The waiting room

Pacing in the corridor, I take notice of the people waiting to get their limbs, torsos, and breasts examined by X-ray technicians. We have our retirees, our skateboard kids, our normcore adults here. Nothing in common apart from the tiny bits of paper with numbers on them that an automated till spat out for us.

We’re all waiting for the big screen to summon us, for we all have places to be. Me — well, I’ve actually got a one-to-one session with a client in an hour and I’m anxiously trying to figure out how fast I will need to pedal to get back to the office on time. But this isn’t a story about me. And for those rooting for me, I did make it on time.

No, this story has another protagonist. Like all of us, apart from the doctors and nurses, who always look busy, he is waiting in line. But he’s probably the only one with a smile. He’s got a pair of AirPods in his ears, and he’s in a video call with someone. Is it a loved one on the other side? Are they discussing the apparently great news they received from their physician? Are they seeking comfort in an otherwise unwelcoming environment, and is the smile just a façade?

Who am I kidding, of course not. They’re on a sales call. Discussing cloud storage. While waiting in line for an X-ray.

As far as sales calls go, I think his is going quite well. He asks concrete questions and exudes positivity. I’m not sure whether his prospects know that he is waiting in line for an X-ray or not. Who cares, right? After all, it has no impact on the quality of the call or the quality of the service. Work from anywhere, they say, and anywhere might mean a clinic’s corridor.

I’m not sure why this unsettles me. People tend to their affairs everywhere and at all times. And if it had been, say, a logistics manager talking to a driver, or a plumber following up with a customer about a faulty valve, I probably would not have paid as much attention. But a sales call in a waiting room reminds me that there was a world outside the hospital. A world where LinkedIn is a thing. A world eaten by software, AI, or some new gimmick that VCs are drooling about. A world of fist-bumps, handshakes, corporate events, brand ambassadors, one-to-ones (ironic, as I’m headed to one), employee advocacy, CSR, HR, GDPR, and so on.

Is there anything wrong with that world? I would be facetious if I said no. But I would also be pointlessly cynical if I said it was all complete and utter BS. People need jobs, however pointless their title might sound to the proverbial Boomer. It’s not the existence of that world that triggered me. It’s the porous nature of it and its ability to go through walls, even the walls of a waiting room.

A lot is being said about the importance and loss of third places. I doubt that healthcare providers should be considered third places, but it can certainly serve as one. And if it’s a place where you’re waiting for some potentially bad news, maybe you deserve to be shielded from someone’s sales call by a thick brick wall.