I can see I'm in a minority of one here!
My calculations for the loss of other people's time - as pointed out - are
an exaggeration (although not as great a one as you say Corte! The added
delay applies to EACH person who would have been treated ahead of the bumped
colleague, so I can count multiples of the time lost).
The 'no-one else cares about us' line is not morally justifiable. Either
something is ok to do or it is not. Stealing someone else's time by jumping
queues is the professional version of some ned taking your car stereo.
Does anyone say openly to the other patients in the waiting room "This
person is a fellow professional, so I'm going to see them ahead of you if
that's ok"?
(Privacy and access are another matter - I see practice staff at the end of
surgery after the other patients have gone, and it may be detrimental to the
overall service to ask staff to be seen during the normal hours).
I can hear myself sounding like a real prig re-reading this (and I
appreciate reality and ideals are two different things!) but I think it is
important for us to consider whether something is truly morally justifed, or
it's just something we justify to ourselves because we are on the right side
of the fence.
Robbie Coull
email: [log in to unmask] website: http://www.coull.net
|