February 28, 2021: Don't Call Them, They'll Call You -

The Oregon Health Authority gave up on their scheduling system today, for folks hoping to be vaccinated at the big sites. It was the right thing to do, but it was also an admission of defeat, and – at least temporarily – not great news for those who have not scheduled an appointment, or those who thought tomorrow might be their chance to start hitting Refresh every few minutes, as the Cool Kids have been doing for weeks.  

I took the shut-down of the scheduling system as an occasion to drink a glass of wine and mangle some quotes: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we shall not be getting a vaccination appointment!  

Or the famous Longfellow quatrain:      

Let us then (not) be up and doing (early, to hit Refresh repeatedly)

With a heart for any fate,

Not achieving, not pursuing,

Learn to register and to wait! 

(That’s what we are supposed to do. Register, and then wait for them to call us. At random. Over the next few weeks, we hope, with March 21 as the week maybe supply and demand will equalize. Maybe.)

I’ve been pretty crabby about the system failure, I admit. I’ve been doing the whole “You and I could have done this better” grousing thing, texting old friends who have technical savvy. I am not alone in grousing.

I’d let the crabbiness bloom into a high-grade mix of self-pity and outrage by this afternoon, but then the mood-adjustments appeared – a neighbor with worse troubles than mine, friends who cheered me, nihilist friends who said Screw It, Give Up, wise friends who counseled patience, or faith.  The main adjustment, though, was brought on by the folks at OHA themselves.

They sent out a special edition newsletter this afternoon, on the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in the state, and it was a tribute to those who have been lost, and those who are grieving. It reminded me that even folks who bungle a system rollout are good people with real feelings, who are trying hard, and who know this is serious business.

Also, it reminded me that sure, I’d once had ONE glorious project that rolled out without a hitch, but I’d had other projects, too. Maybe I could show some charity towards the people who must be feeling pretty awful, right now, about having to pull the scheduling plug. Or maybe I could work up some compassion for whoever has to take the heat for the new procedure, where They Call Us. That’s going to be a doozy. Maybe I don’t have to pile on, just this one time.  Maybe.