Waiting Rooms and Soap Operas

Today is not a typical Wednesday. I haven't had a typical Wednesday in quite some time, come to think of it.

Today's scenery features some accommodating-looking benches and seats that look as though no one sits in them for extended periods of time sprawled throughout a waiting room. I've discovered why no one would want to sit in these chairs - and might have a hard time sitting still during the journey north tomorrow. For once, I'm doing the waiting. It seems strange. Elderly men are scattered throughout this room, as their wives are anxiously checking to ensure everything is okay closer to the surgery center. At this particular moment, there are no small children waiting. The peace is interrupted only by the clicking of keys on my keyboard, the frustrated flips of magazine pages by one rather cranky-looking man, and two televisions maybe 20 feet apart from each other struggling to be more annoying. The large windows allow me to look out into the parking lot, the busy road in front of the center, and slightly beyond that to the next set of parking lots. Medical Mile offers little in the way of actual scenery.

The small concessions made for comfort consist of a coffee dispenser. For those that drink coffee, that might help make the wait bearable. Wise to the ways of hospitals, I brought along my own giant water bottle and several snack options. Trust me, I'm not a fat kid. I'm just looking out for my survival, since I have been in this room for 6 overwhelmingly enjoyable hours now. Conveniently, the waiting room is also decently close to a large vending machine that I know better than to use [it likes to eat my money and leave me staring longingly at the empty calories proudly displayed inside] and bathrooms that evidently missed out on the building-wide remodeling project. A small box of actual Kleenex sits atop the registration counter.

The truly amazing thing about this room would have to be the number of hand-sanitizer dispensers one can find throughout. Despite the lack of wall space that isn't already covered with some attempt of looking cultured or refined, there are no less than 6 dispensers to be found in this rather strange waiting room. When I want to stretch my legs for a bit, I decide upon a path to take me past each and every one of them. I also make sure to use all of them, mostly to further the opinion that young people are strange to all those who surround me in this tiny cubicle of germ infestation.

As I journeyed from one hand sanitizer dispenser to the next, I realized that each and every one of them featured a different brand posted on the outside. Hospitals know far more than one would think about making sure they get the best deal for themselves...and evidently have no issues with mounting another hand sanitizer dispenser in order to obtain some free germ-killing liquid goodness.

If nothing else, I have enjoyed borrowing your wireless internet for the day, waiting room. The other thing I have appreciated - how well the various soap operas and television shows fit together seamlessly in one plot as both televisions are blasted at volumes necessary to ensure that all present are able to hear. iCarly and the Young and Restless is quite the combination if you get bored.