Sense of Time

Had expected a good end to an otherwise dour week.

The abyss the week began in gave way to semi-heaven as I battled work and then abdominal colic.

Had two crazy days of chasing and chasing after stuff that people owe me and then spent another two days clutching my stomach.

The pain was so bad that I had to go off work midway and make my way to my GP. There, I had to wait in line for 21 patients. My pain got from a 5 out of 10 to 8 out of 10. My long sleeved working shirt got wetter and wetter but I wasn't even feeling warm. It was the pain!

I guess the counter staff saw my misery and probably alerted the doctor. I did not want to tell them about my pain because the last time I tried telling them, I was told that if I could not wait my turn, then I ought to go to the Accident & Emergency Department.

Soon, one patient was not around when his/her number was called. And I was asked to go in instead. Had my jab and my two days' MC. Came home and crashed. Paying off a sleep debt never felt so good.

Then came yesterday. The private transport that I booked to drive me home came 10 minutes late. This is stupid because I delayed getting off work by 45 minutes and paid $5 (instead of the usual $2 thereabouts on public transport) to get home by 7 pm. Of course, by the time I got home, it was 7.15 pm. I am going to try this transport guy once more and if he does not show he is conscious of keeping time, then I might drop him.

In any case, there is this garrulous woman on the mini-van that yaks non-stop. Peace is only restored after she gets off - first, thank God! - at Casa Merah. But that was already more than half the journey done. But if I get driven to the doorstep, I am quite willing to tolerate her showing off and noise.

This transport thingy didn't take the cake.

I had an appointment last night for my hair treatment. I made an 8 pm appointment at 4 pm. As I rushed all the way down from home - no thanks to the stupid transport guy - at 7.42 pm, the hair treatment woman asked if I was ok to go in later, 8.30 pm instead. Ok, I told her.

I went for a quick dinner. The guy selling rice with vegetables was selling gold nuggets instead of vegetables. I hardly had a standard portion of anything!

At 8.10 pm, I stepped into the salon. Shaggy Bitch was there, not even started. So, she must have been the double-booker or the walk-in. Looking at the length of her hair, the treatment is not going to even end by 8.30 pm.

I was right. When the hair treatment lady was done with Shaggy, it was already 8.50 pm. Then instead of letting me begin, she got a waiting customer to wash off the henna on her head.

At 9.05 pm, I stood up and told her, I can't wait any more.

I will do that to her insistently from now on. Make an appointment and if I walk in and she's not ready for me, I will walk off. There is no point in making an appointment if she is not going to keep to her end of the bargain.

She is not running a subsidized medical care facility. At least for those, I am looking at a minimum 50% subsidy from the government. The doctors are beyond overworked and waiting for them while they tend to other more urgent patients and full paying patients is unavoidable. Hey, those people paying $1.05 for a pill while subsidized patients are probably paying $0.10.

Some people just need to be taught a sense of timing and business ethics.