Pickles by Brian Crane for April 28, 2020

I did not know that her last name was Pickles.

does MISTER Pickles (Earl… or even his brother Leon) also try to beat the system at a clinic’s waiting room?

Be that as it may, our time is important to us and we don’t appreciate waiting an unreasonably long time.

I moved my care to a health clinic where my average wait (about 6 or so contacts since January) is under 5 minutes. Couple of times, the “come with me” person was waiting for me by the time I walked into the waiting area from the sign-in desk. And I bring my Kindle. It’s kind of nice…

The receptionist is the first new character in a long time. I’d like to see Nelson’s dad.

“… Now you only have a forty minute wait.”

“THEY” don’t like it when we figure things out…

I tried something like that and it made them mad. I felt that they made me wait even longer because of it.

Do the commentators know these are comics, not general issues debates?

Opal should break out into a chorus of “♫ If you chance to meet a frown, do not let it stay, quickly turn it upside-down and smile that frown away! ♫”

My one doctor makes me wait forever, the other one is fairly quick to see me. No fun waiting, eh Opal?

I’ve been the first patient of the day and still waited a half hour.

It was a nice try, Opal!

A large medical facility here allows a whole 10 minutes per office visit. That started before the coronavirus. They also were pushing for video office visits before the virus. They have the gall to brag about the “quality” of their “care.” It isnt and they don’t.

The chain reaction of time ;-)

Been there done that! Can’t win, either way! Mrs Pickles go home!

You wait in their waiting room. They make you wait. That is why they call you patients. So, be patient. What disturbs me is they call their business a practice. I would rather go to a real doctor instead of one that is just practicing.

Telemedicine to the rescue

I usually wait 30 or 40 minutes to see my doctor….

longer for a specialist.

I tend to be 10 minutes late, myself (for everything…. sigh…. ).

When I show up, they immediately tell me the doctor is running late.

Then they notice my appointment time, and go through a whole song and dance.

The receptionist has to call the Dr’s assistant, who has to ask the Dr whether she or he can see me, and call back.

The call comes…. yes, I’m in luck, the kindly doctor will still see me.

But I still wait 30 minutes.

They promise me they didn’t change my position in the wait list…. so why do they care if I’m late?

To those wondering why the first patient waits….

To be fair, the doctors I know do hospital rounds, or sometimes other work, like reviewing test results, early in the morning, before they go to their offices to see patients.

Sometimes a hospital emergency makes them very late at the office.

Now they are both in a Pickle

After waiting for the doctor 2 hours one time, I sent him a bill for two hours of lost wages. He didn’t see the humor in it. And he didn’t pay it.

Five minutes late will cost $45 here.

If I had a doctor’s appointment during the work day, I always called ahead before leaving the office to find out how late he was running, and acted accordingly.

For once I actually agree with Opal. It is OK for a doctor to make you wait 1/2 to a full hour…but if you are 5 minutes late they insist you make another appointment. Lawyers do the same. I had a lawyer who was always late. So, once I told his receptionist that I will bill for MY time if he is late. Banks are the same. Make you wait. I asked my banker why he charges people interest on a loan, but do NOT pay interest when they use YOUR money to issue a loan to someone else. They do not loan their own money, they loan yours to someone else. If they are going to loan my money to someone else, then I should be paid for them doing that. My banker was not amused.

“ok mrs pickels sit down and we will call you” (in 45 minutes )

I just heard of a couple running to be on time for the appointment with their child, only to see the doctor getting into his car wearing his tennis gear. They waited, and eventually he showed up, acting like he had such busy day.

And why do you need to fill out all of those forms (every time), when the doctor asks the same questions anyway?

Making patients wait used to be the norm and probably still is for some medical and dental professionals. Mine have all changed the way they do things and manage to run very close to on time. There’s workshops to show them ways to make it happen. Now if one of mine is running late, someone will come out and talk to me, maybe even give me options.

The strip should be called “Yesterday’s Fish Sandwich”, because that’s what Earl and Opal treat each other like..

My wife and I have IESS (National Health Care Insurance) here in Ecuador. I have heard many people complain about National Health Care’s long lines and long waits etc. etc. These complaints are usually by people who are not in such a system ( but they heard from someone who heard…)

The longest we have ever had to wait to see a doctor was 25 minutes!

I take my iPad and just read util my time.

I didn’t either.

I should steal this, print six hundred copies, and leave them on every wall, desk, door, and piece of furniture at the doctor’s office.

I wonder in how many doctors’ and dentists’ offices this will be hung. I’m guessing not a whole lot.

Everyone talking about the name revelation. But I think this particular day’s strip is hilarious. I love the punch line. How many people get ticked off that the appointments are overbooked.

She usually waits ONLY a half hour?!

I am disabled and we don’t have a car so I use Handyride so I have to really set my times right. However all the doctors I go to know this along with their staff. However, like all of you I’ve had to wait too. So I started when I scheduled appointments to tell the girl/man I spoke to I use Handyride and I pad the times with Handyride just to cover my patootie and same coming home too. So most times I am fine. However as us ladies know the freaking mammogram/etc when you go it a PITA..So that appointment I have to add time on and so my wait for Handyride is longer.

OTOH… I’ve encountered a patient who arrived an hour early for his appointment and then started complaining (loudly) that he’d been waiting half-an-hour and hadn’t been seen yet…