The following was extracted from Charlene D Jordan’s Facebook page. A riveting account of an encounter by a Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic student at the Six Roads Polyclinic.
A pleasant Good Afternoon to one and all. I just thought i’d share this incident with my fb Family. So about 20 minutes ago, I went to Six Roads, St.Philip’s Clinic. My reason for going there was to get an immunization for my medical certificate for the school I attend- SJPP. When I arrived at the clinic I went straight to the immunization waiting area. I saw a sign on the door saying, “Please knock & Wait Patiently” , I did exactly what it said.
Suddenly I heard a reply from A Lady, she said “YESS’!! I Replied: Good Afternoon, She said: COME IN. I opened the door and calmly explained to her what I came for, which I said I need an immunization for the school I attend. NOTE: I was wearing my school uniform plus my School’s ID card. She said : “Wa school is dis now”? I said: SJPP. She said: “Wa dem want you get immunization for now”!!! I said: for my medical form.
She stupsed and said: We don’t go no immunization here for adults !!! In my mind I said WHAT!!?? Am I at a clinic.. Anyways. I say ok I received a vaccine already from my doctor so I need another one and my doctor assigned me here. She replied and said: Whos you doctor!!!?? why she send you hay??!! she couldn’t do it sheself?! I calmly said, well she sent me here because her charge for that particular vaccine was too high for me as a student and she doesn’t want to put that on me. This lady looked at me and rolled her eyes and say: Yuh think yuh gin get it here free??!! I was STUNNED,i said nothing. She said: We aint got none though, ga long down at Collins. I said pordon me? She said: Ga ta Collins Ltd. I said ok Thanks and walked along. I informed my Mother of what was going on and she made a call to my Doctor and my doctor said, she sent more than one person there for immunizations and they got through, she also told me to ask for a Nurse she wanted me to go to. As I walked back to the same lady, she was walking towards me. I said: Excuse me madam, is there a Nurse ____Here? She replied: Whos da now stupse!!,while walking away from me. I stood there in a faze and just starred. When she came back she said to me Nurse____ is no longer here. I said ok. My doctor had assign me to her and she said they were given out. Before i could finish my sentence, the lady looked at me dirty and walked away and said: ” Look I don’t know wa u talking bout I cant deal wid you” went back in the room and closed the door …This is when the heartless service I was receiving touched my tear glands. This LITERALLY made tears come from my eyes. I couldn’t not believe this is how I was being treated for no apparent reason.
It wasn’t a case where I was unmannerly, rude, disrespectful, nor was it my appearance, i was well dressed in my uniform and hair wasn’t flying like a madman,so it couldn’t have been a case where she was judging me. Was it the school I attended that made her treat me like this? Was it that i’m not under the age of 18? Was it that i’m a girl?? I am really concerned about what really made this lady treat me this way. Why are Barbadian citizens so cruel to their one another? Is this a main reason why Barbados is facing so many challenges? Firstly you cannot solve massive issues by having BAD communication skills and not giving a damn about how you make others feel. I really wonder if some of these bad attitudes run tourist and cause us not to get much foreign exchange. Imagine the treatment a non-citizen receives from Barbadian Government workers. I really need to write an article about this experience.
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