Waiting and waiting

Yesterday I took Brandon for another follow-up for his ankle surgery. His appointment was 3:30 and the waiting room was crowded. I knew we were in for a wait. I don't mind waiting, that's not much of an issue for me. What bothers me is when other people come in AFTER us and are taken BEFORE us. Now I know you may think, "well maybe they are seeing another doctor". No, in this practice, the nurse will yell, "Brandon for Dr. Z". So all those waiting know who the patient is seeing - it's like the staff wants to create turmoil. After TWO HOURS we are taken into the room. Fifteen minutes after that the doctor comes in. He's very apologetic and I'm feeling better. There's nothing worse than waiting and waiting and then not getting an apology or acknowledgment. After we spent our 5 minutes in the room with the doctor, we then had to go to the "check-out station". More waiting. Two people are before us, then a woman comes, then a mother and son (Tyler), then a mother and daughter (Ashley). The only girl working at check-out calls, in order, the two people that were before us. Great, I thought, just the way it should be. Then lo and behold, she calls "Tyler". W-H-A-T??? The other woman who was there right after me gives me a look. We let it go. Tyler is finished, then the girl calls "Ashley". Wait a minute - their files were CLEARLY put right in front of ours and taken first. The other woman waiting with us finally said something after Ashley leaves. The girl at the desk, surprisingly, seems dumbfounded at our frustration. Our two files were put in the back of the rack, and everyone else's was put in front of ours and they were taken first and on their way home already, while we were still waiting to check-out. The girl at the desk calls "Susan" and we look at each other... seriously. Brandon and I were there before her and she graciously allowed us to be taken before her. Now the girl at the desk is mad at US for being upset and "rude". If there's one thing I always try NOT to be, is rude. I work in an office and I know what it's like to be yelled at. I simply tried to explain to the girl that we had waiting for 2 1/2 hours in the waiting room and saw people be called before us, and now I was frustrated because is was happening again. She told me that she didn't like my "tone". If I told her once, I told her 3x that I was not upset with her, I was upset with the system. Now the nurse comes in who put the other people's files ahead of ours and asks what was happening. I told her that "someone" had placed the files out of order (I felt like yelling at her "YOU IDIOT") and we were frustarted with waiting when we were there first. She said she knew nothing about it. O-M-G !!!!!!! I understand that they were busy, and must have been stressed out also, and I explained that, but they just could not understand why I was frustrated.

Needless to say I left there feeling exhausted. What made matters worse is that my 16 year old son, who had been fine the entire time, spent the whole ride home being upset with me for "embarrassing" him. I felt beaten. I know these are issues that happen every day, and I know his reaction was normal for a 16 year old, but who do I vent to?????? In a normal situation I could come home to my spouse and talk to another relatively intelligent adult. I could get it out of my system and move forward. Instead, I got even more emotional at the reality that I am in this on my own.