The first quarter of a football game (involving only 4 minutes of really playing anything).
The first half of your favourite sitcom (about 12 minutes of the actual show).
How long it takes to save 15% with Geico.
Think of all the things that take 15 minutes. Why does the pharmacy wait time seem so long when the wait is 15-20 minutes? Are we really asking for that much of your time?
It is perception. You know you can wait in line at the traffic lights during rush hour for the shortest distance to your destination and it will take you 15 minutes to get to work. You also know you can drive side streets and avoid the congestion and lights but it's a little out of the way and will take 20 minutes. The difference is actively driving versus actively sitting. Personally I will take the scenic, meandering drive every time over the congested sit-and-sit-some-more rush hour scene.
It is this perception of time and its passage that confuse retail patients. Watching a show or a game will seem to move time at a quicker pace than standing at the counter staring at me as I fill your prescription. They say "a watched pot never boils". (Though if you keep staring at me and looking at your watch, I may boil...) Move along to some other task. As you walk away to while away the woefully interminable wait, please ask yourself why it was so easy to wait at the doctor's office. Why could you wait in Gen Pop (the main waiting area) then wait again in solitary (a room) and not complain?
I think we should rise up against our prescribers. Shout to the rafters "we're not going to take it anymore!" and march around the office complaining. At the pharmacy you are rewarded for such insolence through gift cards and fruit baskets. I wonder if we could push for free MRIs and vouchers for PAP smears and Prostate exams?
I think the next time I have to wait at the ER I will call the main hospital line and say:
"what's taking so long?"
"why did people who arrived after me get taken back first?"
"what are you going to do to compensate me for my wait time?"
"can I get free X-rays for life?"
"I don't care if he has 6 gunshot wounds, my stuffy nose is really inconvenient and I need some antibiotics right now so I can take my prescription to the pharmacy in a couple weeks right before they close and annoy the piss out of them too."
"Is this going to take much longer?"
ReplyDelete"I have to get back to work."
"I have grandma out in the car."
"It's just a refill. I've had it before."