#15 What if..?

Good Day Brewers - Pang here! ☕

As you read through this issue, my plane would have already touched down in Taiwan.

It’s been almost a decade since I last been there and I’m excited to explore the magnificent sceneries and delicacies that this beautiful country has to offer.

While I’m taking a short two weeks break, there will be no issue in the following week.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being one of the 450 subscribers supporting this newsletter.

Estimated reading time: 1,009 words - 4 mins 14 secs

Dressing

Whoosh.

The Vios I was in drove off.

I ushered my dad in, one step at a time.

The moment we stepped in, the sterile scent of disinfectant hit my nostrils. I could hear the constant tapping of fingers on the keyboards.

A young lady was pushing an elderly man in a wheelchair. Behind them was a line of mostly elderly folks queueing to make a registration. The line was so long it might just be longer than the length of an Olympic-sized swimming pool.

I got my dad seated in the row of seats where the patients were waiting for their turn.

Then I turned my back over to face the monstrous queue and thought to myself:

Firstly, we had an appointment letter.

Secondly, my dad was hobbling on crutches.

Thirdly? There was no thirdly.

Except for the fact that you need to let us skip the queue and see the nurse right away!

So I approached one of the staff standing beside the registration counter. She wore a light blue scrub top with short sleeves and matching pants.

I looked at her. She looked back at me. I looked in the direction of my dad. She looked over. I lifted up the appointment letter that was resting in my right palm. She glanced at the letter.

Seems like she read my mind.

“Do we..”

Before I could finish my sentence, she cut me short.

Her mouth opened, “Sir, you can..”

I was hopeful. She was going to let us skip the queue. No way she’s that heartless, right?

“Sir, you can..not skip the queue. The queue is from the outside.”

FUCK!

In that instant, all hopes were crushed.

Needless to say, I headed outside to join the queue. And that’s why I’m stuck here for at least an hour, with 50 elderly people ahead of me, writing this to you.

In this span of time, it got me thinking.

What if my dad came alone?

Isn’t it crazy to get him to join the line to queue for an hour? He just had a knee scope operation and was hobbling on crutches.

I could only imagine.

This lonely guy. With his crutches. As if being lonely wasn’t bad enough. Now he was only moving around with his weight on one lonely leg. But yet, the nurses aren’t even sympathetic towards him. It makes you question why people choose to be in this line of work if they don’t already have a huge heart.

This is absolutely absurd.

So I went to the polyclinic website. Search for the feedback form. And submitted that right away.

Please write your feedback and suggestions here*:

WHERE DA HELL IS THE PRIORITY QUEUE!?

What if.. my dad came alone?

This lonely guy. With his crutches. As if being lonely wasn’t bad enough. Now he was only moving around with his weight on one lonely leg. But yet, the nurses aren’t even sympathetic toward him. It makes you question why people choose to be in this line of business if they don’t already have a huge heart.

This whole story is built upon the “What if” moment where it would have been a total disaster if my dad came alone.

My dad needed help. The nurses don’t care. He’s probably never gonna make it to see the doctor to help him get his dressing changed.

These moments I’ve described helped to magnify the importance of having a priority queue in hospitals and polyclinics.

Are they relatable?

Hell yea!

I’m sure you’ve experienced similar moments where you’d be asking yourself where the priority queue is for urgent situations.

How?

So how exactly did this story come about?

Well, I was pissed at how apathetic the nurses were toward my dad.

I was pissed at how shitty the system was at healthcare facilities.

So to magnify the potential issue of the problem, I asked myself “What if” the worst-case scenario happens?

Perhaps, it isn’t my dad this time. It could be someone else. A lonely guy with no next of kin. Making him join that queue to wait for an hour is simply ridiculous.

These issues need our attention.

And that’s how I used “What if” to expand on the story to make a greater impact.

The Power of “What if..”

There are plenty of situations where you could use “What if” to expand on your story.

The only thing that limits you from using “What if” is your imagination.

In the above example, I used “What if” to help you imagine a worse possible scenario so the story delivers a deeper meaning and impact.

In your own examples, you could use “What if” for the following purposes:

• To change the plot

• To change the setting

• To change the characters involved

• To deliver a surprise ending

• To deliver a humorous or ridiculous ending

Imagine if I replaced the nurse with someone badass who broke the system and offer exceptions to people who desperately needed to skip the queue — Now that would be a heartwarming story.

I’ll see you two weeks from now, hopefully with tons of exciting stories from Taiwan!

Meanwhile, if you’d like to follow me closely on what happened during that trip, be sure to follow me on Twitter.

Cheers!

Your Barista,

Pang

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