r/mildlyinfuriating • u/transfatpikachu • 1d ago

I just wanted a hot dog Doctor’s appointment scheduled at 9:00am, still waiting almost an hour later

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I have a lot of doctor’s appointments, and I know how busy and hard these people work. I’m not mad at them and I’d never be rude. I know it’s not on purpose. Nevertheless, it’s still a bit infuriating to make time for a scheduled appointment, arrive 15 minutes early (required), and then wait this long with not even an acknowledgment of the delay from anyone. Sigh. 9:55 now, still waiting.

Edit: I really appreciate all the comments! The doctor ended up coming in shortly after 10. This was a specialist ortho appointment for my shoulder. Still no acknowledgement of the delay, which would’ve been nice, but I’m more annoyed that my concerns were pretty much brushed off again during the whole 3ish minutes he spent with me. I know waits can get long, I wouldn’t care as much if the doctor had at least seemed somewhat concerned with my issue. Sigh… gotta love American healthcare!

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2.5k

u/drallafi 1d ago

Go hit up the receptionist. Your time is precious.

249

u/transfatpikachu 1d ago

I should, I probably will soon. I just keep thinking “they’ll be in any second, can’t be much longer” and yet, lol

169

u/swfwtqia 1d ago

Probably forgot about you. Poke your head out and be like , umm hello?

161

u/transfatpikachu 1d ago

So, it actually took them the first 40 minutes just to take me back into a room, lmao. They definitely know I’m here 😭 I’m about to go ask now

25

u/malleusdracionasimp 1d ago

any update?

39

u/See_i_did 1d ago

They got him, OP is no more

49

u/RaisinDetre 1d ago

Hopital

16

u/KittenG8r 1d ago

Hopital

10

u/Fister-Mantastic 1d ago

Hopital

2

u/KittenG8r 1d ago

HOPITAL NOW

8

u/Dimethyl_Sulfoxide 1d ago

L’hopital

2

u/Jmazoso 1d ago

Chain rule

9

u/RappingFlatulence 1d ago

Op now in morgue. Dont ask questions.

55

u/miniscule-gulp 1d ago

40 minutes? After 10 minutes I’m politely asking for an update. After half an hour we’re rescheduling. Anytime I’ve been left in an actual exam room for more than 10 or so minutes I open the door and magically the dr appears and it’s suddenly my turn! Yall gotta stop letting these people bulldoze you and manipulate your time jesus christ

16

u/-Twin-Flames- 1d ago

True. I peaked my head out recently after I waited 20mins for someone to come and do a quick blood draw so I could leave and she immediately came in like “oh they didn’t come yet?”

If they are running super far behind, sure it happens, but that is their time management issue not yours.

24

u/Salt-Operation 1d ago

Peak is what’s at the top of a mountain.

Peek is the action you took when looking for your missing doctor.

22

u/clintj1975 1d ago

This has piqued my interest

-11

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

Ever heard of emergencies? 🙄

6

u/-Twin-Flames- 1d ago

Courtesy to have the nurse pop in and ask if you can reschedule?

1

u/Tyrion_The_Imp 1d ago

This person licks boots as a hobby. If there's an emergency at a doctor's office they went to the wrong place.

-5

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

...why reschedule? You wait and you shut up.

11

u/No_Network4228 1d ago

No offense, but where do you live that your dr appointments are this timey? I'm in NYC and my entire life I know a single appointment will take at least 2-3 hours. Even if you try for the first appointment of the day you will be waiting at least 60 mins before you are taken into solitary to wait instead of the waiting room, and will wait a min of 30 more mins.

7

u/nalaloveslumpy 1d ago

Get a PA as your primary. I'm in and out of the doctor's office in 30 minutes and it's amazing. Nurse still does the vitals, then the PA comes in and we have the exact same conversation as I would with the MD.

If it's anything outside of the PA's pay grade, I get referred to a specialist, which is what should happen with your general practice MD, anyway. In my experience, too many MD's want to play Sherlock Holmes with your malady instead of just sending you to someone who actually knows.

3

u/BloodyBonezzz 1d ago

Im in Florida. If an appointment is scheduled at say 9 am in and out of the Dr's by 9:20. And its busy in the waiting room. If they make us wait for more then 20 or 30 minutes we are walking out the door. They have a policy if we are late by 5 minutes we have to pay our visit in full and reschedule. So we dont fk around with stupid timing of dumb Dr's. They dont last long around here.

