Waiting Room [Adventure]

[Adventure 39]

I spend a lot of time in waiting rooms at various medical establishments. There is always a character or two who is either joyously entertaining or whom causes you to pity the staff that has to deal with their shenanigans. 

Recently I was in a waiting room with two other people - a bearded person who was sitting calmly against one wall filling out paperwork and a person with copious amounts of PPE attached to their face and head sitting across the room in the corner. 

When I went to take a seat, the person in the corner announced loudly that I could take a seat right there in the middle of the room, far away from them. I obliged. Understanding that being in a medical facility in these times is stressful, I settled into my middle-of-the-room seat and glanced up at the tv, which was playing a series of medical stories, self help exercises, and medical info bits. Muttered complaints about the lilting of the voice of the person doing the voiceover of a particular segment emerged from under the PPE and escalated into a loud rant about the condescending nature of the self-care suggestions. I mean, they kind of had a point. 

At the same time, I felt pity for the staff, who were dealing with what seemed and endless stream of phone calls, the phone ringing every time they tried to get up to address the stressed-out person in the waiting room. The bearded person didn't seem concerned at all, so, with another eruption of dissatisfaction from the corner of the room, I motioned to the receptionist, who was about to get out of her seat once again - while still on the phone - that all was fine. Upset at yet another self-care segment, they loudly complained once again. I turned and looked at them and said, calmly, "I really don't think the people who make these videos understand what it's like to live with serious illness."  

"You go that right!" 

Some contented muttering followed, but no more outbursts. Sometimes all someone needs is to be heard and validated.