To The Editor,
Sometimes, things are so sad it almost becomes funny. Almost. The expression ‘Perfect Storm’ comes to mind and I am sure I will think of others when I ponder past SNAFUs I have heard of in the past. Bear in mind that the events I am about to recount I experienced with my loving wife, for whom I had jumped through hoops to get my own booster shot, no sense making her go through the same circus independently and living hrough the patience the experience of getting a vaccine involves.
A few months ago, I heard booster shots were required, so I dutifully logged onto the provincial portal, and after a few bumps and grinds, I finally was able to book some appointments for today (January 11, 2022) at the arena in Hawkesbury.
So this morning, it’s -24 C, the car won’t start. I ask my neighbor if I can borrow his; it doesn’t start either. Finally, I ask my parents in our in-law suite and lo and behold, under the Tempo, theirs starts. So we rush to the arena, only to be greeted by a security agent who tells us that all the appointments are cancelled due to a power outage in Hawkesbury.
Returning home, I check a few sources to figure out what to do – like the EOHU website – and end up leaving a message on their answering machine.
Seems it would be likely I would be told to rebook. After all, there is a computer system set up to handle reservations that has been up long enough that you would figure the glitches have been worked out, and likely I will end up being told to do that anyway, along with all the other people who had their appointments cancelled.
So I go ahead, and lo and behold after a surprisingly short wait, I am able to choose another slot. By now I know from contacts in Hawkesbury that the power has been restored, so I am not totally surprised that the system tells me that I can have a slot in about 30 minutes from now. I book it. I also book one for my wife, which is 15 minutes later.
Then I get three emails. One from EOHU telling me sorry, we had to cancel the appointments due to the power fail. Then one saying congrats, your new appointment is in 30 minutes, and the last saying my previous appointment (presumably this morning’s one) has been cancelled (presumably) because I booked and got a new one.
We jump in the car, drive there, only to be ‘greeted’ again by the grunt who tells us we have to call a phone number and speak with someone to rebook, that our second appointment can’t be honoured, since there is nobody in the arena now doing vaccines. My temper starts to rise. What kind of nonsense is this? Either this guy is misinformed, or God-forbid the reservation system (the ones controlling it, rather) made a mistake and let it book appointments for clients, even though the center is closed. By now I am well and truly pissed – tempers flare, voices are raised. I drive off, leaving the wife there, who prefers to chat with the confused security agent rather than getting in the car with me, since there is nothing to be gained by staying another second here.
So now I’m home typing this, expecting a call from the EOHU, remembering the signs I now see in a lot of places telling us to be nice to the staff, as no anger will be tolerated. Happy I can vent here, and hopefully save others from the issue, or making someone smile, or God forbid — getting an apology from some government representative and hearing about some measure that will be taken so that in the future the reservation system doesn’t give out appointments with no one to provide the service.
Jacques Riopel, L’Orignal
