I had an appointment recently and as always; I show up at least fifteen minutes early. I said good morning to the ladies and asked how they were doing, and they looked at me rather strange. I could tell by their response that they were probably more used to patients not asking how they were doing. I get checked in and did as I was told. I went and sat in the waiting room to be called back for lab work. On the tele was the HGTV channel (one of my favorites) so time went by quickly. As person after person was being called but not me, I glanced at the clock and noticed that I had been sitting there for over an hour. I went back out to the check-in desk and asked them if they had forgotten about me. Well, apparently as I was being checked in one of the computers froze up and it kicked me out of the system as if I were never there. Now here is the clincher, they never apologized but told me that I would be called in just a moment. I went back and sure enough they called me back and the lab tech apologized and told me that the next time if I did not get called back in fifteen minutes to immediately let someone know. What should have taken only fifteen minutes at the most was more than an hour all because of a computer glitch, a temporary malfunction.
You know when everything was happening it could have gone quite differently. I could have allowed myself to become extremely agitated and approached that desk having a bad attitude. Those women had no control over that computer glitch. Sometimes things just happen which are beyond our control. Did I learn something? Yes, absolutely! I would like to think that the kindness that I showed them when I checked in made a difference. I believe that they were so flustered that they forgot to apologize. Sometimes when things go wrong, and we are inconvenienced, sorry might be the last thing that we hear. But it still means that we must do right even when we don’t want to. They probably thought that I was going to go off on them and berate them and give them a piece of my mind. But I did not. If I had I would have lost my “peace” of mind.
I was given a cup once that said, “Is your cup half empty or is it half full?” It is all in how we look at things. That morning I chose to see my cup half full. I was not there because I was ill. I went in for lab work for an annual physical. I could hear and see and walk and talk while I witnessed a couple of patients using a walker, one man had apparently had a stroke and was recovering and one lady was being carried out on a gurney by EMT. That wait was nothing when I remembered how blessed I am! I also remember that those health care providers are putting your health (their lives) on the line every day and I applaud them even when they may not be as kind as they could be. We are living in troubling times. But I am encouraged because I have a chance to make a difference even if it is choosing to be kind when I could choose to be otherwise.
