I was headed to the gym today for my usual water aerobics class at 10am and thought, since I'm here, I might as well stop in and see if I can arrange an appointment after my work out. Well...you know how after your work out you usually take a shower, get dressed and still have that 'look like you've gone to the gym' look? That was me today. I may not have smelled like chlorine from the pool, but even I admit, my hair could have used some better styling. All in all, I was presentable, clean, and even fragranced from some great body lotion I love.
After a LONG and winding walk through the building, I finally arrived at the radiology office. The waiting room was gorgeously decorated and to me seemed a bit too, um, uppity for a radiology practice. As I made my way across the threshold to the reception desk, I could see the waiting room was completely empty of clients waiting to be served, which, selfishly delighted me beyond belief. Wow, I thought, finally a radiology office with no waiting. At the huge reception desk sat two well dressed staff members, even a bit over-done for a reception desk if you ask me. I could overhear the one staffer on the telephone with a possible client explaining to them that if they came in right now, there was no waiting and they had appointments open today. Great, I thought, I can get it done now! But wait...I'm not done yet.
Now to their dismay, they both noticed me standing at their desk in jeans and a t-shirt, obviously NOT their usual clientele. In my typical cheerful self, I mentioned I needed to make an appointment for a mammogram and that I had "so and so" insurance. Maybe asking if they took my insurance was what truly killed my chances of getting an appointment, but then again, it might have just been the jeans and t-shirt. A question the world may never know the answer to. The one staffer who had just been on the phone telling someone on the other end that they had open appointments did not say a word...just yet. The other staffer gave me a drab look, as if I was wasting her time, then hauled out her insurance book to look up my insurance. She took her time, could not find it, asked for my card, THEN said that my card implied they should be covered. She handed the card back, in what I think was an attempt to encourage me to crawl away ashamed and go somewhere else, but I relented in my pursuit to make an appointment, and to make one TODAY. After all, I had just heard they had open appointments, right? But wait...I'm still not done.
Now the other staffer, the one who had been sitting there quietly listening, and who had told the caller there were open appointments just minutes ago, acknowledged my request for an appointment by handing me a business card and suggested I call back to make an appointment. When I asked about any available appointments today, SINCE I AM STANDING RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW, she said she could check but doubted it. I decided to mention that I was a bit anxious to get a mammogram as soon as possible because my doctor had found a lump in my breast last week. Yes, I shamelessly played the sympathy card, but can you blame me? Yeah, I hear you. The sympathy card paid off, kind of. The staffer did take pity on me, and began to get up to leave the desk to see if she could possibly squeeze me and my insurance into an appointment today. She then turned to me and asked if I would mind taking a seat in the waiting area.
Right there. That's when I realized it. Yes, actually, I do mind taking a seat in that pretentious waiting area. I felt overly uncomfortable being there and even worse, that this woman, who did not even know me, was treating me like an indigent patient in a hospital. I have insurance, a well known company, I might add, insurance that I actually pay for and here I was being treated like a beggar. I felt like she somehow judged me, then pitied me out of the kindness of her heart. Nah, this was not where I wanted to have a mammogram. I just walked out, no explanation. I did not feel like I owed her anything.
A mammogram is one of the more intimate exams you will ever have in your life, right up there with a pelvic exam or a colonoscopy. Your 'girls' are just hanging out there in the breeze than squished like a pancake in a machine looking for a possible life altering diagnosis. I want to be treated with respect if I am trusting you to squish my already painful, lumpy boob into a machine looking for cancer. If I am going to allow you to touch my naked body, you better be sure I don't want your pity, but I do want your trust and respect. I deserve it.
I will never be a client of that radiology practice as long as they practice looking down their noses at others.
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