Why did waiting rooms for doctors have to always be so cold? Even in the middle of winter it seemed the AC was still pumping out cold air. Kara often asked the receptionists to raise the temperature. They always had similar responses.

“Sorry, we don’t have control over the temperature.”

“Many of our guests don’t feel very comfortable in higher temperatures.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t be waiting long.”

Today, the waiting room was pretty full. Kara counted a full dozen people there. Some of them were watching the silent television that played on the back wall. Others read magazines and a few scrolled through their phones. All of them sat in obvious discomfort from the cold. A couple of older women even had knitted blankets that they’d brought wrapped around them.

She shivered and forced her teeth not to chatter. It was bad enough that she often had to wait close to half an hour. She checked the time. It was twenty minutes passed when her appointment was scheduled for and she’d made to sure to arrive fifteen minutes early in the hopes it would help.

Bobbing her knee helped ease her tension a little. Even if the waiting room wasn’t so cold it was never a comfortable thing, waiting to see the doctor. No one wanted to be there. The best thing that could happen was the doctor would tell you that everything was fine, but then it felt like a waste of time. It was the fear of finding something the matter, or of not finding something in time, that drove people to the doctor.

A young mother with a small boy entered the waiting room. They both paused in the entryway, seemingly surprised by how cold it was inside. The woman shook it off but the boy, who was probably five or six years old, immediately began to tug at his mother’s arm as he tried to pull her back out of the waiting room.

“But it’s freezing,” he complained quietly to her when she told him to stop it.

Before she knew what she was doing, Kara had stood up and said loudly, “Is anyone in here comfortable with the temperature?”

She didn’t mean to say it, let alone with such obvious frustration. A few people jumped slightly in their seats when she spoke, shocking them out of whatever they had been doing previously.

“Ma’am,” one of the receptionists spoke up, “please keep your voice down.”

Kara wasn’t the only one who turned their eyes on the man behind the desk.

“It is a bit cold in here,” one of the other waiting people said.

“Well, there’s nothing I can do about that,” the receptionist replied.

“Who can?” Kara asked immediately.

She’d had enough of the situation and any sort of victory would be a welcome one.

The receptionist narrowed his eyes and the muscles around his lips tightened but he didn’t respond.

“Is there someone who’s responsible for the building’s temperature?” Kara asked. “Do we need permission from the doctor? What?”

Again, the receptionist remained silent, this time just turning his attention back to his computer. Kara had too much momentum built up to stop now, however, and she marched over to the desk. There were a couple other receptionists there as well.

“Excuse me, Dana, Chris?” Kara said to the other receptionists, checking their name tags quickly.

Both turned nervously towards her.

“Are you cold?” Kara asked, making sure to keep her voice calm.

The two looked at one another and then back to Kara.

“Yeah,” Dana said while Chris nodded.

“Do you know where the thermostat for this room is?”

Dana and Chris looked at one another again but before they could respond the receptionist who had spoken after Kara’s initial outburst spoke.

“We can’t change the temperature,” he said firmly.

Kara checked his name tag and then addressed him.

“Why not, Shaun?” Kara asked, still trying to keep her voice even.

Shaun still wouldn’t look at her, as though whatever was on his computer screen was more important than anything Kara had to say.

“Because we’re not allowed to,” he said and left it at that.

“It’s snowing outside,” Kara stated flatly at first, but as she continued she couldn’t help but raise her voice slightly, “and you have cold air blowing out of the vents. People are bringing in blankets for crying out loud!”

“Ma’am,” Shaun said in his same dismissive tones, “you’re the only one complaining about the temperature –

“No!” Kara cut him off and then gestured back to the room at large before asking them, “Would any of you like the heat turned up in here?”

Everyone was following the argument closely but most were caught off guard by suddenly finding themselves being dragged into it.

“Just raise your hand if you want the heat turned up,” Kara told them and after a few hesitant hands were lifted everyone else followed. “And what about you two?” she added to Dana and Chris. “You want the heat turned up?”

“Yeah, sure,” they both said.

Kara turned back to Shaun.

“I may be the only one speaking up, but literally everyone here is freezing.”

Shaun gave her the most casual, unconcerned look imaginable, rolling his eyes and smirking before turning back to his computer. Kara felt her blood pressure begin to rise.

“Kara?” a voice called gently from behind her.

She spun, startled, so see a nurse poking her head out of the door leading to the exam rooms, a clipboard in her hand.

“Are you cold?” Kara asked her at once.

The nurse blinked, surprised, and then said, “I guess so?”

“Look,” Kara said, swallowing her anger towards Shaun and walking over to the nurse, “we are all incredibly cold in here. Can we please get the temperature raised?”

The nurse glanced around the room, pausing to linger on the two women wrapped in blankets before looking over to the reception desk.

“Hey Shaun,” the nurse called over, “can you turn up the temp?”

Shaun lifted a thumbs-up into the air without looking away from his monitor.

“This way, please,” the nurse said and gestured for Kara to follow.

“He told us he couldn’t do that,” Kara stated, not yet following the nurse.

“Of course he can,” the nurse replied. “Why wouldn’t he?”

“You tell me,” Kara said and allowed some of her frustration show through.

“Shaun,” the nurse said, this time with a bit more emphasis, “what’s the thermostat sat to?”

Shaun looked reluctantly up from his computer but instead of looking to wherever the thermostat was, he looked at the nurse.

“I’ll get to it,” he said impatiently.

“Right now, Shaun,” the nurse said and it seemed to Kara that a bit of the nurse’s facade of congeniality towards Shaun was slipping and made Kara suspect that Shaun was a sore point for more people than just herself. “What’s it set to?”

Shaun rolled his eyes and shook his head as if everyone else was being unreasonable. Finally, he shifted his gaze to the side and only then did Kara notice that the thermostat was literally right beside him on the wall. He could reach over to it without even shifting in his seat.

“Fifty-eight degrees,” Shaun grunted.

“It’s supposed to be sixty-eight,” the nurse snapped. “Fix it. Now.” She added when Shaun made no move to adjust it.

With obvious delay, Shaun moved his hand to the thermostat and set the temperature.

“I’m sorry about that,” the nurse said, seeming to realize the awkward and unprofessional manner in which the situation had just played out. “Shall we?” she asked and gestured for Kara to follow once again.

She did, but somehow knew Shaun would readjust the temperature at the first available moment. Kara hardly paid any attention while the nurse took her vitals and ran through all the preliminary steps before the doctor would arrive. She was so engrossed in her thoughts and frustrations that it came as a surprise when the doctor waved his hand in front of her face to get her attention.

“Hello in there,” he laughed, “you alright?”

“What? Oh, yes, sorry.”

“Just zoned out?” the doctor asked.

“Well, sort of. Can I ask you something about your receptionist, Shaun?”

The doctor’s expression shifted into a somewhat amused, conspiratorial expression.

“You taking a shine to my son?”

Kara’s stomach knotted up at once.

“He’s your son?” she asked in disbelief.

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell him anything. Doctor patient confidentiality and all.”

The doctor was grinning from ear to ear and Kara doubted he’d keep his mouth shut.

“Your son,” Kara said with cool deliberation, “is a terrible piece of work. Ask any one out there in the waiting room, or your other receptionists, or the nurse who brought me in here, whatever her name is.”

The doctor’s expression slackened and then turned into a frown.

“I think we should just focus on what you’re here for today,” he said coldly.

Kara wanted to say that now she understood where his son learned to behave the way he did, but she bit back the words. Instead, she grabbed her purse, stood up and walked out of the exam room.

“I’ll be changing doctors,” she said without looking back.