Arrive on Time

After twenty-five years in the same parish, Father O'Malley was saying his farewells at his retirement dinner. An eminent member of the congregation--a leading politician--had been asked to make a presentation and a short speech, but was late arriving. So the priest took it upon himself to fill the time, and stood up to the microphone:

"I remember the first confession I heard here twenty-five years ago and it worried me as to what sort of place I'd come to. That first confession remains the worst I've ever heard. The chap confessed that he'd stolen a TV set from a neighbor and lied to the police when questioned, successfully blaming it on a local scallywag. He said that he'd stolen money from his parents and from his employer, that he'd had affairs with several of his friends' wives, that he'd taken hard drugs, and had slept with another woman and given her a disease.

You can imagine what I thought. However I'm pleased to say that as the days passed I soon realized that this sad fellow was a frightful exception, and that this parish was indeed a wonderful place full of kind and decent people."

At this point, the politician arrived and apologized for being late, and eager to take the stage, he immediately stepped up to the microphone, pulled his speech from his pocket, and began: "I'll always remember when Father O'Malley first came to our parish," said the politician. "In fact, I'm pretty certain that I was the first person in the parish that he heard in confession."

What Time Is It?

The trouble with being punctual is that nobody's there to appreciate it.
~Franklin P. Jones

My husband is a punctual person. If he tells you that he will meet you at a restaurant at 6:30, you can count on his arrival no later than 6:15. A doctor's appointment at 4:00 means that he will hop to it and report in around 3:30. He's explains that doctors will be happy if he arrives early!

He came by this naturally. His father once telephoned us asking, "Well, are you coming or not?" It was 7:30 and we were due there at 8:00.

Although I'm not like the woman in the joke who is always late, I have never felt the urge to hustle to get someplace earlier than the appointed time. Over the years, this has been a cause for my husband's concern.

How about you?

• Are you an early bird?
• Are you one of those who slides in just under the wire?
• Or are you one who seems to always be running late?

(Johnny thinks that most people will admit to being in the late category. I'm not certain just what that says about him!)

What Is There About Doctor's Waiting Rooms?

Yesterday afternoon, I had a 3:30 endocrinologist's appointment at a large medical center; we arrived at 3:20. This center has a medical staff with more than 150 physicians. I checked in and took a seat in the huge waiting room, opened my book, and began to read.

My husband sat beside me, and tried to occupy himself. But there are no magazines or newspapers in this waiting room. The television was not tuned to the Marlin's baseball game, so he could only sit, check the time, and become restless. Time passed. Other patients came, were seen by various doctors, and left.

I continued to read; my husband began to sigh deeply and make comments about the wait. After thirty minutes, he went to the check-in counter to inquire. "The doctor is running a bit late." He returned to his seat. After an hour, he checked with the lady again. "Your wife's room is almost ready." He sat back down and waited. Finally, at 4:50, we were admitted--for a 3:30 appointment!

There had been no emergency; the doctor had merely taken his time with each patient as he refuses to be rushed. "If a patient is scheduled for a fifteen minute follow-up visit as you are but needs more time, the doctor will give it" the nurse answered us. "If it's a new patient, they're scheduled for thirty minutes, but he'll take an hour and a half if he has to. Then he gets behind. It happens every day!"

I know that this is a common occurrence, but my question is: How do you handle the wait? Do you take along a book? Watch whatever is on the television? Complain? Change doctors? Arrive late for appointments?