Saturday, June 02, 2007

A lesson I learned today about manners.


So for those of you who don't know...I'm going to Rwanda in July...so I've had to get all my shots and things like that. I got them all last friday and all was well, except I wasn't sure if I had my tetnus shot when I went to Kenya, so I just got it again. Then, when my arm was in so much pain for the next couple days, I realized how familiar the pain was...yeah...getting a tenus shot when you don't need it really sucks.

Anyway, that has nothing to do with manners...I digress.

I have to get a precription for malaria pills and I called my doctor to see if he could just call in a prescription for malarone. I mean, why would he need to see me. All I'm going to do is say, "I'm going to Africa, can I please have some Malarone?" An office visit seemed completely obsolete. So I called...and I told the receptionist my situation and she said, "You're going to have to come in for that."
So I said, "Why?"

Apparently, asking why is very offensive...and asking someone to explain themselves must be very rude. I could tell she thought so by the silence on the other end. So I rephrased the question to sound slightly less rude.

"Can I ask you why?"

Then she answered. "Yeah, if you hold, I'll ask the doctor."

So she put me on hold...for the entire time it takes to drive from Mission Viejo to San Juan Capistrano. Booo. Just to get back on the phone and tell me that I have to come in because the doctor needs to evaluate me to get a prescription for that. Thank you Captain Vague...and I also think that is a little bit of bologna.

All this to say...the one good thing I learned from this situation is that after talking to my insurance company...that doctor isn't even covered in my plan anymore. So I guess I'll never have to deal with that receptionist again. And when I made an appointment with another doctor, I asked them hypothetically if I was a returning patient if they would be able to call in the prescription, and she said, "Yes!"

So shove it Dr. Knox. You're a liar. I'm sure Dr. Zimmerman will be better than you anyway.

In conclusion, to you, the reader of this blog/novel. Is it really rude to ask "WHY?"

6 comments:

Alyssa said...

watch out for those malaria pills, ive taken them before and they made everything around me start to spin.

Heather Leith said...

DOCTOR KNOX IS MY DOCTOR TOO! HOORAY!

Allison said...

Dude...call Kathy at Saddleback Health and Wellness...she rules...

b.hurst said...

i used to live on a street called knox

"can i ask you why?" sounds much more polite than just "why?"

Mel East said...

omg i have docotr know to!!

matt said...

With my mom being a nurse, I've learned that it's not only not rude to ask why, but very important! I think we, as patients, tend to forget that doctors actually work FOR us. I think doctors tend to do the same thing, and think we're doing them a favor by coming to see them. So ask everything, and if the doctor doesn't want to answer, find one who does.. good for you.