I went to the doctor today about a sore throat; he took a quick look down my throat, made me go aah, asked me where it hurt, and recommended that I just wait for it to get better.
Which is both reassuring — I’m glad he didn’t take one look down my throat and gasp in horror Oh my God, what is that thing? — and curiously disappointing. Because, you know, you want your doctor to do some doctoring.
He obviously understood this, because he offered to write me a prescription for antibiotics if I really wanted, while making it very clear that he didn’t think I should use it.
Ridiculous though it is, I almost would have been happier to be given some pills which I knew were a placebo and told to take them three times a day.