A...B...C...

Our society places a lot of emphasis on the importance of reading. It's one of the first fundamental things that you learn in school. Why do we feel reading is so important? Well it's one of the ways we routinely communicate on a daily basis. We read emails from family about a loved one's health updates. We read Facebook status' to see what the girl who sat beside you in grade ten biology...oh wait, algebra...is doing this weekend. We read signs while driving (if driving in Toronto the mass majority say CONSTRUCTION). The method of communication known as READING seems to work in all aspects of our society...except in the Emergency Department. People tend to regress to their pre-kindergarten days when they enter the ER. There are signs everywhere in the ER. Signs that indicate where to sit to be triaged, signs that indicate to remove your coat while you wait for triage, signs that state only one visitor at a time, signs that say STAFF ONLY and signs that tell those waiting that nobody can tell them how long that their wait will be, as the ER is an unpredictable place. Now when I see these signs, I see them in English. Apparently the rest of the world sees them in hieroglyphics or maybe even ancient Gaelic. There is nothing more annoying than spending half your day directing people to follow the signs or answering questions that could very easily have been addressed had the individual just read the sign!!! OK, venting done. I have to go now. There's someone staring at me through the window with their papers for an outpatient cardiac clinic. I guess they didn't read the signs...