Sometime today, a man calls his doctor to say he’s running a little late. He is literally five minutes away, and that he’s already in the parking lot and he’s awfully sorry. He’s at the lobby where there are elevators to choose from – one side leads to the West Wing while the other goes to the East Wing.
An elderly man approaches the elevators. He is confused as to which elevator to take. Meanwhile, the other man, already late for his appointment, realizes he’s in the wrong building. He had transposed the building address of 2634 to 2143. The other building is another ten minutes away. Then there’s also the problem of finding parking. The elderly man looks to the left then to the right and then at the address written on a piece of paper. He shoots a helpless expression to the other guy.
Anxious that he is already late, and his doctor had arranged for a technician to come specifically to give him an EEG test, he asks the man where he needs to go. He verifies the name in the directory listing and escorts him to the correct elevator.
Driving to building 2634, he considers calling the office again to let them know he’s running later than he said earlier. He reconsiders. It wouldn’t make sense, because he had already said he was ‘only 5 minutes away’. That was twenty minutes ago.
When he walks into the doctor’s office, the EEG Technician named Melinda is clearly unimpressed. She is due at another location for more EEG exams after his appointment. The receptionist is uncomfortable. He attempts to ease the tension by first offering a box of See’s chocolates to her. She smiles generously with a warm ‘Thank you.’ Then he draws a second box of the same for Melinda, but her trite ‘Thank You’ and tense expression only deflates the mood. She marches him to an examination room.
Inside, she asks him to roll up the sleeve of his left arm, and as he does this he exposes a bruised and swollen forearm. ‘Where did you get that?’, she asks him. ‘At the Endocrinologist’s office when they tried to draw blood.’ he says. That was less than a week ago. Her left eyebrow lifts. ‘Really. Which one?’ Upon giving his answer she says, ‘My husband and I go to his office. He is an excellent doctor, but I never let them take my blood there.” She pauses. ‘They just don’t know how to draw blood over there. Someone should tell them.’
Having something in common between with them, he senses a softening of her eyes and her lips. She assures him the bruising and swelling will clear up. After an hour of running tests, before he leaves, she tells him that she has a sweet tooth and the chocolates are perfect.
