Behaviour in the Doctor's Waiting Room

Don’t most people have problems understanding a GP or anyone else that have accents? It could be an Indian accent or a
Scottish accent or any other, if it’s quite a strong one I know I struggle to hear the words and I’m not deaf!
So if a person hears a GP has a foreign name it isn’t strange to wonder if they’ll understand them.

MayBee70

My son has always found me embarrassing; I remember him once telling me off for talking in a cinema even though the film hadn’t started. I was at the hospital on Monday and got chatting to the lady selling tea and coffee ( I was really relieved to find that they sold drinks in the waiting room as I’d been scared to have a drink before my appointment) about cats; she was telling me about her cat and I was reminiscing about cats I’d had, and it dawned on me afterwards that I had been talking very loudly.

😄
My DD’s didn’t mind me chatting to anyone but curled up in embarrassment if I complained about service in shops or anything like that.

My father-in-law was very embarrassing in public. Too loud and too often commented on race.

Maybe your son was "shushing" you to prevent what he feared might come out next - rather than what you had already said.

Our waiting room is virtually silent. Any conversation is overheard (even if super-quiet).

My mother in her late 80s would pass comments about people at the hairdresser's and in waiting rooms as she was very hard of hearing. Staff were great with her as they said it gave them a chance to practise their customer service skills.

No one talks in our surgery but they have a tv set with inane reality programs on. Sometimes people can be heard checking in with the receptionist and sometimes it seems quite personal, they should be more careful what information they talk about. Every time we go it is $92 for 5 minutes so just cherish your NHS !

My late mother (who was certainly racist at times) often complained that she had trouble understanding 'foreign' doctors because of their accented English though she often gave them credit for their medical treatments.

I sometimes have trouble understanding Glaswegians on TV.

Hopefully

Perhaps he said "Hush, Mother"!

Unkind to tell your mother to 'shut up'

MayBee70

Allira

What was he saying? 😲
😁

He was going to ask them about what they were discussing which would have meant they would have known he was listening to their conversation. They might have been ok about it but on the other hand they might have been really annoyed. He also keep nudging me as if the people that were chatting couldn’t see us .

Oh I see!

My son has always found me embarrassing; I remember him once telling me off for talking in a cinema even though the film hadn’t started. I was at the hospital on Monday and got chatting to the lady selling tea and coffee ( I was really relieved to find that they sold drinks in the waiting room as I’d been scared to have a drink before my appointment) about cats; she was telling me about her cat and I was reminiscing about cats I’d had, and it dawned on me afterwards that I had been talking very loudly.

Allira

What was he saying? 😲
😁

He was going to ask them about what they were discussing which would have meant they would have known he was listening to their conversation. They might have been ok about it but on the other hand they might have been really annoyed. He also keep nudging me as if the people that were chatting couldn’t see us .

In the stark white waiting room lit by striplights we are obliged to watch the screen continuously or miss our appointment.
If you miss your appointment-you get told off by of the dragons in reception.
I've longed to tell them that their skills would be better suited to working in an abattoir perhaps stunning the animal before it's killed or perhaps sharpening knives on their tongues .
Last time,I went we all agreed that we hated the waiting room for the complete lack of warmth or comfort .

I was in the Surgery yesterday. The waiting room was full but no one was chatting. I think people are always anxious when they are waiting to see the Doctor or Dentist. So no one really ‘chats’ and besides my eyes were constantly on the monitor to see if my name was next.

Hi Caleo, it sounds like you have a very well mannered son there. His empathy and good manners ( including social awareness) does you proud.

I have a foreign name, if I had to pick between someone rudely policing speech and someone saying what you did I would rather sit next to you.

“Construed” not “constrained” - flipping predictive text

My son responded by whispering to me to the effect "Shut up!" as if I'd said something rude in company

You don’t say he actually used the words “Shut up!” But “to the effect”
To be fair if you were speaking loudly and making or verging on making a comment which could have been constrained as racist, he was saving you from yourself.

Sadgrandma

lemsip keep your voice down is what he meant!

Saying ‘shut up’ was rather rude though!

Why not ask your son why he did that, was it because you were talking too loudly or because your comment might have been taken as rascist. Say you would rather know to save you from embarrassing him again.

He probably panicked, in case someone heard you.

Could just be your son's horror of you speaking in public. My son used to hate me speaking to people in shops when he was a child, and although he's improved with age (he's 47) I still see him cringing if I start a conversation with anyone. I once met a nun at a garden centre. I knew her from a cancer support group and naturally went over to ask how she was. Oh the horror! "Why did you talk to that NUN?" he hissed. Apparently "Because I know her" wasn't good enough.

Caleo

I mean, are there unwritten rules about not chatting in the doctor's waiting room?

The unwritten rule is probably something like

"Avoid saying anything rude and tactless in a loud voice everyone can hear."

I usually take my Kindle, after an experience many years ago when the doctors were running late with appointments and a woman sitting near me gave me her life story 😬🥱

Caleo

Allira

Were you anxious, Caleo?

Sometimes we talk at inappropriate times when we're anxious.

Yes, Allira, I was. Thanks for your understanding. And when I am anxious I over-think . My son is more intuitive than I , which is why he knew intuitively to not chat.

I'm a queue chatterer - you can meet your new best friend in a queue!

However, perhaps in the surgery, everyone is wrapped up in their own anxieties.

Poppyred

Maybe he was worried in case someone called you out as racist for commenting that the doc had a foreign name.

We are all walking on egg shells in our own country……..

Yup, that would be it I expect.

Caleo

Yes Lemsip, but why? That is what interests me. Sociologically.

We've all been there - as children embarrassed by Mum in shop
' Woolies do a better one than this for half the price' or loud words to that effect.
And gone on to embarrass our own children by doing just the same.
I think its the same thing - OK to say it once you're outside, but not while you're actually at the doctor's premises, especially as it's hard to judge how loud you're speaking when you're deaf.