All the personality of a bar code

Bars and spaces parallel

Unique, yet unnamed, and carries

Not even as much individuality as a number.

Tired of repeating the same answers,

I try to go off script.

No luck.

To this operator/ scheduler/ untitled worker I am just another account.

Anonymous.

Unimportant.

Routine.

One of many, all alike.

I am a bar code.

A featureless set of lines, unreadable by the human eye.

Scan me, I may contain information.

Data.

Feelings? Symptoms? Pain? Forget it.

Follow the script, the whole script, and only the script.

Is this any way to provide health care?

If I can get past the operator/ scheduler/ untitled worker I might be a person. Maybe.

Then again, maybe not.