Wednesday, February 3, 2010

My Dentist's Waiting Room

Thanks to H1N1 and the Norwalk virus, they no longer have magazines in my dentist's waiting room. Now sure, those magazines were horribly out of date at best, but they were better than nothing. I'd rather risk my health thumbing through a five year old issue of Maclean's or Reader's Digest than engage in idle chit chat with strangers. Thanks a lot horribly infectious viruses, you've gone and turned my dentist's waiting room into the bus.

Rating: 9%

(Image from aiga.org)

16 comments:

Viking Andrew said...

Wow. No magazines? Did they at least have a TV on or something?

Internet Robyn said...

I'm kinda shocked by this. I mean, if they made it a general RULE for ALL waiting rooms, then we would know to bring our own filth to read instead of risking them not having it/having it. If memory serves, they took out the magazines at the dentist, outpatients, and the lab (bloodwork needs distraction). They left it at the doctor's office with appointments and at the DMV.

Also, they took out all the kids toys so they just run around screaming instead of playing and screaming.

Internet Robyn said...

Andrew, they can't go and put TVs in all the waiting rooms. Can you imagine if that was what our tax dollars was being spent on? Maybe that is why the Premier of Nfld went to the US for surgery...TV.

Viking Andrew said...

Did this happen in Canada, or the U.S.? Where does Quammy live, anyway?

Internet Robyn said...

Ask Gay Lord! (Canada)

Viking Andrew said...

I was guessing Canada, since I have no effing clue what Maclean's is, and nobody rides the bus unless they live in a poor, second-world country.

Quammy said...

I do, in fact, live in Canada.

John from Daejeon said...

Guess the iphone, ipod, and Nintendo haven't invaded the Great White North yet. The days of the magazine, walkman, and video are long over. Join the technological revolution and plug yourself in.

I.J. said...

You should know MacLean's. They linked us on their blog one time. They're like Canada's Time.

Internet Robyn said...

Oh, Canadians have iPhone, iPod and Nintendo. However, we are a simple people with good sense and judgement. We are not cyborgs.

I.J. said...

What, are we nation-baiting again?

*snore*

John from Daejeon said...

Hardly, I just find it odd that while toiling away with my fellow rubes up in the Oil Sands, I wouldn’t have survived the brutal temps, tedious hours, and long bus rides between Syncrude (and sometimes Suncor) and Ft. McMurray without bringing my own “technology-based” sources of entertainment, so I don’t understand why city-based folk don’t carry around their own sources of entertainment, especially as it is nano-sized nowadays. Hell, even cell-phones come equipped with mind-numbing games and internet connectivity now that it’s the 21st century.

And if certain segments of the world’s population are really worried about global warming, why aren’t governments putting more funding behind “transporter” technology? It's because it would put a lot of people out of work that’s why (car makers, suppliers, oil companies, gas stations, truck drivers, airlines, shipping lines, post offices, etc.). Same goes with our broken educational system. The technology is now here for “Star Trek”-like pod educational systems with the best and brightest of all teachers providing the input, but then all those other teachers and useless admin people around the world who are phoning it in would be out on the streets. Hard to believe that progress can be a really bad thing if it puts half the world’s population out of work and is the cause of a tremendous loss of tax revenue, but it can be.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

(i was nation bating...)

I.J. said...

Interesting idea re: education, but I distrust centralization, as well as the ability of students, parents, teachers, or administrators to judge who the "best and brightest" are.

I wonder if the current constructivist notion of the classroom-as-ecosystem and the teacher as "facilitating student-centered learning" could be described as a strategy of resistance against exactly what you're talking about. Which would be funny, because the lazy man's "student centered instruction" basically amounts to letting kids play on google and youtube anyway.

DCP said...

I.J., you can find all of the answers to your questions in the class I'm teaching this summer called "Ethical Issues Of Representation On Youtube: The Distinct Presence Of A Geneology Of American Knowledge In The Comment Section." I think it's right after Animal Studies 101.

laurie said...

Gotta admit, I'm with the doctor's office. I never touch the waiting room mags. Instead I read whatever book/magazine is in my bag or the NY Times on my BlackBerry. And I'm with Daejeon John on the transporters. Star Trek promised me transporters and all it gave me was Zachary Quinto. (Although, to be fair, not a bad substitute.)