You're going to have to come and get me

I have the worst allergies- bad enough to warrant me to get allergy shots once a week so that I don't end up with constant allergy headaches or have asthma flare-ups. It used to be we would go up to the Allergy Dept. at Kaiser, check in at the desk, then stand in line with everyone else waiting to get their allergy shots. My family all gets allergy shots, so it is a family affair. Thursdays we always meet at Kaiser and eat afterward.

About 6 months ago Kaiser suddenly became worried about patient confidentiality. They installed a privacy door, a new computerized check-in that the nurses use, and you wait at a chair for them to call you. This system sucks ass. This new system gives the nurses tons of extra time to talk while preparing patients injections. The nurses will spend 4-5 minutes talking and supposedly preparing an injection for a patient. With the new system you wait 30-45 minutes to get your damn shot because they take so long to call you and spend all the time talking.

Oh, and you're supposed to wait 20 minutes after you get your shot. That's an hour visit to Kaiser at least- a visit that used to only take 15-20 minutes.

So let's fast forward to today. Since it is a family affair my dad usually arrives first, checks all of us in, then gets his shot. We let the nurses know we're there when we arrive, then about 30-45 minutes after we've arrived, they call us.

Today I go in to get my shot and Miss Timmie, the nurse tells me my dad can no longer check me or my family in because it is showing up badly in their computers when this happens. They are graded on how fast they serve their members and it shows my sister, mom, or I waiting in the que section for 30-45 minutes and they get in trouble. I told Miss Timmie "my ass I'm going to wait- we wait 30-45 minutes because of this new system you have because of patient confidentiality. All you do is stand in here, talk, and occasionally call a patient. I don't care that you get in trouble. You should. The service is terrible." Miss Timmie was pretty taken aback by what I said and said she takes that as an insult. I told her she should.

I marched out and told my dad and sister what she had just said. They felt the same way I did. I told my mom when she arrived and she agreed that we're not changing how we get our shots- we'll have 1 person check us in.

We all got our shots, and we rebelled, like usual, and didn't wait the 20 minutes. I've been getting these damn shots for 17 years and haven't had a bad reaction yet, so I don't expect to have one right now. My ass I'm going to wait 20 minutes afterward. About 5 minutes after getting everyone's shot we march to the elevator. I see Timmie and Suzie running after us- yeah- they have enough time to sit around and watch the patients take off rather than serve the 5-6 people who were waiting to still receive their allergy shots. Timmie and Suzie left their nursing stations in the allergy department, and ran for us to say they needed to check our shots. I saw them running after us, but I wasn't about to play friendly after this. The elevator door closed in the niche of time and we arrived at the bottom. Suzie was there waiting for us on the first floor- she ran down the 3 flights of stairs to do this. I said I can't wait and had to run to the bathroom, so I marched passed Suzie just to be an ass.

I go in the bathroom and do my thing, then when I leave I don't see Suzie. I see Miss Timmie though, walking around the pharmacy area like she is looking for me. She sees me and starts running. I go in the other direction and out the other exit. I make a brisk walk toward my car. I open up my car and Miss Timmie has caught up with me and tells me that she needs to check my arms. I said something to the fact of "like hell you're going to, I'm late." Timmie's look in her eyes was of anger and disgust. She said she's going to tell Dr. Lai on me and see that I have to wait to get my shot, or else not get them. Oh, and I snapped picture of Miss Timmie outside as she walks away from my car.

Can you believe that? Nurses took off, just left their stations, when they should have been taking care of patients waiting to get their shots, to make sure that my arms were checked? The Allergy Dept. used to be friendly, but since this new system has gone into place they are not. I'm going to complain to Membership Services and fill out those comment cards saying I received bad service next time I go and recount this event to them and show them the pictures.