1

u/No_Network4228 1d ago

The only time this ever happens this quickly is, oddly, my ocular oncologist (I have a spot of my retina that needs to be imaged every 6 months). Lucky you, I guess.

2

u/BloodyBonezzz 1d ago

If they are going to charge us $70 (and thats with good insurance) bcus we are 5 minutes late bcus of traffic and still not see us for another 2 months. Then we aren't going to deal with their bullshit. If they gave us leniency we would too probably.

1

u/Remstersade 1d ago

Thank you! I thought I was the only one. I’m in California. I used to see a specialist at USC. It would take me an hour and a half to drive to L.A. Then I’d wait another hour to get called into a room and another hour for the doctor to see me, then she’d send me for testing that took another hour. It was always an all day endeavor.

1

u/nalaloveslumpy 1d ago

It's common to expect a specialist visit to take all day. Your regular check ups with your general practitioner should be taking less than an hour.

1

u/miniscule-gulp 1d ago

I’ve seen PCPs, eye doctors, dentists and specialists in Chicago, Dallas, multiple large cities in Florida and Ohio. Maybe I’ve just been lucky for…. The entire time I’ve been seeing doctors?? lol

1

u/tazerlu 1d ago

I go to U o M and my doctor never lets me wait longer than 5 minutes. They are amazing.

2

u/iwearatophat 1d ago

My doctor was once 15 minutes late with me sitting in the lobby. I walked up and just told them I'm walking out at 30 minutes. They warned me about their no-show policy and charging me still. I took a quick picture to show I was in and on time. Magically I was back in a room at 17 minutes, nurse in to do the prelim stuff at 20 minutes. Doctor in at like 25 minutes right after the nurse left.

1

u/dcheng47 1d ago

lmao reschedule to the next available appointment in 2 months. good luck with that.

-2

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

Grow up, kid. Doctors gave real emergencies, more urgent than your running nose, you know?

5

u/Western-Lie-3791 1d ago

For a normal doctor's appointment, they most likely don't have an emergency that takes an hour to resolve. If a patient in a general office has a medical emergency, they are calling emergency services. It also doesn't excuse the staff from their obligation to give some sort of an update. If I arrive early for a scheduled appointment, wait an hour on top of that, I am leaving and rescheduling and not paying any fee due to their poor time maintenance. I don't understand why you'd think they just get a pass to occupy over an hour of someone's time with no explanation. Most people aren't able to take time out of their work day to deal with poor time management of others.

-4

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago
  1. A good "normal doctor" (whatever that means) has ALWAYS emergencies.
  2. Even then, every patient may have some unpredictable complication. The doctor who is always on time doesn't listen to their patients.
  3. A good doctor doesn't sent the patient to the ER before evaluating him. You wouldn't like that if it was you the person in need, hypocrite.
  4. Want an update? Go ask for it.
  5. Want a reschedule? Go ask for it.

...god, you're pathetic.

4

u/Western-Lie-3791 1d ago edited 1d ago

LOL, someone is angry because I pointed out the reality of life. A good doctor would evaluate and then alert support staff to assist and send to the ER for a medical emergency. The average doctors office isn't equipped to treat an emergent situation, especially not something requiring an hour of their time. Everyone understands shit happens, that is the purpose of nurses, physician assistants, and front staff receptionists to ensure patients are notified. Clearly this OP was aware of how things work but nearly an hour unattended isn't normal for not a single person to take their time to check on their patients in the office. Would you like me to find some statistics of how often a true emergency occurs at a general practitioners office that requires every member of the staff to stop doing their job? You also seem to be unaware that this practice of over scheduling, under staffing leads to people wanting to reschedule waiting potentially months. My wife was told she'd have to reschedule a neurology appointment because the office couldn't be bothered to do their job correctly. That next appointment was 3 months later. Do you think specialists just have open availability like grabbing a cup of coffee? Step down off your high horse and stop assuming everyone can afford to waste hours of a day and then have to potentially waste more hours another day missing income to hope the office didn't forget them. I'm guessing you think only retired, well off individuals are the only ones seeing a doctor.

By the way, you might want to stop calling people kids when you are making arrogant and ignorant comments like the last couple you have posted in this thread. If you have hours of your day to spend at a doctor's office, good for you, most US citizens can't afford to do that. It isn't being a Karen to expect some basic courtesy that waiting patients would be notified if your dream scenario occurred.

