An Angry Body Slam

I left work yesterday for an appointment with a new doctor, after more than a year without a doctor (I’d been going to a nurse practitioner near my home; she about killed me…that’s whole ‘nother story).   When I arrived, they said I didn’t have an appointment.  I argued that I did, so they looked at their records a little closer and found my name.  She said, “Now your co-pay is $35, you know that right?   Thirty. Five. Dollars.  You know that, right?”  

The two girls begin to tell me that the doctor had a meeting, and she may not be able to see me.  “What?!”  “Yeah, you may have to reschedule.   What would be a good time for you?”   I said, “Since I took off work to come here, now!  Now would be a good time.”   She said, “Well, she’s got that meeting this afternoon…”    The other girl sticks her head from around a partition and says, “I was just about to call you.”   (It was 2:55, my appoint was at 3:00.)   The first girl says, “Mondays and Tuesdays are our busiest days.”  I said, “I made this appointment five weeks ago.”  She said “I apologize for your inconvenience,” but she was really loud when she said it, and I felt like she was saying it for the benefit of the other people in the waiting room, like the situation was more of an inconvenience for her. 

I stood there not knowing what exactly to do, and she told me that there was a possibility the doctor could see me.  Then she said that normally something like this wouldn’t have been a problem, "but the nurse practitioner didn’t come in today."   I didn’t even tell her I did not want to see the practitioner, I wanted to see a doctor, and I didn’t want a two-minute drive-by examination. 

Then the doctor walks by and says to no one in particular, “I can’t see anyone else today.”

I didn’t act ugly, but I was mad and definitely wanted them to know they had inconvenienced me. 

The girl says, “Would you like to reschedule?”  I said, “I would not.”   She said, “Well, here.  Take this paperwork and fill it out so that you will have it when you come back.”   It was about eight pages of more questions than I would answer.  I took the book and walked out.

Like I said, I wasn’t ugly.  But they knew I was mad because I didn’t bother to hide it.   I don’t know if it’s related or not (probably is), but last night I dreamed I was at a relative’s house, and I was about to watch a TV show (on losing weight, rather real life-like, wouldn’t you say?)  I cleared out a place on the couch for me to sit (my cousin hadn’t cleaned house in a while, apparently).  Before I could sit, a friend of my cousin, a girl I didn’t know, sat down.   I told her I’d just cleared that spot for me, but she said she wanted to watch the show.  I picked her up and tossed her on the floor like a 50 pound burlap sack of peanuts.

I think God was telling me I body slammed those two girls with my anger.