Hawaiian Time

 There is an expression here - Hawaiian time - used to explain a number of experiences. The expression is used to describe a relaxed attitude toward time as in "when I said 2, I really meant maybe 2, but probably two-ish. It never means ten minutes before 2 as in I will be certain not to be late.

You experience this often in restaurants. Maybe because of the short-staff situation that seems to exist everywhere. You stand in line even though there are multiple open tables. You wait to be seated and often for someone to bring you a menu and take your order. The positive side of the experience is no one seems to want to speed you up to leave except maybe those in line glaring at your empty plates.

I have been dealing with Hawaiian time and the medical system. You may remember I explained my weird brain issue and the visit to the emergency room and MRI. Emergency room docs are not neurologists and I was requested to set up a televisit to seek further advice and discussion. A televisit was necessary because there are evidently no appropriate specialists on Kauai and this was the only way other than a flight to Oahu to seek advice. It took a while to get an appointment, but yesterday was the day.

I was waiting by my phone and laptop waiting for the link to connect. The designated time came and went. I waited twenty minutes or so and then called to see if I had done something wrote or maybe got the time for the appointment wrong. No, I had the time right, but they could not locate the doc. 

It is now a day later and still nothing. After the delay and the lack of any other symptoms at any time, I am not concerned and could have done without the appointment. I am not usually critical of physicians because they have to deal with a lot. Same here. However, it does seem weird there is such a casual attitude toward patients with expectations who are waiting and have made commitments on their end. It should have been obvious to someone that commitments could not be met for whatever reason and those individuals expecting something to be contacted. They just don't seem able to adopt this perspective. I guess it is another example of Hawaiian time.