The Viagra calls, the Cialis calls, starting Fridays, right after lunch. Usually, they were looking for samples, and although there was sometimes a bit of salt, most were polite if we couldn't accommodate them. One, however, called looking for an actual prescription. How refreshing! I get his name and birthdate to pull him up on the computer so that I can send a request to his provider. Lo and behold! He's nowhere to be found. I ask which provider he usually sees, and he tells me that he used to see Dr. X, who retired a few months ago. Dr X gave him Viagra for years, he says, but he's out, and doesn't have any refills.
I'm sorry, I tell him. The providers can't just write a prescription for a patient they've never seen before and for whom they have no records (dude is in his 70's. Viagra is probably not the only thing he needs a script for.) If you'd like to establish with one of them, we have an NP and a physician who are currently taking new patients. I can set you up with an appointment.
He hems and haws, but finally agrees. Bear in mind, this is a Friday afternoon, probably around 2 - 2:30. The office closes at 5. I check the computer, and find an available appointment on the following Thursday. (He's actually pretty lucky, because a new patient visit requires a longer block of time, and it can sometimes be a wait of a few weeks or a month before we can book one.) I offer him the appointment and he goes through the roof. "I can't get one today? This is an emergency!" There follows a five minute (I timed him) diatribe about the state of health care in America, especially as it relates to his personal life and convenience, my rudeness and stupidity because I won't comply with his request and give him a prescription (sorry, sir, I have the wrong initials after my name) or badger one of the providers into doing it (sorry, sir, they need to see you first), and how we're all just about money. Then he ends with "There's going to be a lot of disappointed ladies out there because of you! I hope you're happy!"
I still don't know if he had delusions of grandeur, or if he was the guy who was responsible for the chlamydia outbreak at the retirement village.