GRRRRRR

I'd like to think that I'm generally an easygoing type of person.  I mean, I know that's not true about all things in life (just ask Steve - heyo!), but I'd like to think that in most situations, I can take the daily bits of unpleasantness and keep rolling along nicely.  I say, I'd LIKE to think that, but after yesterday I'm not so sure anymore.

I had an appointment at my doctor's office.  It wasn't with my doctor, but I had to see a nurse so that I could get a prescription refilled.  It's apparently a new rule or law or something, because it's the first time I've ever had to do that just to get a refill for this particular prescription. It's inconvenient, but I can understand that someone, somewhere feels that this is the best way to do things now.

So I went into the office first thing in the morning.  I was the first and only patient in the waiting room, and they made me fill out an insurance form (again) after saying it had been two years since it was updated (It wasn't. I'd been there three times since last January.)  I also made a faux pas by not remembering the name of the nurse I was there to see.  I had written it down, but forgotten to bring it with me and I called her two different and wrong names before they realized who I was talking about. Oops. My appointment was at 8:15, but that time came and went.  I'd always thought that not being called at your appointment time was because other patients took longer than they thought, but apparently not.  However, I really wasn't that bothered about not being called back right away.  I figured they had their reasons.

The door opened and a nurse told me to go to the scale (as every dang nurse always does) and then she directed me towards an exam room.  Something about this lady was weird.  I felt right away that she seemed...I don't know...terse or angry.  I apologized about getting her name wrong, thinking it might have insulted her, but she didn't crack a smile or even really look at me.  She walked over and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around my arm and up close I could really tell she was angry about something.  I just kept quiet and she walked out of the room.

Have you ever been around someone who was really mad at you?  You get that weird, tingly feeling in the pit of your stomach and your face gets all warm?  That's how I felt as I was sitting there.  I began to wonder if I had inadvertently done or said something that I hadn't realized, because it felt directed at me.  She wasn't gone long, but when she came back in, she didn't even close the door to the exam room.  She just turned around and said in a rather rude way (I'm paraphrasing:)

"I can't write you a prescription, you don't qualify anymore.  These are not my rules.  I don't even know why they told you to come in."

She gave me a very, very short reason why I wasn't eligible and said when I came back to see the doctor next month, maybe I could get it then. I was genuinely puzzled, because while I could sort of understand her reason, it didn't make a whole lot of logical sense, so I got a chance to ask one question before she pretty much stalked out without saying another word.  I had been with her for less than five minutes.  I was completely nonplussed.  Honestly, I've never been treated that rudely in a doctor's office before, especially by a nurse.  I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but she acted as if my very presence in the office was some kind of joke meant to inconvenience her in some way.  I was slightly concerned about not having the prescription refilled, but not so much that I would have made a scene or anything, so I have no idea what her problem was.  Was she ticked because of whatever this new rule was that said she had to see people specifically each time the prescription was refilled?  I don't know, but I did know that whatever her damage was, I didn't cause it.  By the time I'd gotten to my car, I was mad.  The more I thought about it, the madder I got!

It pretty much ruined my whole day.  That sounds kind of hyperbolic, but being treated so rudely first thing in the morning really set the tone for the day.  So thank you, lady, for giving me a scorching case of the Mondays, and thank the horse you rode in on, too.