The appointment was in a modern looking complex composed of three buildings. Each building was covered in glass mirrors. In the middle of the complex, there was a plaza with a fountain.
No one was around when he arrived. He expected to see someone like a security guard or something walking around. When he reached building C, he saw someone walk out who briefly looked at him and then kept walking. Identifying building C was easier than expected since there was a gigantic “C” painted next to the door.
He opened the door and walked inside. Still no security guard or anyone. The first thing he noticed was the bathroom and then saw that the office was right down the hall. He had worried earlier about the bathroom situation, so it was a relief that he could use it right away before checking in, which he did.
The urinal still had urine in it. For a second, he wondered if this was indicative of anything. After washing his hands, he found there were paper towels instead of an air drier. Not very environmentally responsible, he thought.
He was early. Not quite embarrassingly early but definitely still early. He considered going back outside and walking around to kill some time, but what if he got lost and then ended up being late? Imagine being so early that you end up being late. And, what if they or someone else was watching him on cameras? You can’t go back outside once you’ve been in until it’s over. Everyone knows that, he just decided. Was he being paranoid now? Yep.
There were two doors to the office. There was a black one with a key card reader that said “employees only” and a glass door. You could not see through the glass door nor could you see your reflection.
He opened the glass door. The bleakness was striking. It was not the kind of room you find yourself in if things are going well. A receptionist sat behind a sliding glass window. She slid open the window and looked at him through round glasses but did not say anything.
“I have an appointment for 11:00,” he said.
“Do you have paperwork on you?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said and unzipped his backpack and handed her three forms.
“I’ll need an ID.”
He handed her his driver’s license, which she began to scan. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. He wasn’t sure how he felt about this. Normally, receptionists dress up a little more, he thought. He wasn’t dressed up though. So why should she be? In fact, it actually made sense. This wasn’t the kind of place that needed to impress anyone. No one chooses to come here. They are required.
“I’ll need you to sign just there at the bottom,” she said, placing another form on the counter. He read what it said. It was not new information. There was no doctor-patient relationship being established here. The visit was only to help the insurance company decide if his injury was worth paying for. He signed.
“You’re all set. You can have a seat and wait.”
“Thank you.”
The waiting room was to the left of the receptionist’s window. There were black chairs against the walls. In one corner there were many chairs stacked one on top of the other as if the area had been assembled in haste.
He picked a chair and sat down. On the wall in front of him were individual letters on clipboards that spelled out “Calm is a superpower.” He stared at the message. To the left was what he assumed was the door someone would come out of and say his name. A piece of paper on it read “No recording in the exam room. Please use the bathroom BEFORE the exam. There is no bathroom in the examination area.” The door went all the way to the ceiling, and there didn’t seem to be any space between it and the floor.
The rest of the walls were bare except for a painting behind him, which he did not look at closely. He stared back at the message. Why would they feel the need to remind everyone to stay calm? What were they going to do? Any level of calm he previously had was now gone.
A few minutes later a woman, maybe in her thirties, walked in the glass door he came in earlier. She seemed slightly nervous but still put together. She handed the receptionist her forms right away. When the receptionist gave her the paper to sign, she did not seem to read it. She just said “Yes, ma’am” and then signed.
The woman sat down in a chair to his left near the door with the paper on it. He looked straight ahead and then toward where the receptionist sat. He felt the woman glance at him a few times. Maybe she wondered why he was there just like he was wondering why she was there. They made eye contact then both looked away. He stared back at the message in front of him and then looked at his hands.
Soon after, the door with the paper on it opened and the receptionist walked through it and called his name. He hadn’t noticed that she wasn’t in the window on the other side of the room anymore. He stood up and followed her through the doorway.