On Saturdays, the clinic is open from 8-noon. We schedule patients beforehand, but also allow walk-in patients. These walkies, as I will call them, are warned that patients with a scheduled appointment have priority, which means the walkies could end up waiting more than 30 minutes. I'm sure these naive little patients assume that won't happen to them, so they nod and continue signing the paperwork to be seen as a walk-in.
Oh ho ho, how I chuckle at those poor souls.
I liken it to Disney Fastpass Envy.
At almost every single Disney attraction, you're faced with the option to go ahead and wait in line for X amount of time, or take a Fastpass and return to the ride later, for a much shorter wait time.
My scheduled patients are the Fastpasses, and my walkies are the people who choose to wait in line for X minutes. Then, these people who chose to wait, get jealous as the Fastpass users zip past them in their own shorter line.
Here's an example of today. Suzie walks in to the office at 10:40 for a sinus infection. She takes a seat in the comfy leather chairs, expecting a 10 minute wait. But it's busy, and we are 30 minutes behind. Bob had an appointment scheduled for 11:10, and he arrives 3 minutes early. He signs in, and is taken back when the next exam room opens up 5 minutes later. Then Xander shows up to his scheduled 11:20 appointment and goes back right after check in. By this point, Suzie has watched 2 people walk in and go back before her, and she is visibly ticked. Scheduled patient after patient continue to show up in 5 minute increments, and Suzie continues to wait. This happens for 40 minutes (no lie) and when she is finally allowed back to the exam rooms, she makes a biter remark about how so many people were seen before her.
Get a Fastpass, honey!
Schedule an appointment next time!
You chose to be a walkie so suck it up and take it!
Excuse me while I bang my forehead on the doorframe for a hot second.
~Courtney
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