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So there I stood, before a dirt-stained awning grazed with pigeon poop. I was late but relieved that I was at least in the right place. I walked in and the first thing I noticed was that the waiting room was a little disheveled and ‘felt’ dirty. It wasn’t that I saw dirt explicitly, it just that it gave me the feeling of uncleanliness. Stepping through those doors I realized that I was a long way from the Midwest where the last place in the universe that would seem unclean was a doctor’s office. Oh well, I thought, this is just how it is, so I took my place in the line that wound through the office right up to the door.

So it was here that I began to realize something was terribly wrong. There were two women working the front desk but only one was actually helping people. The other was talking frantically into the phone. I heard her say,

“No, that is not the plan I signed up for, if I have to tell you again I’m going to have to talk to your boss! I signed up for the Family Choice plan, the one with unlimited minutes for me and my family!”

Ok, I thought, I just got here, maybe she’s having some type of emergency. She got off the phone and turned to her co-worker and said,

“I don’t know who they’re hiring down at Verizon. You heard me, I was just on the phone for a half hour trying to get them to put me on the plan I signed up for in the first place!”

“I know girl,” said her coworker.

Wow, no wonder the line is to the door, well things should speed up now that she took care of that. But they didn’t. She turned to her computer and started searching for something. When she found it she picked up the office phone again and started talking…TO THE CABLE COMPANY!

Now, this was at ten in the morning so it wasn’t like she was on her lunch break. I looked incredulously at my fellow low-income health insurance consumers for some sign that this was crazy, but they just stood there like cattle going to slaughter. One part resigned and one part oblivious. So for the next 45 minutes or so, I watched this woman “run out for a quick cigarette” (10-15 minutes), mitigate a fight between her son and her daughter (15 minutes), and finally get the gas company to put her on an automatic payment plan (15 minutes). All the while people piled up throughout the waiting room like forgotten toys. Finally I was called into the office for my appointment, thankfully leaving the all-too-surreal scene.

Needless to say, I was never happier to get out of an appointment. As I walked home I caught glimpses of the downtown skyline down every street I passed. They looked like the dirty teeth of a giant grin. And I wasn’t sure if I was looking out from the belly of this beast or was about to be devoured. I guess time will tell.

Hans Erik
Content Marketing Director
Next2Friends
http://www.Next2Friends.com