My Wednesday Morning

It was the day before Thanksgiving and I was stuck in the waiting room at the doctor's office for over an hour.  It's not the first time I've fallen victim to the doctor scheduling appointments for times when he's not actually in the office.  It was clear that he wasn't there, because it was 8:30 in the morning and I had scheduled the first appointment of the day.  There were six of us in the waiting room, the same six, for the entire time.  No one got called in.  We simply waited and waited an waited.  And I just sat there, getting more and more irritated.

Finally, after well over an hour, I was the first one called into the exam room.  It took the doctor less than three minutes to give me a clean bill of health and allow me to go on with my day; after paying my $40 copay of course.

Rewinding a bit, there was a girl who was on her cell phone for the entire time I was waiting.  Of the six of us in the room, she was the only person who's voice I heard for over an hour.  There was no sign that said "No Cell Phones," but you'd think people should have some common courtesy, right?  She was definitely talking to her boyfriend because she kept referring to him as "babe", which is one of my biggest pet peeves.  I don't care how in love you are, referring to your significant other as "babe" is the verbal equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.  Anytime I ever hear anyone use that particular pet name, I want to punch the person in the face.  Ugh...

Anyway, she was making him believe that she was at work and not the doctor's office.  He was obviously surprised that she didn't have the day off because she kept saying that she was a dedicated and hard worker.  "I'm dedicated to my job, babe."  Ugh...  "Babe, you should know that about me.  I work very hard."  Ugh...

Maybe it was because I was already annoyed at her, but it made me even angrier that she was lying to her "babe."  I sat there trying to think of some way I could expose her.  Was there something I could say that would give away her current location?  I didn't come up with anything, and probably wouldn't have even done it if I had.  I just sat there, getting more and more irritated.

After leaving the doctor's office, my next stop was the mechanic, to get an oil change.  As I sat down in my second waiting room of the day, I couldn't help but notice the shrieking cries of a young boy.  I also couldn't help but notice that he was lying down in the middle of the room, spinning around in a circle, as he screamed and yelled at the top of his lungs.  His obese mother simply sat there ignoring him, a parental strategy that was proving ineffective in my opinion, but to be fair, I do not have any children.  I thought about picking up the tyke and dropping him into the well below the cars being serviced, but decided not to do that.  I just sat there, getting more and more irritated.

When the service was completed, the cashier notified me that because it was my car's first oil change, there was no charge.  Perhaps my persecution that morning had all been worth it.  As I walked outside to get my car, I looked up to see if the heavens had parted and a light was shining down on me.  Sadly, that wasn't the case.  Had it, I would have driven to the nearest convenience store and bought a lotto ticket.  Instead, I simply got in my car and drove home.