Office Rage

Now we've all heard about road rage and maybe some of us have even experienced it. Unfortunately, it has become more frequent and at times it is downright scary. But have you ever experienced "office rage"? I now have. It happened at my eye doctor's office last Tuesday. We arrived at the office and they had a sign-in sheet to indicate the time that you arrived. I wrote my name and indicated that I had arrived at 9:25 and then I sat down and waited to be called to be registered. At about 9:32, a young man, probably in his late 20's, arrived with his coffee mug in hand. After standing impatiently at the front desk for several minutes, he proclaimed loudly to the busy secretary that he had a 9:30 appointment. He repeated this several times and the secretary told him to please sign the list and be seated. She said that she would call him when it was his turn. He did sign the list but he continued to impatiently hover around the desk. When the secretary completed checking in the person who was ahead of me, she called me to the desk for my turn. This upset the young many who loudly repeated that he had a 9:30 appointment. Then I made a mistake. I quietly mentioned to him that I had a 9:30 appointment also. He then turned his wrath on me and told me that this didn't matter because there were several doctors there. He asked why I would be getting involved in his business. To help out the flustered secretary, I calmly pointed to the list and noted that I was ahead of him on the list. Mistake number two. This really set him off and he began to yell at me and loudly criticize me. He continued his verbal assault on me and I was sure that he was going to hit me. Dianne was so concerned that she grabbed her pocketbook planning to hit him if he came after me. I guess heavy pocketbooks might be good for something. I decided to ignore all his questions and rants which everybody in the waiting room could clearly hear. The secretary finally told him to go sit down and wait his turn. Before he did, he turned to the entire waiting room and proclaimed that I am an example of what is wrong with today's society - everybody interfering in everybody else's business. In the meantime, the secretary went and got the office manager who was ready to summon security if necessary. They both apologized to me for the incident which I told them wasn't their fault. When the secretary finally called him to the front desk to register him, he loudly proclaimed once again that they were wrong in not informing him of their procedures and that the doctors were running behind schedule (which they always do at that office). Everything was everybody else's fault. I don't know how his office visit went and I am glad that we didn't see him again. From his reaction, I am sure that he was on something - and it wasn't just the "coffee" he was drinking. So I guess that I've learned a lesson - always keep your mouth shut and don't try to help somebody, like the secretary, who is in a difficult situation. It is so sad that we have come to that point in today's society. And it is sadder yet that we aren't safe from such rage situations, even in a quiet doctor's office. Lesson learned - hopefully. Oh yes, my eyes are fine - not sure that I can say the same for my nerves.