Can You Meet Me at McDonalds?
Or Wal Mart. Or wherever.Sooner or later, if it hasn't happened already, you'll get this request: "Can I meet you some place else?" This is someone who doesn't want to do any of the options I suggest: not at their home, not at their work, not at their insurance agent's office, not at my office.
Instead, they want to "meet some place public." Usually, McDonalds is the first place they suggest.
And my answer, except under the most unusual circumstances, is no. I think your answer should be no, too.
Reasons?
1. Something odd is going on here. I don't know what it is, but there's a reason they want you to do their blood work at a fast food place. And whatever the oddity is, I'm just not going along with it.
2. It's unprofessional. Would you want -- even if you were suggesting it -- to meet your doctor at McDonalds? Of course not. Doing this kind of thing degrades your work. Don't be dragged down by such nonsense.
3. Even if no one at the location objects -- big "if" here -- do you really want to draw blood, collect urine, whatever, at a location like this? This is not a knock on McDonalds or any other place. It's just not their job to provide a place to get this done.
I'm very flexible. I will basically meet people where it's good for them, at a time that's good for them. But everyone has lines that we must draw. This is one of them. You -- as a professional -- must control the surroundings where your work will be done. This kind of a public place is not where you should be doing your work.
posted by Jim Huffman @ 4:30 PM
2 Comments:
Jim,
Mr. Paramed here. In one of your previous postings, you were talking about being flexible. This is an excellente opportunity to be flexible. Like you, I have done thousands upon thousands of exams, many under unusal circumstances and in unusal places. Just a few examples:
I once completed an exam at the bathroom of the airport (EKG included!!) because this OB-GYN male Dr. was so busy he didn't have any other time available in the next two or three months. He was going to a convention and the waiting time at the airport was the only choice available.
I have done exams in houses under construction or renovation because that is the work place of the applicant, in hotel rooms because they were just passing by my city (Truck Drivers, Convention atendees, professional sports people doing training in my city, etc).
I have done exams in parking lots, in restaurants and in shopping centers. Sometimes the applicant wanted to have an insurance policy for his/her children, and s/he didn't want his/her spouse and his/her children to get that money, other applicants were ashamed of the cleanniness status of their houses (or the lack of), others just did not want to have a stranger in their home over concernos of their own or their spouses, etc.
All of them are, in my book, valid reasons. Wouldn't you agree?
Hello there
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