Rant Rant Rant

Excuse me while I rant. This time it’s the staff at my doctor’s office that deserves the rant. Or maybe I should say the lack of staff. Or lack of efficient staff. Or the irresponsible staff that someone at the facility hired.

Whose fault is it anyway?

This rant began as I sat and wrote it in my head during the over two-hour wait in the lobby this morning. But it didn’t end there. It continued during the twenty minutes I waited in the exam room for the appearance of the doctor. And it didn’t end there. The doctor poked his head in just long enough to tell me there was something missing and he would be right back. Twenty minutes later, I listened at the door as he explained to “someone out there” that there is no way he can help me today since I did not get the MRI I was supposed to get before coming back and how he didn’t understand why they even asked me to come in without it. It seems that “someone out there” did not write up the order properly and therefore the authorization was denied. Again. I knew that and it took a strong grip on my chair to keep me from bursting out the door to rant at that “someone out there” face to face.

With a somewhat sheepish look, the doctor entered the room to explain how there was nothing he could do for me today. He was so sorry that I made the trip, so sorry that I waited for over two hours, so sorry that they hadn’t had anyone in the office for the last month that knew how to request MRIs, so sorry…so sorry…so sorry. I gave him an earful of what I thought about his staff and reminded him that this ordeal has been going on since my first visit to him in early November. He responded with a few more “so sorries” and gave me his cell phone number. When I asked him what I was supposed to do with this number, he assured me that if there were an emergency, I could call it and get an immediate response. Trust me, it’s not going to take much of an emergency.

In the end, I realized that this doctor was a victim of his own staff. I offered my own apology for being so cantankerous and acknowledged that he must be very frustrated himself. He nodded. As I turned to leave, I made one last comment to him about his staff not bothering to ask me for my co-payment. His advice: “Don’t give it to them. They’ll never figure it out.” I considered giving it to them anyway, shredded into a thousand confetti pieces. I considered giving them a bill for two hours and forty minutes of my time plus travel expenses. But I have to go back there someday.

== BlogFodder == What makes you return to a weblog?

Generally I enjoy those weblogs written in a manner similar to mine. I look for random ramblings in a variety of topics. It's about my fascination with what comes up for people, how they express it and what makes them tick. My favorite weblogs share life as it truly is with all its joys and sorrows, feats and failures, strengths and weaknesses, especially when a writer is able to do so with a good sense of humor.