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Sucky receptionist at the doctor's office

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  • Sucky receptionist at the doctor's office

    This was my mum's experience, not mine, but it made me angry just hearing about it.

    My mum needed to see a heart specialist (I'm sure there is a proper term for that, but I don't know what it is), so she rang up and made an appointment. The doctor is very busy and it is hard to get an appointment to see him. The only available time was 8am on a Monday morning. Now my mum normally works all through Sunday night (8pm - 8am), and spends Monday catching up on much-needed sleep (she works very hard - nearly every hospital here is short staffed).

    She told the receptionist this problem, and was given the suggestion of maybe coming in straight after work. My mum said that wouldn't be good for her, she she reluctantly decided to take the night off work in order to go to the appointment. My mum only works 2 nights a week, and since my dad isn't around, she feels the pressure to earn enough money. But she didn't have any other option, the only other available time was 2 months away, and she can't wait that long.

    So she confirmed the time with the receptionist, and wrote it down in both her diary and on the calender. The morning came around for the appointment, and my mum made sure she woke up in time to get there amongst the usual peak-hour traffic (6am).

    She finally got there and said she was there to see the doctor, her appointment was 8am (she arrived a little early.)
    The receptionist looked at her computer and then said to my mum
    "No it's not, your appointment is next week."
    My mum was very surprised of course, and told the girl that she had called the week before and was told her appointment was for THAT morning, at 8am.
    The girl apparently started to sound annoyed. She said "No, it's not. You've obviously written down the wrong date. It's NEXT week." and she went back to answering the phone.

    By this stage my mum was of course a bit mad.
    She had taken a night off work to be there.

    When the receptionist was free again, my mum really let her have it. She said "I spoke to YOU on the phone about this, I even said this day was very inconvenient for me, as I had to work, and you even suggested coming in straight after work, so I most certainly didn't get the date wrong. I wrote it down in 2 different places, and confirmed it with you."

    The girl ignored all of that, and simply told her to come back next week like she was supposed to. She didn't apologise or anything. I felt so bad for my mum, she was so angry about it. She had lost a night of wages for nothing, and now she has to do it all again the next week at the same time!
    I ride the time, it unfolds a new day,
    another time, this world would fade away
    To find true love, is like no other joy,
    our choice is here
    be happy for today

  • #2
    I wonder what the doctor's response to this would be?

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    • #3
      Quoth csdrone
      I wonder what the doctor's response to this would be?
      Probably to back up the receptionist and view the patient as an SC.

      And no, that is NOT to say Cominatcha's mom is an SC. It just is the way I have seen every doctor react when a patient complained about something like this.
      "Ignorance is no excuse for a law."
      .................................................. ..................- Alfred E. Newman

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      • #4
        I had a terrible time with a receptionist who was an absolute b***h to everyone, not just me. She was in her 50s and the doctor was about 30 and I think the doctor was afraid of her.

        Because it's so expensive to live around here, finding someone who can handle the insurance and such and is willing to work for starvation wage can be very difficult.

        Please, she was rude to me because one day I was early. A friend had to drive me to the appointment and it was the only time she could drop me off before she had to go to her own appointment. I was sitting outside the office, because it hadn't opened yet, in a chair provided by the building. WTF?!!! You're angry with me because I got here before you? I didn't complain; I knew I was early; I was waiting patiently.
        Labor boards have info on local laws for free
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        Document everything
        CS proves Dunning-Kruger effect

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        • #5
          I agree the doctor would only have seen Comi's mum as an SC. Let's face it, enough of them do exactly that, and there's no 'proof' either way. She wasn't, but she can't prove it.

          That really does suck Comi. At the very least, the receptionist could have been nicer about it. I wonder if she's had this happen a lot and is sick of people "forgetting" when their appointments are? (Hinting at her being wrong most of the time and wondering why so many people seem to get their appointments wrong on her shift ).

          Oh, and that's a cardiologist. I'm sure there are some specialist sub-fields of that, too.

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          • #6
            My doctor is a sweetie. His office staff . . . what a collection of arrogant *$$holes. Unbelievable.

            My good friend L, who was a coworker at the now-defunct bookstore, worked at this office for a while and finally had to leave. She couldn't stand it any longer. The other women were awful to her, and L is a great worker.

            Last month I had to cancel an appointment at that office on very short notice--something I try really hard not to do. I was able to call about 36 hours before the actual appointment. The receptionist didn't recognize me, and when I tried to explain when my appointment was she snapped at me "We'll take care of it!" and hung up.

            Checked my answering machine two days later, and there's a message from the doctor's office confirming my appointment--the one I thought had been cancelled. I called the office the next day and was threatened with a late-cancellation fee and other nasty talk. I stayed polite and respectful until I got accused of lying to get out of the fee. Then I hung up and went down to the office in person and had a little chat with the office staff about consideration and common courtesy, and just exactly who was lying. The fee was dropped and I got a personal apology from . . . the nurse. I don't know why--it wasn't her fault!
            Last edited by Brighid45; 07-22-2006, 02:24 AM.

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            • #7
              Quoth One-Fang View Post
              I wonder if she's had this happen a lot and is sick of people "forgetting" when their appointments are?
              The doctor I go to is a generalist and his office located right next to a large retirment community. So a lot of his patients are ederly. Every time I sit in the lobby waiting for my appointment, there is always at least one ederly patient who comes in on the wrong date. Sometimes they play innocent, saying "Oh my. Well as long as I am here, can't you see me?" Others are just honest saying "I have to go out of town that day, and I figured I would just come in today."

              9 times out of 10, the doctor will see them. Like I say, he is a generalist and will except walk-ins. However, he takes people in the order of their appointments. If someone has an appointment at 9am, he is taking that person ahead of anyone who got there earlier on a walk-in basis.

              As you can imagine, even though they are pleasant enough to accept the customers anyway, the customer can't quite understand that they can't go ahead on in to the examine room. "I have to wait?!"

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