My closest walk-in clinic has a bunch of crabs working at it

The BBQ Pit
1

What a cranky bunch. I went there today to get my x-ray results. The lady at the sign-in desk could have been less helpful if she tried; she certainly wasn’t trying to be helpful. She had one of those attitudes like, “I hate my job, I hate being here, I hate talking to you, but I’ll be the absolute minimum of polite so I don’t get fired, but you’ll know very well that I hate this job and you.”

So after wrangling back and forth with her a little bit (me remaining polite, honest), she grudgingly admits that one doctor is taking new patients, and her receptionist is not at her desk at the moment. Okay, fine, I sign in to wait for the walk-in clinic doctor (getting a regular doctor was just a side-track since I was there anyway). At 3:40 pm, she tells me it will be about 45 min to an hour wait. No problem - I expected as much, so I go home and putz around a little (I live 5 minutes from the clinic).

I go back to the clinic at about 2 minutes to 4. The regular doctor receptionist is there now, but flitting back and forth and taking calls. I stand in front of the walk-in clinic desk to let them know I’m back (like the sign says to do), and after a couple of minutes of standing there with my finger up my nose, someone finally talks to me. After some more back and forth (with a new crab), it turns out that I was called for my information after I left, and I should have stayed until then.

As I said to the crab, that would have been good information to have before I left (still being polite, but holy moley, are these women antagonistic). She tells me that THIS time she’ll put my chart in order where it is supposed to be, but next time I go to the back of the line. Alright, mom. Got it.

Then I go over to the regular doctor receptionist, who is finally at her counter and not on the phone, and I ask to make an appointment with the doctor who is accepting new patients. She says I will have to call tomorrow, because she only takes appointments until 4 pm. I look at the clock - 4:02. Heavy sigh.

Alright then, I will call tomorrow, because I have done a lot of work on personal growth and I am learning to rise above these petty annoyances. But I’m not really sure this is a clinic worth going back to. Too many crabby ladies. I might have to bust one in the chops some day.

(Oh, for you Calgarians, this is the medical clinic in the Beddington Town Square with the Safeway and London Drugs in it. If you don’t have to go there, I wouldn’t bother.)

2

I was about to say, “You’ve found a clinic with a doctor that’s accepting new patients?” But then, “oh”.

3

i’ve been in calgary for 4 years (as of canada day) and had the extreme pleasure of my first walk-in visit just a couple weeks ago when i woke up to find that someone had shoved a fiery hot sword of death into my left ear while i slept. or rather, my first ear infection ever.

i spent the next 150 minutes filling out my ‘first time patient’ forms about three times (how do you lose something twice in a row?) and listening to the birds argue about how to best rearrange the desktop to accomodate the new computer.

of course, i expected this kind of thing in forest lawn :smiley:

4

I keep mis-reading the thread title as, “My walk-in closet has a bunch of crabs in it.” And then I think, “You know, there’s this special shampoo you can get…”

5

On the other hand, from the point of view of someone that works in a service industry, you have absolutely no idea how annoying it is to find that someone which you thought would stick around (who fails to realize that they’ll have to fill out paperwork before a doctor’s appointment?) wanders off for no apparent reason like distracted second graders.

Just sayin’.

6

That’s not how walk-ins work here (in Calgary, I mean) - you’re supposed to put your name in with your Alberta Health Care number (so they can get all your personal info) and then take off until about 5 minutes before your appt. They they grab the chart and do all that sort of stuff, at least every walk-in I’ve ever been to here operates that way. The waiting rooms aren’t big enough for everyone to wait at the clinic.

I started going to my family Dr. 15 years ago, and I live in fear of the day that she decides to retire. I’ve mentioned this to her before and apparently I’m not the only person who’s brought it up - at this rate she’ll be working until she’s 85.

7

The trick is to not start going to doctors seriously until you’re in your 40s, then find one that’s younger than you are.

8

Well, she’s actually only about 5 years older than me, and she’s a Dr., so she MUST be healthier! :wink:

9

Yeah, I take your meaning, but 1. she could have said something before I left if she wasn’t so busy being crabby and 2. they can put signs up for everything else there, how about “don’t bugger off until we’ve checked your info”?

I heard them talking to other people, and they say leave, no problem (they said that to me when I was there last week, too), but they don’t mention don’t leave just yet. I also noticed that the sign-in sheet had a bunch of people noted as “called” but not crossed-off - same as I was on the sheet. If they know this is a problem, they could be a bit pro-active about preventing it, rather than expecting patients to read their minds and scolding us when we don’t. One sentence - “Don’t leave until we’ve pulled your chart.”

10

And I thought the clinic had spent so long treating VD that the VD took over…

11

I think you just got lucky. I went there one night an hour before it closed to get a prescription renewed, something I deemed too trivial to bother my very busy and cranky regular doctor with, and it was sunshine and light. The doctor was good enough to give me one year’s worth of refills, too. My biggest hassle was finding the place.

12

I do, too. Sigh.

The Tooth, maybe they like men better. Or maybe the heat is just getting to them. I’ve been there twice now, and the same girl has been the same kinda ornery.

13

I read it as “My walk-in closet has a bunch of crabs working on it” and it made me think of the movie Overboard, where Goldie Hawn plays the royal bitch who hires Kurt Russell to build her a new closet on her yacht.

14

Holy cow. My doctor freaks out if people have to wait more than 20 minutes.

15

Seriously? Here, a wait of less than an hour is very unusual at a walk-in clinic (I waited two hours when I went to this clinic the week before last*), a wait of half an hour to an hour the norm when you have an appointment, and anywhere from 4 or 5 hours to, well, there’s no upper limit for emergency room visits. Expect to be there a very, very long time. You’re having a heart attack? Sorry, the three heart attacks that came in before you are keeping the doctors busy at the moment. Yeah, no problems with our healthcare system at all.
*I know I said I went there last week. I was wrong - it was a couple of weeks ago. Don’t want people to think I’m changing my story. :smiley:

16

I must’ve been particularly suave that night.

17

Liberal - my family Dr. gets me in within 5 minutes of my sloted appointment time. Walk-in clinics are different - you can’t phone ahead to book and appointment, you just have to show up and wait for the first available Dr. - like an emergency room, but for non-emergent conditions.

18

My clinic has the nasty nurse of death on reception.
I don’t actually think this lady could get any ruder.
Fortunately, I don’t have to call very often, so for me it’s just funny. For someone who had to schedule appointments regularly, I could imagine she would be a real trial.

19

I’m eternally grateful for the efficiency of my doctor. Sometimes it annoys me how quickly she clears patients. But on the other hand, I typically find that if I show up five minutes early for my appointments, she’ll see me in three.

Walk in clinics, though, are a totally different story, and unless you’re bleeding (in which case you should probably be in the ER, anyway), they’ll get to you when they get to you. Usually, however, when I go to a walk-in clinic, it’s because I have a chest infection, and I’ve found that since SARS, I get triaged to the front of the line - because I scare the other people in the waiting room.

20

I see, thanks.