Had to have a blood test the other day when I was at work.
Popped down to the lab in my scrubs, grabbed a card from the reception desk and scanned it as per the instructions, and sat down to wait my turn. Shortly afterwards, a frail little old lady turned up. She looked around confusedly for a moment, and then wandered into one of the blood taking rooms. She reappeared shortly afterwards, escorted by a slightly cross phlebotomist, and was given a card. She then went and sat down. I could see what was going to happen – she’d be waiting there for ages, wondering why everyone else was being called ahead of her – because she hadn’t scanned her card. Figuring a little altruism wouldn’t cost me anything, I went over to her and showed her how to scan her card, and then went back to my seat.
Five minutes later, another person arrived, and discovered there were no cards left in the tray. The little old lady then looked at me accusingly across the room and said “there aren’t any cards left!” with the implication that she didn’t understand why I was sitting there playing on my phone when there was work to be done, and what sort of Mickey Mouse operation was I running anyway? Luckily another phlebotomist arrived just then, investigating the kerfuffle, and went to get some more cards when she saw what the problem was. “She’s just going to get some more cards” I said lamely.
Before she returned, my number was called, and I fled with the eyes of the entire waiting room on me. I could sense the tssking. I was very grateful to be stuck with a needle away from public view. I guess the moral is, no good deed goes unpunished.