Desperation Stories Part II

Early last week I wrote a post on a lady who was so desperate to get a denture replacement that she used an alias name in hopes that I would not notice and she would receive a free denture. Well if you read the post you know that she did receive the denture however not without me noticing or catching on to her sneaky ways.

Well this week the stories of desperation continue, these might be considered more sneaky and clever rather than desperate… however I think they all fall under the umbrella of being desperate.

Yesterday when I arrived at the clinic there was this random lady sitting inside the compound waiting to chat with me. How she got in without an appointment only the guards and God know that but none the less she was sitting there waiting for me.  Once I got things started for the day I attended to  her and her needs. She begged me to give her an appointment at that point and time, verse her getting in the line up and waiting her turn like every one else has to do.   

Now let me give you an update on the dental line situation. The past three Mondays and Thursdays we have had around 225 people form the line hoping and wishing they get the chance to get in. The past 3 weeks after all the appointments have been handed out I have felt like we have not even made a dent in the line. Very frustrating and sad….People are getting the clue that closing time is coming sooner rather than later and they are coming in masses. The line is so huge that yesterday when I handed out the last ticket for the week the lady ran away screaming Halleluiah Halleluiah Halleluiah.  That is just a little insight into the number of people who are showing up at the clinic weekly and what I am dealing with on that matter… now back to the lady.

So or course I explained to her that it was not fair for me to give her an appointment when the people outside had been waiting in line since about 5am or earlier. She was not happy but after several times of explaining my reasoning she left. I thought she had finally understood that she needed to form the line however a few hours later my translator comes to me and tells me there is a lady who has showed up with an appointment card with the wrong date on it and wants to be treated today. When I went to check out the situation I found out that the lady was yours truly….. random lady from earlier.  After several questions she admitted to going to her friend and asking to use her appointment card, hoping we would not know it was not her. HAHA oh my. 

Lets not forget I spent an hr earlier in the day explaining myself to her, how could I forget her lovely face. I said I am sorry but you need to form the line and you also need to get this appointment card back to your friend, because if she misses this appointment she to will have to form the line again.  SERIOUSLY!

Also yesterday when I was pulling into clinic I noticed this sign hanging up outside by the motor bike parking area that said Garde Velo 1oo F.

I thought to myself, you must be kidding me, are the security guards really charging our patients for parking. What don’t they not get about NO MONEY BUSINESS. After the line up and dealing with the rest of the stuff I deal with every day I remembered this sign. So I walked out of the compound to have a look and sure enough the sign said Keep Bikes 100F (about 20 cents), I then explained that they could not charge our patients to park their motor bikes there. The security guards informed me that they were not doing it that it was some man who lived in the area who decided to start a parking garage outside of our FREE clinic. HAHA . So I said he can not do that anymore, we pay good money to the security guards and that would be a job for them not this man who thinks he needs to start a business outside the dental clinic.

I have to give it to these people, they are very resourceful and they try every avenue possible to get what they want or need. It just doesn’t always go over that well with me.  My team keeps telling me I should write a book once I leave here…. I am thinking that I might need to consider this as my next business move. Oh what will I do without Africa?.?