Dear Queenie,
Today I was at a doctor’s office waiting for my turn to see the doctor when a woman came in with a very little boy who just couldn’t sit still, so his mother gave him a bottle full of water to play with and the kid started kicking it around the waiting room like it was a soccer ball and no one, not even the receptionist, tried to stop him.
Well, okay, but what if he had broken the bottle with his kicking and the water spilled all over the place, maybe even splashing on all the other patients waiting their turns?
To make things worse, I then saw the mother giving the same bottle to one of her kids, I think it was the same boy, to drink out of.
Queenie, I didn’t say anything to anyone about all of this, but good heaven, how disgusting can you get?—Impatient patient
Dear Patient,
I am glad you did not say anything, because doing so probably would have caused a scene. However, it is too bad the receptionist did not ask the mother to try to control her son or take him outside to play, or at least give him something else to play with.
And I agree with you that drinking out of the bottle that the child had been kicking around was highly unsanitary, even if none of the water had spilled out.
Hopefully, someone who was also present – if not the mother, maybe even the doctor and/or the receptionist – reads my column and will see this letter, and will remember it and take appropriate measures in case of a future such incident. Hopefully.
