I went to the doctor this afternoon. I sat In the waiting area next to the door. A girl came in, dressed somewhere between goth and metal, and sat across from me. A guy, dressed similarly, obviously her boyfriend, came in and sat next to her. After checking in with the receptionist, the girl grabbed a cell phone from her bag and went outside. I heard her shout, "Mom, the fucking insurance co-pay went up!" and launched into a big temper tantrum at her mother. About every third or fourth words was F. I imagine she really needed to see a doctor. The boyfriend ran outside and told her to quiet down, that everyone could hear her in the waiting room. She did quiet down, and he came back in. But then she went full volume again, "Mom, ...fuckin', ..., fuck, ..., fuck..., fuck..." Two more times, the boyfriend ran outside to shush her. Then, when they were both outside, a woman darted out from the office into the waiting area saying, "The insurance company just approved...where is she?" I pointed to the door, and said, "She's out on the sidewalk, talking to her mother." She ran outside, and I heard her shouting the girl's name down the sidewalk and saying, "Where did she go?" The woman came back in the reception area and said, "She's gone!" Finally, after the doctor saw me, on my way out, I leaned over the receptionist desk and asked in a low tone, "What happened to the girl? I explained that outside on the sidewalk, she was complaining to her mother that the insurance co-pay had gone up." I said I was willing to give her enough money to cover it. (The boyfriend has nothing in his pocket?) The woman told me that after the girl had left the receptionist desk , all the women in the office took out their wallets and chipped in to cover the girl's co-pay. She said the girl was pregnant, and they felt sorry for her. The woman had lied about the insurance company approval, so the girl wouldn't feel ashamed about them paying for her. I asked, "Well, can you call her back?" She said that she called her mother and told her to call her daughter and send her back. "Is she coming?" I asked. And she said, "Oh, she's back already. She's right in there," pointing to the exam room right behind me. So I ran out of there hoping the girl didn't overhear me talking about her.
