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Not Fun

Up until this year no one has ever jumped in and treated me like a doddering old woman while I was trying to do something. For one thing, I can manage on my own just fine 99% of the time. If I run into trouble, I will ask for help. Thanks to my arthritis (and my deafness) I am slow, but I'm not helpless.

That happiness ended back in March when I went to Quest for my quarterly blood tests. I was standing at the kiosk reading the instructions when one of the employees came over and started helping me, which I didn't need. I've checked myself in a dozen times at Quest; I was just reading the opening screen to see if the instructions had changed (which they have in the past.) This young woman grabbed my appt sheet and started telling me what to do. I mentioned that I was hard of hearing, in hopes of gently discouraging her. She then started shouting at me what I needed to do, and made me so nervous that I had to start over halfway through checking in because the machine timed out.

Maybe she thought she was helping me, but she had the exact opposite effect, and made me take twice as long to check in. There were other people in the waiting room, so I had an audience for this farce. I wanted to shove that young woman away from me, shout at her, and storm out of the place. I didn't. Why? I have manners.

Quest always sends me a survey about my experience, which I always rate as excellent. Not this time. I politely told them exactly what happened. I don't think the elderly should be treated like that just because we take time to do things. We're old, not idiots.

Image credit: Geralt from Pixabay

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