3

u/Most-Recording-2696 1d ago

No, this isn’t true. They’re overbooked.

0

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

Same thing in the end, lol.

1

u/GonWithTheNen 22h ago

Doctors [have] real emergencies

They’re overbooked.

Same thing in the end, lol.


No, that's not a real emergency. They're over-scheduling as many payments patients as possible for their own benefit. That's greed.

3

u/miniscule-gulp 1d ago

sowwee I have a spine and that bothers you :(

1

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

Being a Karen doesn't mean "having a spine"

1

u/miniscule-gulp 1d ago

sorry, can’t hear you, I’m on my way out the door after my appt and you’re still in the waiting area 🥸

1

u/Economy-Payment-1757 1d ago

Lol, can't wait for the day you'll have a stroke and none will tend to you because "people with an appointement are too stupid to understand they have to wait.

1

u/GabbydaFox 1d ago

Hey, are you dead?

1

u/Fen_ 1d ago

You need to have more respect for yourself. You should've been saying something to someone after 10 minutes.

1

u/Quiet-Excitement-719 1d ago

Same thing happened to me this morning! 8:40 appointment and took me back to the room 40 minutes later!!

3

u/Dapper-Confection-84 1d ago

This happened to me.

13

u/Ok-Yoghurt9257 1d ago

I set a timer and just start walking around the office, go to the restroom a few times after like 20 min of waiting. if you see an employee say I'm in room # going to the restroom and tell them each time lol

they'll get annoyed and try to get you out I'm sure

10

u/salsafresca_1297 1d ago

Ask them to pay you a no-show fee. See if they understand the irony.

10

u/According_To_Me 1d ago

No, go out there now.

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u/transfatpikachu 1d ago

He came in shortly after I commented that, maybe spent a few minutes with me. No acknowledgement of the delay, and well tbf I didn’t bring it up with him because I didn’t want to waste the already short amount of time I knew he’d be there. Sigh, I wasn’t expecting much from this appointment anyway, but the wait was so frustrating

11

u/AllOfTheThings426 1d ago

I called out a doctor after I waited over an hour and he didn't acknowledge it at all, he refused to even do the exam. So it may have been the right call not to mention anything.

Absolutely complain with the clinic. That's unacceptable, even if your appointment was at 3pm, but they have no excuse that early in the day.

2

u/Leading-System-3002 1d ago

So you didnt get your appointment? He didn’t want to listen to you? Does he have the right to do that?! Damn it. « Im very late but now that you’ve complained, I wont see you at all » . Awful

1

u/AllOfTheThings426 20h ago

It was unbelievable. I nearly begged him, said I've been waiting all this time, please just do the exam quickly. He refused.

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u/beautifulstardust 1d ago

oh my god you must be SO SICK!

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u/transfatpikachu 1d ago

I don’t mean to make this a pity party, but I’m honestly so used to it at this point that I wasn’t as phased as I’d have been a few years ago. So many doctors are like this, it’s so frustrating. I was already expecting to be brushed off from this one (I’ve seen him a couple times) but the wait was unexpected. I have an appointment with a doctor that I really like soon though who has helped me a lot, so I’m excited for that!

-1

u/beautifulstardust 1d ago

go see a different doctor if they suck so bad

2

u/transfatpikachu 1d ago

I see multiples for this

1

u/beautifulstardust 1d ago

yeah, i’m sure you do. you aren’t getting the help you need. don’t give up!

“i didn’t want to advocate for myself to waste more time.”

is exactly why you keep getting ran over by shitty doctors. STAND UP FOR YOURSELF! Be your own advocate, you know your body better than anyone. reddit isn’t going to advocate to the doctors for you.

i’m really sorry you are going through this, really i am. when the healthcare system is a for profit industry, curing folks ailments is bad for business.

1

u/jaredsfootlonghole 1d ago

I went to a particular care clinic network twice this year at a family recommendation, and both times they said to check if I hadn’t been seen or heard anything after 15 minutes in a room.  

Sometimes technical mishaps occur, and you don’t do yourself any favors hoping they know you’re there all day instead of just going to find out.

1

u/FireflyRave 1d ago

You sit there thinking that the moment you try contacting someone is the moment they're going to walk in. So may as well give it another couple minutes.

0

u/Blonde_O_Rama 1d ago

If you're nice they will not care. People are very reasonable usually