I was sitting in a waiting room today while some pinheads complained about waiting in waiting rooms. One had waited for almost 90 minutes to see a doctor for 10. Yeah? Try doing that while escorting a patient with Alzheimer's who asks you every five minutes why we're there! Tell me, who doesn't spend far too much time waiting for a doctor to only have 5 to 10 minutes actual consultation. At least he had a book with him. I always take a book when I go to the doctor or the dentist because everyone is forced to wait forever.
Then he complains that some Mexican family got 30 minutes with the doctor. Hmm, "family." That would be at least three people? Even if it comprises only three people, it would be 10 minutes per person, right? And taking into account the possible language difficulties, there would be even less actual facetime for each patient.
"Ah was bohn heyah! Lived heyah mah whole lahf! And they can be illegal and get the same kir!" Really? How do you know they're illegal? Not every foreigner in this country is here illegally. If you were a visitor in a strange land, would you want the receptionist yelling at you in the Official Language (in case you're deaf as well as stupid) that you will just have to wait until the doctor has seen all the valid citizens before you get worked in?
"Ah have insurance!" Well, if they don't, they pay a lot more than you and your insurance does. And they have to pay cash. That's at a doctor's office. In the hospital emergency room it might be another story. Something about a Hippocratic Oath.
I have a friend who is at the mercy of another country's healthcare system. They put cash machines in the hospital because non-citizens pay cash up front. Is that how we want to be?
And this conversation goes off on another tangeant about how few senators voted to make English the Official Language of the United States. Why should they? We've gone for over 200 years without needing to establish an Official Language. And what really scorches my plums is that these are the same people who got their panties in a twist when France started cracking down on all the English being used in signage. "We saved their asses in World War II," they crow (although I haven't heard anyone who actually served in the armed forces in that time period make that statement), "and this is how they treat us!" La chaussure is on l'autre pie now, eh?*
"The clerk gave me a form in Spanish!" Maybe they were all out of the ones in English. By the way, do you go on like this in front of your Spanish-speaking customers?
I hope, I really hope, that after all these centuries of back and forth that the Spanish-speakers get the upper hand and force this whole lazy lot to learn some Spanish. I want to see Spanish everywhere, and why not German? BMW has saved the upstate's ass by putting one of their plants here. And let's show that we're "better" than the Froggies and translate everything into Frog as well. What about Chinese? I've always wanted to learn Chinese.
Petty little pinheads who need something to complain about! There's food on their table, clothes on their back, a roof over their heads, all the bad tv anyone could possibly watch, and very few bombs dropping about their ears. They have no justification in complaining about anything a-tall.
* Junior senator from Georgia says, "We have a saying: 'E Pluribus Unum' -- and the Unum, unity, oneness of America should be officially the English language. It's what's going to bind us together, ... and it's, I believe, critical both economically as well as societally (sic) to have English as the official language in America." Ummm, I believe "E Pluribus Unum" is actually in Latin, thankewverymuch. It is to larf! Moi, I wish they'd translate all that crap into plain English, don't you?
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5 comments:
I applaud you, for putting it so eloquently. Very good points.
Working with uninsured hospital patients, you would not believe how many people seem to truly believe that everything that is wrong with their life is due to "foreigners" and "illegal immigrants" or they can't get help through the state because of (insert random race here).
I know everyone has a right to their opinions, I just can't stand some of the hypocrisy behind the statements some of these people make. Not to mention the sheer laziness of blaming other people that you have no knowledge of their situation.
I find it slightly ironic that most of the complaints I hear are coming from 50 year old men that are living with and being supported BY their elderly parents/mothers on limited incomes.
Anyway, you had me cracking up with this post. Sorry I went off on a tangent.
OMG, someone has read my blog!! I've been blogging for over a year and am now in a state of shock! Not only have you read it, but you commented on it! ;)
I was just really annoyed by this - and one of the people is someone I like and nominally respect. Thanks for appreciating the rant. I do feel better now.
It's me, the chick what lives in HK and we have ATMs in the emergency areas! I swear, the Hippocratic Oath does not exist in HK, it's all "cash first." Example: a friend of mine had an accident and came off his motorcycle on the other side of the Island. He needed a pin or something equally gruesome put in his hand. He manages to ride himself to the nearest hospital, where he's put into a wheelchair, and his details taken. When he's asked for his insurance card, he can't reach into his pants pocket to reach it - duh, he's incapacitated. The Chinese nursie is too shy to reach into his pants pocket to get it, so she has to call over a (male) doctor to help him. After all this palaver, it seems that the op is more than the coverage - soooo, he needs a cash "top up" (their words, not mine). While his hand is still not tended to, the staff wheel his wheelchair to the emergency room ATM, and help him insert the card, and he has to give them the PIN number to put in because he can't use his fingers. . .
Similar stories with other local and ex-pat friends here - one gathers after 15 years here that it's common practice to let people suffer until they cough up some cash. Wonder what they did before ATMs in triage in HK . . .
PS I love your blog, Marf. I just never manage to have the time to get something back to you.
LOL, Marfita you crack me up! XD Your posts are so well written, it's like a journal, I could read them all day. And ranting is good for the soul!
I didn't know you blogged, or I would've been here sooner.... the crazy stalker I seem to be :p
That is really awful irateasia... Americans like to complain about how awful the health care system is here, and how it should be more like (name random foreign country) where health care is provided by the government for everyone "for free". But they don't know both sides of the story at all. What the true "costs" are; how awful that coverage can be, how much more taxes are, etc.
At least here in the US the hospitals/ERs can't turn you away or deny you critical treatment for not having money or insurance. It's your problem once you're released!
I'm so loved! I'm so loved! Yay! Thank you all for your comments. Hope to see Irateasia in Blighty in Sept. (I have tickets, but Husbob has to see the company quack before his are issued.)
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