I took my mom to the ER on Monday so she could give samples for lab work she had to get done and her primary is temporarily closed or something. I don't know. I'm sure there was a better option than an ER but when something comes up I don't ask questions, I just go get her and drive.
Rustled because while we were there, they had her basically sit there for 3 hours holding a sample of urine and whatnot, waiting for them to come back and just...take the samples and let her leave. Was like 2 hours before they saw her at all, then she draws blood and produces the sample, then she sits there for 3 more hours holding the goddamn urine sample.
I caught up on some reading and finished my latest book, then asked the woman who was dealing with her if my mom could just give them the sample so she could go, since she was sitting there for so long and really didn't need to be there anymore. The woman kinda flips out and loudly (so the whole waiting room can hear) tells me I can't just cut in line and my mom can't just drop things off, and I was like "yeah I'm not asking to cut anything, this just seems unnecessary" then she walks off while going "THIS ISN'T A MCDONALDS, SIR, YOU HAVE TO WAIT LIKE EVERYONE ELSE SIR."
Like, waiting is fine (within reason), there just wasn't a point to it which is why I brought it up. I wasn't being confrontational or anything, and this woman just seized on it as an opportunity to put me in my place.
Not mad at her specifically, cause I know how hard it is to work in a hospital, and the ER specifically is like the ninth circle. I'd probably be losing it too.
Mildly rustled at the whole thing though, and the fact that it took 5 hours overall, and the "I'm gonna put this guy in his place" condescending teacher 'tude.
Oh yeah, and when she came back out a while later she loudly bellowed forth to my mom "HAVE YOU GOT THAT URINE SAMPLE FOR US MA'AM" in the middle of the busy waiting room.
Also there was an older black dude flipping out at the (black) supervisor because a black woman had been there earlier and left because she'd been waiting for hours. The older dude was saying "She was black! She was black and you didn't help her!" to the supervisor like the guy was contractually obligated to put the woman in front of other patients because he's a fellow black. The supervisor was very patient and responded to all of the "but she was black!" with "that doesn't matter, we have to treat people in a certain order based on the severity of their problem, I'm sorry that she left but there's not a lot I can do". Older dude kept flipping out and talking to himself for a while, then eventually mellowed out and became a super nice guy out of nowhere. That was weird.
TLDR: I'm not actually angry cause I respect hospital staff, just a little rustled at the whole setup, and really don't want to have to go to an ER for a "routine" thing ever again, and not sure why we were even there, and not sure why my mom had to wait 3 hours to hand them a sample and have them go "okay you're free to go"
