All Dressed Up….

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All dressed up and nowhere to go. I’m not really dressed up, though I do look nicer than when I work in the garden. A year ago I made the appointment as I left the doctor’s office to return for my annual checkup. The thought went through my head that it would be a waste if I took the bus as planned and found out there was a problem after I got there. The receptionist checked the roster and said my appointment is for tomorrow. I told her I had the appointment card in front of me, and it was definitely for today. I explained that the bus was on the way to pick me up. Could they get me in?

She did the best she could and said they could fit me in three hours later. I had to say no, because there was another person also going to Asheville, and the bus could not have waited that long for me. She suggested the obvious, that I keep the appointment they wanted me to have. That wouldn’t work, because the rule is to book a bus three days ahead to go out of county. I just canceled and said I’d try to make another appointment when one of my daughters came to visit.

I am appalled that they gave me an appointment card, yet wrote down a different day AND and a different time in their system. There was no time to fume, because I had to cancel the bus immediately. The dispatcher was sympathetic and used her radio to contact the driver. She must have caught him in time. I’m glad he was going to Asheville anyway, because it wouldn’t change his schedule very much.

My adrenaline was flowing, and it also had nowhere to go. I’m glad I didn’t take it out on David or Kacey. Maybe now is the time for a power nap.

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Published by Anne Mehrling

I'm a retiree who loves to write about life in the mountains of North Carolina.

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38 thoughts on “All Dressed Up….”

  8. Oh, I’d be angry too Anne! About ten years ago my dentist went to electronic scheduling and did not have an appointment book or hard copy of the appointments, which you can schedule up to a year in advance. Well their system had some type of malfunction and they had to call people and put the info back into the system. They always used to send a reminder postcard a week ahead that had a frog on the front that said “don’t forget to hop on in here for your appointment” which was computer generated for the message/address, etc. Every week for months, I’d get one of those postcards, which they have now abandoned and now they call you the day before. If you cancel, they give you a couple of weeks to reschedule or you are charged for the appointment.

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      1. I think if I were a doctor/dentist, I’d keep an appointment book in case of a crash. After this dentist shut down for COVID, when the office was ready to open again, they sent out messages to patients via Facebook (they ask you to follow them) and they asked people to log on and “self-schedule” their appointment as the office was still closed … I was amazed they did that after the other debacle.

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          1. My dentist has a big Facebook cardboard sign in his waiting room asking people to follow him – he sends out messages, previews new products, but also, him/staff before COVID, went on a couple of trips a year (continuing education stuff combined with downtime jaunts together) and he also takes his staff to baseball games, has them to his cottage on a lake. A little self-promotion I think. He doesn’t use e-mail and I am glad he doesn’t text as I don’t text … trying to send a simple message takes me a 1/2 hour. 🙂

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  11. But we’ll done moving quickly to cancel the bus! Some time Many doctors offices even call a week or so before to confirm if the appointment was made a year ago.

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  14. Something similar happened to me once. It was a eye specialist. My primary eye doc set up the appointment and the receptionist gave me a card with the time and date. I went there battling outrageous traffic IN the parking lot. There were at least 86 thousand other patients while I (somewhat impatiently) waited to check in. They said it was the wrong day. I showed them the card. It didn’t matter it was the wrong date on the card. I asked if it’s always this busy (no available chairs to sit and wait). Receptionist said not usually but some patients come with their entire family taking up a lot of seats. I went the next day. I waited an hour in the waiting room (we took the last chairs available) and another hour in the exam room. Just as I picked up my coat to leave the doc waltzed in. He was ok but I decided that I needed another doc and I did that (also letting my PC eye doc know so they don’t refer people there). I didn’t have the long travel you do nor did I need to book transportation but I was annoyed anyway. If you can, get a doc that’s closer.

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  16. I am sorry that this happened to you. I tend to be the one responsible for showing up on the wrong date for an appointment even though their notices had it right.

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    1. I have asked for a referral to a doctor close by. Logistics would be easier for me. The doctor’s nurse was hesitant at first, but then she saw that I have been cancer free for nine years. That argument was better than any I could have come up with.

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  17. Hi Anne, our mutual blogging friend Linda suggested your blog to me since I just moved to North Carolina from Connecticut and am planning a short trip to the mountains in October. I tried to comment on your “About Anne” page the other day and my comment didn’t show up. So I’m trying again here! Looking forward to following your posts, and am sorry about the trouble you had with the appointment schedule. Seems like the office could have done more to rectify their mistake!

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    1. Welcome to NC! I’m sorry I didn’t get your message on the blog. I’ll look at spam and see if it is pending there. If I can’t find your blog this morning, I’ll contact you here.

      The careless mistake at the doctor’s office prompted me to ask for a referral to a doctor closer to home. I now have an appointment in the next town in October. The receptionist scrambled to do what she could to help me. Because of the rules for the bus, nothing worked. Good came of it, anyway.

      That’s wonderful that you are coming to the mountains in October. I hope they will put on a good show for you. We’ll know each other by then. I’d love to meet you if it would work out. If not this time, then maybe the next. The mountains lure people here! I live five minutes from exit 20 on I-40.

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      1. Thank you, Anne! I’m glad we’re finally connecting. I’m hoping to get to see Mt. Mitchell even though the hotel my husband managed to get is in Black Mountain, which is Exit 65 on I-40. I can’t seem to get my hands on a more detailed map and am guessing I’ll have to wait until we get to the area to get a feeling for distances, etc. We’ll be coming from Chapel Hill. It looks like you might be an hour or so west of the hotel and Mt. Mitchell an hour or so north of us. Burnsville sounds like a nice place to visit but I guess I won’t know until we get there! I hope things go well with your new doctor in October. We’re still getting acquainted with new doctors down here. Moving was such an upheaval and we’re looking forward to a little break from all the unpacking and settling in. I hope we do get to meet each other some day!

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  19. You sound understandably frustrated. I recently had a wonderful visit with a childhood friend and his wife. Some how they started complaining about each other’s television watching habits and all I could think was <"I am so glad you are human." Anne, I never doubted it but I am so glad that you are human. And wise because you did not take it out on David or the dog.

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