Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Indentured, or one more reason why this is no country for old men

My broken tooth came out last week. Which means that the plate that age has determined should grace my lower jaw needs to be added to.

It's something I've had done before. But that was in Sydney, where you'd go into the dentist one day, they'd take an impression, you'd come back the next day & they'd extract the tooth & put in the amended denture.

Here there is no connectivity. Once you've had the tooth out you're on your own to find someone to do the next part.

So I rang the recommended dental technician - one of the only two in the city - yesterday, to be met with the message "The office is unattended. Please leave your name & contact details & we'll get back to you." Which I did & which they did, today, their turn to leave a message which included "We are only open on Mondays, Wednesdays & Thursdays."

So I rang back. To an hour of busy signals. Finally got through, explained what I wanted. Was offered an appointment in August.

Am rather proud of myself that I did not become arrogantly abusive which is how I usually react to such levels of service. Enquired politely why, if they are that busy, did they only work three days a week. Was given a convoluted answer which was not an answer but I must have pressed some button because I was offered an appointment in two weeks time.

Get me back to the big smoke!

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