By Appointment Only

You know how you can easily walk into a clinic in Malaysia anytime you wish? You don’t have to call in and make an appointment first. You only do that if you are seeing a specialist for a very serious ailment.

Well, it’s a different story here in Australia. Here, you have to make appointments for almost everything. If you want to see doctor, a dentist, a veterinarian, get a hair cut or have your car serviced, always call to fix an appointment first. Otherwise, you may be turned away or have to wait for eons before you get to do what you mean to do.

And an appointment doesn’t always mean that you get to see the person you want to see at the time you’ve booked. It only means you are assured that you’ll get to see him/her. In many cases, you still have to wait for a while.

This is something that many Malaysians can’t get used to. We are so used to the first-come-first-serve exercise. Not surprisingly, each time I bring the kids to see a doctor, I would inevitably overhear people, especially older people from Malaysia or Singapore, complaining that they still have to wait despite making an appointment to see the doctor first.

Well, at least the services provided are usually satisfactory. Otherwise, I think people would have revolted a long time ago!