The Waiting Is the Hardest Part

It’s time to do something about waiting rooms. They’re so excruciatingly boring and dreary. At least when people wait at my show, they can dance. Although I suppose you can dance in any waiting room, as long as you’re not in there for hip replacement surgery. The nurses in waiting rooms hide behind a frosted glass window. They want no part of a waiting room. They open the window just a crack to hand you a pen and a form. It always sounds like a party back there. You can hear chatting and laughing and clinking of glasses. Meanwhile, you’re in a room that’s so crowded, you have to sit really close to people who are probably contagious. They’re always looking over your shoulder to try and read all your personal information. “What a coincidence, Ellen, I have trouble doing that first thing in the morning too!”

The magazines are always way out of date. You know the magazines are old when Charlie Chaplin is on the cover of “People’s Sexiest Man Alive” and Popular Science is celebrating the invention of the cotton gin. But old magazines are better than no magazines. After a few hours of waiting, you’ll read anything. I ended up reading, “Your Pancreas and You: Friends for Life,” cover to cover. ...And yes, I’ll admit it. I cried at the end.

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HEEEE!!!!

Yeah and you arive 10 minutes early 'cause heaven forbid your late. You have an appointment but you end up waiting 45 minutes and you see the doctor for 5 minutes and they charge you a lot!!! Then you leave ... and you forgot to ask a question.. you have.. "I should have said this.. or asked that.. and yeah what about... I forgot to ask about ...."

I play Tetris!!!.. on my cell. I'm pretty good at it! Its addicting like solitaire!

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I once read in a Reader's Digest - "Showing up 15 minutes early for an appointment only guarantees a half our wait." Since I don’t subscribe to Reader’s Digest, I likely read it in a waiting room.

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Hi Ellen, You always seem to know what's annoying. How do you do that? I hate the waiting room. Even after you've filled out all the info on your entire life, they say oops, You forgot to fill in your name on the back of the 9th page. Seems all they need is your name and insurance card if ya got one. Just because they call your name, doesn't mean you're gonna see the DR. You're now going back to a smaller room to wait for the Dr. It's just another waiting room with more of the same magazines

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Roses, I wrote to you on the last place

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C it is me ROSES STRAWBERRY CALL ME ON FRIDAY TWO HOURS BEFORE HER OPERATION SHE WAS IN THE OPERATIN ROOOM SHE LAUGH BACAUSE SHE TOLD ME THAT YOU AND OTHER FRIENDS WAIT FOR AND YOUR ALL SIT ON THE FLOOR!!!!!!!!WHERE ARE YOU

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C it is me ROSES STRAWBERRY call me on friday two hours before the operation WHERE ARE YOU C!!!! I CAN NOT FIND YOU I GO TO OUR LAST PLACE

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C its me roses i did go to the last place where are you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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OMG Ellen...you are so funny! And you REALLY have a talent with bringing up subjects that make everyone want to join in. So, here it goes...Waiting rooms, yes...they are the worst. I think the ER is just about as bad as it gets. You or a loved one needs to be seen (hint: it's the "emergency" room)and unless you are gasping for air with chest pain, you have to try and be "patient" for 3 hours while watching horribly SAD stories on Animal Planet!
By the way...kudos to Susan Barg for the eye dialation ritual!!! I have ALWAYS griped to my husband about the STUPID ritual of dialating your patients eyes and then having them pick out frames!!! And oh yes...I trusted the tech one time with the, "Oh, those look good on you"...yeah, right!
Thanks Ellen...you made my morning. Chardell

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Gerrie, where are you? news, not too bad, not too ggod, but you should know them. Answer please, where we talked at least.

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Ok Ellen, the worst is waiting for your eyes to dilate in the eye doctors waiting room. What is up with that??? You just have to sit there...you can't even read the outdated magazines! It's horribly frustrating. I sat there for at least 45 minutes before the doctor came out to get me. I was so bored!!!! Can't go for a walk either...your eyes are too sensitive. And don't you just love it when they say you need glasses or a new prescription? Here, try on some new frames..."trust me, those look great on you!" Yeah right, sure they do! I trust you, take my $700! LOL!

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hey. i agree bout waiting room incident. my mother had stroke onemonth ago. took her 2

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i usually bring my own book for such an occasion. Plan B is to read all pamphets available.

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Hi Ellen,
When I read "The Waiting Is the Hardest Part", I had to share a story with you. Just yesterday I took my mom to the Dr office and I was just sitting around watching the staff people behind their little window & I could hear them talking & some of them seemed concerned so this peaked my interest. Also, there was a man in the waiting room talking to his wife saying he didn't know what was taking so long. I kept listening to the staffs conversations & could hear 1 of the girls on the phone & I believe she was on the phone with the police explaining that they had received 2 threating phone calls which implied that something was going to happen to the office. Calmly the girl on the phone turned to the other girls & said "they said we should leave". At this point it was 2 hrs after the 1st call. So, they kept people waiting in the waiting room until they heard from an official that they should leave. What????!!!!! Anyway, the building was evacuated & everything was fine but what were the people thinking staying there?!

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Gerrie,
pleased to see you are blogging again.

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I know what you mean by waithing is the hardst and that is not only in the wathing room

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I once waited for such a long time that the grainy tv station started looking like a clear screen. It was when the nurse called me, that I realised I have been squinting my eyes so bad, to make the video look better.. now I have another apointment with my eye doctor and a long waiting room. i hope they dont have a squeky old radio there, or some ear doctor will have a new patient.

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Hi Ellen,

Waiting in a doctor’s waiting room is something that I have a lot of experience, in fact I consider myself to be a Professional Patient. One time I had a leg injury and became so bored telling inquiring minds the truth about what happened that I began to make stories up, for example: “I was bitten by a shark.” and making-up details about the 'incident.'

The worst doctors offices experiences include patients who bring screaming babies/kids with them and are unable to control them. I have never understood why the doctor’s staff doesn’t give them some xanax or something while they’re waiting, I sure the child’s parents could use a break from the stress of their kid’s streak. .

Thank you, Ellen, I love you!

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three years ago i went to umkc dentistry school for dental work and while waitng found a old national georgraphic magazine from the 1950's about the war. hey does anyone else keep an interesting magazine from the doctors waiting or the hosptial waitng room that others have left ?

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I just try to figure out what kind of lives the other patients live. That white haired lady is probably somebody's grandmother. I can picture her making pies and cookies and knitting mittens.
Or she is planning a bank robbery with that no-count grandson of hers.

Next to her is a man with a dress shirt and tie. He is looking through a magazine for the perfect present for his wife's birthday. Or he is trying to figure out how he is going to be able to pad the dompany books before the auditor comes next week and finds out he has embezzeled.

And on the end is the teenager with the peirced ears, tongue, and eyebrow. He has tats all over him and you just know he is trouble through and through. Or he is there to get his check-up before he goes and volunteers at the nursing home?

Ya just never know.

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Here's another thought... Can you imagine how many germs those magazines in the waiting rooms have? EWWWW!

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