Shoes, Ships, and Sealing Wax

Not something you see every day

I went to the doctor this morning to have my blood drawn for my test. I got there right at 8:30, when they open. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw that the front doors were propped open with chairs, which seemed peculiar. I wondered if the air conditioning was out, which would certainly suck on a humid 90 degree day. Then I realized that the pale green on the sidewalk in front of the door wasn't a welcome mat, it was broken glass.

There were two men outside, a guy in the uniform of the fast food restaurant next door, who was sitting on a bench wearing a walkman and looking indifferent, and a scruffy older guy in baggy khakis and an undershirt talking on a cell phone. I though he might be a contractor there to fix the door.

I walked up a bit tentatively. The scruffy guy closed the phone and asked if I had an appointment. "Just a blood draw," I said, trying to see inside for someone in scrubs, like the teenaged PA from yesterday.

The guy introduced himself as "Doctor," and I realized he was the head physician in the practice. Then I saw that there was a small stack of blackened manila folders on the sidewalk.

"Was there a fire?" I asked. Inside I could also see a melted radio on the desk where I signed in yesterday. I am terrified by, and therefore obsessed with, fire. "Do you know what started it?"

The doctor said that someone had broken in and tried to set fire to the files. Then he asked my name, and offered to see if my file was still in there so I could get my blood work done.

"I can come back," I said. "It's not urgent, just from a physical."

"Yeah, but you're fasting, you might as well get it done today," he said. He started giving me directions to the practice's other office, then realized the lab was closer. When I said I didn't have any paperwork, he got a precription pad and wrote it out for me right there. "CBC?"

"I need cholesterol, iron, and thyroid."

"Oh, are you anemic?"

"I'm trying to figure that out."

I saw that on the prescription he'd written "fatigue" boldly at the bottom. Then he told me it might be a week before they'd reopen, since there was so much water damage, and to call the other office if I needed anything.

I was pretty impressed with his curbside manner, and I feel really bad for the staff. Going through burned and wet patient records won't be any fun, and I hope the equipment wasn't damaged.

I couldn't find anything about the fire on the news. I wonder why somebody'd break into a doctor's office to set the records on fire? Presumably somebody with records there wanted to destroy something...or I've read too many dimestore mystery novels.

And I actually wasn't annoyed by the whole thing, which is something for me. Usually petty annoyances like that totally piss me off. I have been working on better stress management, but I think the weirdness trumped the annoyance. Like I said in the title, it ain't something you see every day.

Posted by Nic at August 29, 2003 03:00 PM