Your appointment was at 2:15. It is 2:52.
You have been called by no one. Nothing has happened. The receptionist has not looked up in eleven minutes.
You have entered a room where clocks are decorative.
The Check-In Paradox
They told you to arrive fifteen minutes early.
You arrived at 2:00, as instructed, so that you could sit for fifty-two minutes.
The fifteen minutes early was for the paperwork. You filled out the paperwork in four minutes. You have been holding a clipboard with nothing on it since then, unsure if you should return it or if returning it too eagerly makes you a difficult patient.
The Magazine Situation
There’s a Good Housekeeping from March. There’s a Field & Stream. There’s a Highlights, which you consider, briefly, seriously.
You pick up something about home renovation and read an article about backsplashes. You will retain none of it. You will also read the entire thing.
The TV Nobody Chose
Mounted in the corner. Volume at 3. Closed captions on, two seconds behind and misspelling every proper noun.
It’s a daytime show where four people are arguing pleasantly about a topic nobody in the room cares about.
Everyone is watching it. Everyone. Nobody would choose it. It is the only sanctioned place to point your eyes.
The Door Sound
The door opens. Everyone’s head lifts one inch in perfect synchrony.
A name is called. It is not your name.
The person who gets called was there ten minutes after you. You track this. You have been quietly maintaining a leaderboard since you sat down.
You say nothing. But you know. The injustice is filed away permanently.
The Phone Battery Descent
You went in at 74%. You’re at 31%.
There’s an outlet across the room but it’s next to someone and using it would require standing up, crossing the room, and sitting somewhere new, which is a much bigger social event than the situation supports.
You dim your screen instead. You have chosen dignity over power.
The Call
“Sir? Come on back.”
You stand up too fast. You leave the magazine open on the chair. You take your clipboard, then panic, then hand it over, then are told you didn’t need to.
The Second Waiting Room
They take your weight, ask three questions, put you in a smaller room, and say “the doctor will be right in.”
This is a trap. This room has no magazines. This room has an anatomical poster of a knee.
You will be here for nineteen more minutes.
The Actual Appointment
It lasts six minutes. It’s fine. Everything’s fine. The doctor is kind and thorough and moves quickly.
You were there for eighty-one minutes for a six-minute conversation.
You schedule a follow-up. For 2:15.
You will arrive fifteen minutes early.