The Lab

Dear Mom,

I wonder how it was for you when you went through your cancer. I was too young to understand most of the behind the scenes, but I think about it now.

Yesterday I had to call to make an appointment for blood work—all automated—not a live person to talk to. I mumbled something not so nice when the robot thing couldn’t understand what I said and it replied, “Oh you want to talk to someone,” and I’m thinking, great I’ll be connected to a real human, but then it went on, “I’m sorry this is fully automated and you will need to answer or say Go Back.” By then I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to answer, so I said, “Go back.” I kept future mumblings to myself because that robot thing picks up some kind of vibration and I feared I’d never get the appointment set.

I went today after coming from another appointment and ended up an hour early. I thought since they took walk-ins maybe I’d luck out. It didn’t matter how many people came in after me, if they had an appointment time before mine they went in while I sat.

Some lady arrived after I had been there 45 minutes and they didn’t have record of her appointment. I worried the robot didn’t program me. But it did. They got my blood. Now I wait.

I’m sure you went through something similar but with live people.