Ignophobia – Nathan Mallory's Weblog

HEADLINE: Former Senator John Edwards Turns to Wal-Mart for PlayStation3

Just like the millions of Americans who turn to their neighborhood Wal-Mart for their holiday shopping needs [[including the esteemed former SC senator, I'm sure]], Wal-Mart announced today that former Sen. John Edwards is seeking to be one of the first to get a Sony PlayStation3, one of the most coveted holiday gift items this Christmas season.

Yesterday, a staff person for former Sen. Edwards contacted a Wal-Mart electronics manager in Raleigh, North Carolina to obtain a Sony PlayStation3 on behalf of the Senator’s family. [[Wow, way to use political staffer as personal shopper. But wait, isn't Walmart for poor people?]] Later that night, Sen. Edwards reportedly re-told a homespun story to participants of a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union-sponsored call about how his son had chided a fellow student for purchasing shoes at Wal-Mart. [[Yup, apparently so.]]

[Wal-Mart] noted the PlayStation3 is an extremely popular item this Christmas season, and while the rest of America’s working families are waiting patiently in line, Senator Edwards wants to cut to the front. [[Well, he's rich, and IMPORTANT , after all. What good is being a soulless trial attorney and failed vice-presidential candidate if you can't use it to screw over the average Joe?]]

[Source]

The doctor’s waiting room is a crowded pit of uncomfortable silence, packed with the ailing masses of the world hoping desperately to find alleviation.

Or at least, that’s how the doctors themselves must view us.

Growing up the son of a physician and being alive a healthy 26 years, I’ve been exposed to my fair share of the variety of waiting rooms. And before anyone objects to my assessment, I’m aware that there are doctors that treat their patients with respect and keep their appointment times. But the vast majority do not.

Ask yourself: How many times have you gone to see a doctor, arrived right on time for your appointment, then proceeded to whittle an hour or more away until the doctor was ready for you? And when that hallowed moment arrived and your name was called, what usually happened next? In my experience, you rise up above the sickly masses and are led to another, more solitary waiting room — an audience chamber, if you will — where you will continue to wait… and wait… until the Man (or Woman) at last finds time. If I can make time in my own busy schedule to make an appointment, fill out reams of patient information, and arrive early for said appointment, why is it so much to ask for the doctor to simply keep the appointment time?  The answer boils down to arrogance. Whether done intentionally or not, the aforementioned kind of treatment sends the message that the doctor considers his time more valuable than yours (regardless of whether that is technically correct or not).

Consider the alternatives. If the doctor made appointment times and insisted on keeping them, accounting for the possibility of no-shows and patients that run long would doubtlessly result in a certain amount of downtime. But since the doctor has made a decision about the value of his time vis-à-vis yours, he will tightly book and even double book his patients so to completely minimize his downtime at the expense of yours.

No other business I can think of is allowed to get away with that. What if an attorney you retained was consistently 15-60 minutes late for an appointment with you? What if you showed up for school and the teaching assistant told you to just wait in the classroom — the professor will come and teach your hour of class shortly. The only other lines of work I can think of that exercise the same level of disregard for their customers’ time are the cable and telephone companies, and people loathe them for their frustrating “between 8 and 12 o’clock” appointment times. Would that doctors that practice similar treatment receive similar scorn as well…

The connection between these two industries should be obvious: you as the customer have little to no choice in the matter. If you cannot carve out a four hour block in your day, you don’t get your cable or telephone line installed, and your only real recourse is to make another employment or, if you’re really lucky, take your business down the street to a competitor who will do the same thing to you. It really says something that DirectTV touts a thirty minute appointment window for installation (as if I’m supposed to be impressed). If you have a 10:30 AM doctor’s appointment and an 11:30 AM meeting to get to and the doctor runs late, you are the one who suffers for the doctor’s tardiness, and the onus is upon you to reschedule your appointment and do all this again (and for God’s sake, don’t book your schedule so tightly next time!). Ultimately, you’re the only one who suffers (or continues to suffer) if you can’t handle the arrogance of the physician. You need his help; he doesn’t particularly need your business. I mean, just look at how full his waiting room is!