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Out to Lunch: When Urgent Care Isn’t Urgent
What do you do when the urgent care is closed for lunch in the middle of your emergency? In this episode of The Absurdists, Mary Murphy tells Marlo Anderson about her not-so-urgent care adventure: doubled over in pain, she is told the doctor is about to go to lunch and she should come back in an hour. Then the pharmacy is dark when she gets there because, yes, they went to lunch too.
That sets off a rant-filled hour about customer service in an instant world. Marlo walks into a Waffle House and is told it’s “not known for waffles,” the two wonder whether anyone has ever expected crackers at Cracker Barrel, and Mary makes the case for the Hash House in Las Vegas, where the waffles hang off the plate. Have same-day delivery and smartphones raised our expectations too high? And what does the word urgent even mean anymore?
Along the way: the modern-day cable guy window (“we’ll call you back”), Seinfeld’s rental car reservation, why nobody complains about standing in line now that we all have phones, a friendly “howdy” in Austin, who actually uses their blinkers, COVID travel rules that stopped at the jet bridge, buying a car by committee, fast food that isn’t so fast anymore, Chick-fil-A’s “my pleasure,” parking lot stalkers and a birthday party parking fiasco. Plus a brand-new business idea: Not So Urgent Care.
The Absurdists, where logic takes a back seat. Season 2, Episode 2 with Marlo Anderson and Mary Murphy.
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