waiting almost as much as I did when there was a crowd.”
I could hear the doctor talking in another room, but it was another ten minutes before he popped in. I guess because it wasn’t crowded, I got ten minutes of his time.
So that’s an hour and 20 minutes (roughly) of my day gone for a 10 minute session with the doctor on a day where there were no crowds. To me, this seems an outrage.
I know I’m not the only one to experience this. I really wonder why doctors do this to their patience. Sometimes, I think they are sadistic people who laugh their butts off at all of the people waiting. It is their only source of amusement for being around sick people they’d rather not be near.
But that’s only a theory…
Thus endeth the rant.