why so serious?

as many of you who know me, you know that i am sick and tired of my job. one of the many reasons are the calls i have to take. the clinic is a specialty clinic, gastroenterology/hepatology/bariatrics/gi surgery, and as such, receives numerous referrals. in fact, our gi staff physicians are booked out well into february for new patients and that is to put it mildly as we don't have all the referred patients scheduled. we get approximately forty referrals per day to the various services. and yet, the response from both patients and referring providers alike when i tell them my first available appointment for a morning colonoscopy on a monday or wednesday is such and such date in january.
"you're joking?" is the most common response.
yes, sir. of course i'm joking. i find it quite amusing to wile away my 8 to 5 by joshing with patients. our 30 second interaction led me to believe that you would be open to a bit of leg pulling before we get down to the dirty business of scheduling a colonoscopy. i'm afraid i was mistaken.
it's only that it gets extremely exasperating when things are completely beyond our control about scheduling patients in a timely, or even reasonable, fashion. on a day-to-day basis this becomes a real drag on a person's psyche. especially when a number of people state that we must want them to die rather than schedule them.

on another note, i came across a referral for a patient with a relatively minor complaint. all was dandy until i caught sight of the name, which slightly resembled another existing patient's name. i read on with interest. candy morningst**. not her birth name, obviously. most m2f i've come across don't have names that are quite that stagey-sounding. also, her wife was still listed as nok. i don't mean to come across as insensitive; it's only that we have an ongoing list of unusual names in order to keep the mood light on occasion. she qualifies. as does the wife of the patient with a similar name. her first name is blueberrie.