She doesn't want her picture taken

This woman is telling me that the woman on the left doesn't want her picture taken. "Can't you see she doesn't want her picture taken?!" she asks me. "She said she didn't want her picture taken. She doesn't want to be in the newspaper. You better stop that."

The other woman looks at me and rolls her eyes under her sunglasses. She had just told me she had been waiting at the Alachua County Health Department for two hours. She had just heard the woman with the red hair, the department's director or something, tell a reporter that they "do everything they can to make sure each visit is timely and worthwhile." she doesn't want people waiting around the waiting room for hours and hours, she tells the reporter.

When the director leaves, the reporter sits next to the woman on the left and says, loudly, "Hi my name is so-and-so I'm a reporter for so-and-so do you think it's good that the hospital extended its hours?!"

This woman had been crying a few moments before, frustrated by not being able to see a doctor and overhearing the director say they try to treat people in a timely manner. The reporter hadn't noticed her frustration. Of course, the woman said she doesn't want to talk about the hospital because she has nothing good to say. The reporter leaves, slightly annoyed, and finds someone else to talk to.

"I'm sorry I took a photo of you earlier," I said. "I'm going to delete it now."

She tells me she didn't mind so much about the photo, she just wanted to get in and get helped. She started crying again. I said I'd be frustrated myself if I couldn't get in. I knew the hospital was understaffed but she didn't know. I didn't tell her, thinking it would make her feel worse, but I'm sure she assumed it was anyway.

She goes on to say that she doesn't care that the hospital extended its hours if it's still treating its patients like dirt. "Everyone's running around here and no one knows what they're doing," she said.

In a way, I wish the reporter had heard this. But I'm also glad she didn't. Her voice was too loud, her face was too assuming. She didn't match the place or feel anything and it showed.

The reporter tells me her editor is switching her to the police beat next week.