Why Me?

I drove my financial controller to a day clinic today for a medical procedure that was to take a couple of hours. We arrived about ten minutes early to the appointed time. Check in was simple enough and the lady at the window was nice. We took seats in the waiting area. The wait was an hour. That’s the good part.

After a nurse came to take her away for the procedure, I decided to walk around outside. The nurse had told me the procedure would take about 45 minutes. That was within the allotted expected time. It was a nice day until.

First a young man and woman, carrying a large trash bag came up to me and wanted to know if I had any grand-babies. I said no, since my grandchildren are no longer babies. I will never know what was in that bag.

I walked down to a nearby office supply store to browse the time away. A clerk asked if I was shopping for something in particular. I told him that I would like to see one of the new e-readers. They didn’t have any in stock and had sold the display.

Back outside, in front of the clinic I encountered another man, also waiting. He said he had been there even longer than I had. With great detail he explained to me what tests his wife was having. Then he explained that he had also had the procedures a few months ago and everything was fine. They even removed his hemorrhoids while he was sedated. I need to know all this - why?

Back inside, settled into a chair, I noticed a man and woman that came in and did the check-in process. The woman took a chair and promptly began devouring a large sandwich. You cannot imagine the outrage this caused. This clinic is one of those places where you have to fast before the procedure. One woman began to complain loudly that there was a sign on the door forbidding food or drink in the clinic. A man got up and challenged the man - who also had to be fasting - about why the woman had food in front of all the "starving" people.

If this wasn’t enough entertainment, another woman, who had a large bottle of root beer, sat and picked her nose while she watched the TV set mounted on the wall.

The man that was enraged about the woman that brought the food went to talk to the equally upset woman that had complained loudly. On his way back to his seat, he stopped in front of me and said somebody’s name. I looked at him. He said I looked like the person he named. I assured him that I was not that person and he replied, "I know, he’s dead."

The actual procedure that was to take 45 minutes took over two hours. When they finally called me in to fetch my wife, I was beginning to dread going back into that waiting room.

Luckily, we exited through a side door.

I went back and checked the door to see if there really was a sign forbidding food and drink. There was. There also was a sign forbidding firearms.

I know why.

PMO
©2011