Anger Burger

Watch out, this is mostly about how I don’t like being a part of society.  So, wait, no.  Everything is normal.  Carry on

Lately I’ve been overwhelmed with how the technologies of communication seem to have made it impossible to get in touch with people.  For example, a while back I called my gastroenterologist’s office in Washington state to ask two questions:

1. Can you recommend a gastroenterologist in Los Angeles?
2. Have you heard of Wellbutrin reducing inflammation in people with Crohn’s disease?¹

I asked if I could send my doctor an email rather than play the phone tag game and she said, no, they don’t “do” email.  While sort of nonsense (you don’t have email?! do you do surgery out of a covered wagon or something?) I also sympathize: if patients could email their doctors, I imagine the doctors would have 4,000 emails a day being all “How is babby formed?” So I told her: I need to ask him some questions but it’s not an emergency.  Reluctant, she asked “Is it something I can answer?” so I told her the above questions.  She couldn’t help me and agreed to pass it along to him and he’d call me back “probably before this weekend.”

That was 10 days ago.  I think it’s safe to say he won’t be calling me back.

But this stuff happens constantly.  Last week my domestic Viking, Mike, called a prescription refill in and asked them to deliver it to our apartment.  They said sure, and charged him accordingly.  Except, the delivery guy never showed.  And it was a Friday.  And they don’t deliver over the weekend.  Monday morning, Mike called them back and said, hey, dudes, I really needed those pills.  Several hours and phone calls, the delivery kid finally arrives and makes all these excuses, including the highly-rated I Tried Calling You But It Wouldn’t Go Through Or Something.

Today I called to make a veterinarian appointment, and after several attempts going straight to the answering machine, I left a message asking them to call me back please.  Three hours later I called them and said, “Hi, I left a message earlier today…” and the receptionist answered cheerily, “Oh yeah!  What did you want?”  WELL, FOR YOU TO CALL ME BACK.

And then we have the decidedly mundane Facebook drive-bys.  I get these constantly, people who I haven’t spoken to in years friending me and writing a gushy “OMG, what’s going on with you?!”  I dutifully answer them and almost always never hear from them again.

I finally understand the recent surge of urban homesteading: cutting back on necessary interactions!  That’s it, I’m moving out of this apartment and starting a pea-patch in the Valley.

¹Apparently Wellbutrin, which is a mild anti-depressant often prescribed as an smoking cessation aid, also has an effect on lowering the TNF-alpha, a chemical the body produces that is believed responsible for some (if not most) of the inflammation in the bowel.  AND!  Lowers anxiety!  Which is a double-shot of great for Crohn’s folks.  Most of the time I can merely worry about having to poop to trigger pooping.