I Was Held Prisoner at the Doctor's Office Today!

One of my worst nightmares is to drive in early morning rush hour traffic, in the rain, and without being able to see the cars beside me. In my nightmares, I either arrive late and miss my appointment, or I arrive on time only to find out I've got the date wrong. Then I have to come back again the next day, only this time I can't find the highway exit, or I've gone to the wrong office, and miss my appointment, so I have to come back yet again the next day. Kind of like Groundhog Day II, The Panic Attack Drive. So I don't make early appointments. I'll take a 3:45 appointment on Friday afternoon or the day before a holiday before making an appointment before 10 a.m.

But for some reason last month, I made an early appointment for today. I probably thought Hubby would drive me so didn't worry about driving in traffic, and he offered this morning, but my eyes weren't going to be dilated so I decided to be a grownup and drive myself so Hubby could go to work. I left an hour and forty-five minutes early, which should have given me plenty of time to search for a parking space and visit the restroom before my appointment. But it didn't work out that way.

The rain slowed traffic to a crawl in places, the spray from big trucks made it impossible to see, and there were a couple of accidents too. I pulled into a parking space at exactly two minutes before my appointment time. After drinking a glass of tea before leaving the house and white knuckle driving for almost two hours, I wanted to stop by the restroom before checking in but thoughts of Groundhog Day II flitted across my mind and I headed for the office instead. I don't believe in psychic dreams, but why risk it? As it turned out, it was probably the best decision I've made in awhile. Instead, sat in the waiting room for another thirty minutes before I was called back. Every time I started to get up and tell the clerk I would be right back, the door opened and a patient's name called. There were only two people in the waiting room when I got there; I had to be next, right? So I waited. And waited. Then crossed my legs and waited some more.

After my appointment, which was mercifully short, I found the restroom before getting on the elevator. It was one of those spacious, single occupant restrooms and on the end of the hall with private entrances to offices so not much demand for the restroom. Once inside and busy with the task at hand, I heard someone jiggling the door handle. I fervently prayed that I had remembered to lock the door, because I was too far away to stop anyone from opening it. The jiggling noise stopped, I breathed a sigh of relief and then a sigh of real relief. After I washed my hands and retrieved my purse from the hook on the door, I reached down to flip open the lock, and it wouldn't turn. No matter had hard I pushed and pulled on it, the button wouldn't budge. I looked around and there was no emergency phone number stuck to the wall anywhere, and no room to slide a screwdriver under the door even if I could call building maintenance.

So I did the next best thing; I called the doctor's office. I spoke to the lady who made my next appointment and told her I was locked in the restroom. She didn't know who to call, so she put me on hold. The minutes ticked by and she never came back to the phone, so I started working on the lock button and door handle again, pushing the handle as far as I could one way and trying the lock, and then pushing it the other way and trying again. Finally, I just started shaking the door by the handle as hard as I could. Then I heard a voice. A man's voice, timidly asking if I was okay. I stopped shaking the door and told him I was locked in. I could hear the door handle clicking as he jiggled it back and forth and he told me to turn the lock button as he moved the handle on his side, and CLICK, the door unlocked. I was so happy I could have hugged him, but I didn't want to seem deranged as well as weak or worse, stupid. I mean, who doesn't know how to unlock a door?

I recognized the man from the waiting room in my doctor's office. He was with a woman who was loudly complaining about everything from the uncomfortable chairs to the forms she was filling out. I hoped they wouldn't sit anywhere near me so I could read in peace, and then mentally grimaced when they sat right across from me. But I was very happy to see him after he freed me from the restroom. Embarrassed, but happy.

I've been locked out before, but never locked in. I don't know what made the lock jam, unless it was caused by someone jiggling the handle from the other side while it was locked. I wonder if I was the first to be locked in there? I wonder what the fear of being locked into a bathroom is called? Cleithrophobia? Or paruresis? Whatever it is, I think I have it now.