You know, I try to give just about everyone I meet the benefit of the doubt. When I make an appointment, I expect that if I show up, the person I made the appointment with will also be there. Not so, apparently.
This morning, I got up and drove in because I had a 9:00 a.m. appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at OPA Seattle. He's supposed to be some hot-shit rock-star surgeon whom I was foisted off on because his associate, Dr. Khan-Farooqui, whom I liked very much, was moving to Grand Junction, Colorado and didn't feel as though he could ethically perform a surgery that would need several months of follow-up care when he would only be here for one more. So, I made an appointment with his parter - the one whom he said would do the best job for what was going on here, and I was in luck...there was an appoinment available a mere 3.5 weeks away. Woo hoo! So, this morning I was pretty excited to get there and get things underway. I arrived at the OPA office building 30 minutes prior to my appointment as I was told by the receptionist who set the appointment that Dr. Mankey did not like it when patients were not prompt - that he was always prompt, hardly ever ran behind in his day and he appreciated his patients respecting that. So, not wanting to get on the doc's bad side, I showed up quite early. I went up to the offices at 8:45, and got check in by his receptionist. At 9:05, she calls me over to the desk and tells me in a very matter-of-fact voice that there was a "mix up" and Dr. Mankey wasn't in the office this morning. He had a doctor appointment, and they would call me this afternoon to reschedule. I was so friggin' stunned I just stood there for a second without saying anything - those of you who know me know that this is quite an amazing thing. Anyway, I said,
"great, I get one doctor who's moving away, so I get shuffled off to this one, and you guys set me an appointment which I wait nearly a month for, on a day when he has a doctor appoinment? I take off work this morning, I drive in, I park...."
"I know, and I'm sorry. But we'll call you this afternoon to reschedule." Now, mind you, this girl said this with all the remorse of someone telling you that they are sorry a movie is sold out and that you had to be bothered to come up to the ticket window. In other words, as though it was no fault of their own. This girl looked like she was raised on Nordstom salon foil wraps and bon-bons and didn't have a care in the world. Highly likely she is the over-privileged brat child of one of these friggin' surgeons.
Anyway, this made for a very shitty morning. I was so upset and there was no one to take it out on. I just had to swallow it down. I would go somewhere else, but this is the recommendation I had. I mean, I know these guys don't actually care about their patients, and these guys don't even really care about the money because they are the orthopedic surgeons to the big sports teams. Now I'm not sure what kind of a recommendation THAT is considering the quality of our local sports teams, but still. Oh! and when I asked the stupid bitch later on the phone (I was so pissed off I felt that I needed to call back for clarification on how this happened and to explain that I was out money on parking and so forth) if they were at least going to cover my parking for my next visit, she said, "We don't own the garage, so we can't cover your parking." O-kay....maybe she had one too many foil jobs....since when do you have to own a parking garage to comp someone's parking? It's called petty cash, you dumb bitch!
Anyway, that's been the old morning 'round here. It took me a couple of hours just to settle down enough to work! I hope anyone who reads this is having a better Monday than I am.
Ciao!
