The little one had been purging all afternoon and we were taking turns accompanying her to the toilet, sometimes within minutes. When we got home from Malacca that night, we decided to take her to the doctor. Being a Saturday night and a public holiday, our options were like zilch with only one 24-hour clinic operating. Approaching the clinic, I saw that there was only one patient either waiting to see the doctor or to be dispensed. I stood at the counter and waited for one of the employees (I wouldn't dare call them nurses) to take notice of me. I observed them for about 2 minutes - one was talking to the patient at the Dispensary area, the other looking busy with paperwork and occasionally took the time to look up and gawk at her colleague who was talking to the patient. Just then, another family walked it. There I was, still standing at the counter making some visible body movements so as to get their attention without being rude. At least another minute went by, wasted. I could see that the other woman behind me was doing the same. Finally, the BusyBee turned to me and asked if I wanted to see the doctor. Now it was my turn to gawk at her. I held my tongue from subtly lashing out a smart-ass remark for I knew for sure it would go to waste. I thought about her question and told her that I had brought my daughter to see the doctor. As soon as that left my mouth, I thought to myself "What's the freakin' difference and why did I even bother to explain?"
So the turnover from the consultation room was brisk to my liking. The waiting room was fast filling up and I was glad that we were next in line. The doctor was very efficient and answered our questions with much conviction and confidence. He explained the medication, we thanked him and staggered into a packed waiting room. There was no more available seats room so we started mocking around at the weighing & measuring scales entertaining ourselves. After that novelty wore off, I started reading the wall poster on contraception. Bored with that, we paced around and the only place I could paste myself was right where it all started, at the counter. Again, my presence was ignored while I observed the BusyBee and her accomplice. BusyBee was busy recording what looked like names into a ledger in what seemed like an eternity while the accomplice was motioning around haphazardly looking for medication. In this meantime, Ms Caitlin had already made a new friend in the clinic and had 2 visits to the neighbouring pet store.
Finally, and this has got to be a good 20 minutes at least, BusyBee looks up at the sea of people in the waiting room and mumbled something. I saw the lips moving, I didn't hear anything but I knew it was for us. She showed me a bottle of medication, mumbled something about 5ml. "5ml is one teaspoon right?", I asked, asking for trouble. BusyBee took up a syringe to which I told her I did not need a syringe but "5ml is one teaspoon right?" BusyBee then took up a feeding cup which I also declined and resigned my attempt by shaking my head which sent out vibes of NEVERMIND!!! She placed the bottle into the customary white plastic bag and just stood there, possibly waiting for my payment (she didn't tell me how much) while I stood there waiting for her to show me the 2nd medication. Going nowhere, I asked her about the second medication to which she bluntly replied, "That one no stock". I batted my eyelids in disbelief and asked her what was the first medication for. She said it was for the stomach pain and which meant that there was no medication for the diarrhoea, which was the reason why we came to the clinic in the first place. I relayed that to her but all she could come up with was "No stock". Brilliant. I just stood there and stared at her and then like a wave of electric shock which brought her to her senses, she suggested that she write us a prescription to get it from the pharmacy ourselves. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, am I asking too much for a tinge of common sense? Seriously???
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