Monday, November 21, 2011

Sunday morning, 2:18 a.m.

My cell phone wakes me with a message. It's a patient with a relatively urgent question.

I knew the call would take a while, so stopped in the bathroom, then walked to my home office, flipped on my computer, and opened the patient's chart. This took maybe 5 minutes from the original message.

Then I dialed him up.

Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy, returning a call."

Mr. Etiquette: "Um, huh, oh."

Dr. Grumpy: "You called me?"

Mr. Etiquette: "Man, you just woke me up."

Dr. Grumpy: "Sorry. What can I do for you?"

Mr. Etiquette: "Took you long enough to call back, and I dozed off again. I can't believe you woke me up."

Dr. Grumpy: "Well, in your call you said..."

Mr. Etiquette: "That doesn't matter. I can't believe you woke me up. This is incredibly rude."

(hangs up)
at

19 comments:

  1. Reds KevinNovember 21, 2011 at 8:01 AM

    He woke you up first right?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Grumpy, M.D.November 21, 2011 at 8:03 AM

    Yup.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 8:29 AM

    Talk about rude. Fire him, perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 8:34 AM

    My thoughts exactly...I see a thirty day "don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out" letter in this person's future!

    Pattie, RN

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 9:25 AM

    hope you were able to doze off again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMDGNovember 21, 2011 at 9:39 AM

    Fun times.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    Or is his behavior a sign of a neurological or psychiatric condition?

    ReplyDelete
  8. watercolordaisyNovember 21, 2011 at 11:16 AM

    5 minutes? That's blazing fast! He's a tool. Geez.

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 12:19 PM

    He's tired from watching 'Breaking Down',er 'Dawn'.

    ReplyDelete
  10. LoriNovember 21, 2011 at 12:39 PM

    Maybe you didn't get the message until well after he had left it since you didn't hear the phone ring in the first place?

    ReplyDelete
  11. Grumpy, M.D.November 21, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    No, the message time stamp showed about a 5 minute lapse.

    ReplyDelete
  12. PackerNovember 21, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    So what time do the bars close in your neighborhood : 2:30 with last call at 2:18

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 4:04 PM

    If he called you at 2am, he either needed to go to the ER for a concerning symptom or he needed something called in, right? Did he think he was going to get either of those things accomplished in 5 min? Sheesh.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousNovember 21, 2011 at 5:38 PM

    Well ... People aren't quite themselves when they've just woken up ... Dr. Grumpy seemed to be okay, but maybe he was still out of it ... I'm going to go away imagining him face-palming extremely hard later that morning when he was really and truly awake.

    Because that's what I want to believe.

    ReplyDelete
  15. MattNovember 21, 2011 at 11:20 PM

    Obviously, you need to learn your place, medicine-slave. (I keed)

    ReplyDelete
  16. DebbieNovember 22, 2011 at 9:38 PM

    Jerk. (the caller, not Grumpy)

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousNovember 23, 2011 at 12:16 AM

    I find it frightening that some commenters are trying to excuse this inane behavior. Such inconsideration and rudeness toward someone who is trying to help you should never be tolerated... I can only imagine those people never have to work with the general public.

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousNovember 24, 2011 at 12:55 AM

    what would be the next plan of care? call him back and try to leave a message?

    ReplyDelete
  19. CNovember 25, 2011 at 9:26 PM

    guy is off his meds..on the wrong meds or took the wrong dosage or combination of meds. In any case, I hope he is not a surgeon, car mechanic, air traffic controller of one of the joint chiefs of staff or the owner of a deadly weapon...

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?