Content Note

[minoanmiss]

I am going to complain about people on occasion. I do a public facing job and the public is a many splendored thing. But most of the time people won't be wrong, they will just be annoying.

An example: it makes total human sense, upon hearing Dr X is not available till September, to say "are you SURE? There's NOTHING in July or August?!". And it makes total human sense for me to roll my eyes the tenth time that happens in a morning. But I only roll my eyes because they can't see me and I only complain here to help me reassure the tenth such caller just as sweetly as I do the first.

Comments

[acelightning73]

Most human beings want everything to happen for THEIR convenience, not that of the person providing a service. Why isn't the doctor available on the day Jane Patient has off from their job? Is there anybody you can sweet-talk into seeing me immediately? Hey, I need to see a doctor RIGHT NOW!" Most people are impatient toddlers who demand instant gratification and have attention spans measured in milliseconds.

[dissectionist]

Or they’re often just regular people who are facing something medical (a trigger for many people) that frightens them and/or is putting them in pain, and they’re desperate to escape their fear and hurt. Many folks also live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to take time off work for medical visits.

Genuine question: does it make you feel better to think of them as just a bunch of entitled toddlers who can’t think beyond the next thirty seconds, rather than empathizing with their shared humanity? As a medical-field person, I had a physical recoil reaction at the condescension in your comment, but it’s possible you’re just venting?

[colorwheel]

nobody should be rude or obnoxious to minoanmiss or to anyone answering the other end of the phone.

that said, many people calling doctors' offices are desperate, terrified, in great pain, or big things like that. that's zero excuse for rudeness, but it's different from being a toddler or having no attention span.

[minoanmiss]

Heh, this was true of my last job (the stupid kitchen gadget) and you know what's entertaining? People who called customer service at that job were on average far more obnoxious than people I deal with here.

For people I help here I cut them automatic slack because they're dealing with medicine and health, which is scary. And on average, as I said, they've been less obnoxious than the people dealing with the trivial kitchen gadget.

[princessofgeeks]

Any job dealing with the public is hard, hard, hard.

So glad you get to work from home!!!!

[minoanmiss]

omg i am loving work from home so much. I haven't worn a bra all month!

[amaebi]

<3

[dissectionist]

I feel that. It’s so hard not to get frustrated and snap at people, and you’re doing exactly the right thing by expressing your frustration in hidden ways so it doesn’t come out at them. I don’t think there’s anybody who wants to be making an appointment to see their doctor (unless maybe they’re having an affair with their doctor and the visit is actually just a cover to see them).

[dissectionist]

CN: unethical doctor taking advantage of a young adult

I just realized that my last parenthetical sounded out of left field without context. I should clarify that one of my friends did, in fact, have an affair with her doctor. She was barely an adult and he was in his forties, and it was wrong and gross. He ended up later getting his medical license revoked for taking advantage of young patients (plural). But for a couple months early in before he started being aggressive and controlling, she was very excited to see him, and sometimes they’d have “appointments” that weren’t actually appointments. So I know this is a thing that can happen, although I’d think it’s rare. (Hopefully rare, anyway.)

[minoanmiss]

HAHAHAHAHAAHAH I think like a [fanfic] writer so it made TOTAL SENSE to me that you added that caveat.

Also, much less hilariously, while I have never known someone who had an affair with their medical doctor, I have known not a few people involved with People In Power Over Them. Ergh.

[colorwheel]

as a severely ill person, i call a lot of doctors' offices. when i feel that something like "are you SURE? There's NOTHING in July or August?!" is trying to come out of my mouth, i've learned that it's not that i really think the person on the other end of the phone is wrong -- it's that i need a moment. i'm not ready to say "thanks, goodbye" and i'm not even quite ready to move on to scheduling the september appointment. it takes a moment to adjust, especially if i'm in pain or desperate for illness reasons and i'm hoping this doctor can help.

that doesn't mean callers should say that to you! there are other things they can say. i've learned to say things like a very slow "okayyyyy, um, um..." -- not in a rude or sarcastic tone! i use a very "i'm thinking" tone -- and then to maybe ask whether a waiting list exists for cancelations. and then i move on to scheduling the september apt as soon as i can.

it's never your fault. and i'm jewish, so i'm religiously committed to venting. :)

[minoanmiss]

Oh absolutely. I like the way you've phrased a truth I learned long ago. Part of this is getting my annoyed self-protective reaction out of the way so I can remember This Person Has a [Real] Problem (pain, fear, etc) and figure out how best within my power I can help them.

One thing I really like at work is the Nurse Advice Line which for the low price of waiting on hold a bit more supplies same day medical advice from the telephone equivalent of the school nurse. So someone might not be able to see their doctor today about their stomach pain but they can talk to someone medically qualified today about their stomach pain. It's so much better than sending people away "empty handed", as it were.

"religiously committed to venting" BWEE :D

[lunabee34]

That is very good practice.

[petra]

Venting your frustration in ways that don't touch your customers is the epitome of good customer service 101: avoiding burnout.

[rachelkg]

Another thing (which I've already said to MM but I'm putting here anyway): at least some of these patients have previously worked within the doctor-scheduling method where they're scheduled out months in advance for routine stuff but certain number of appointments are held back for urgent matters, such that conveying the nature/urgency of one's need to the scheduler could in fact cause an opening to seemingly materialize. At this practice the different pools of appointments are handled in different departments, but the interaction pattern would take a while to unlearn.

[minoanmiss]

nod Which is why I hope they take my suggestion and put up info for patients about this system.

Also why is it so hot.

[magid]

I deal with emailed requests from students, and there are some responses that are now baked in to type automatically, as it were. Because yes, it's the zillionth time someone has asked me X, but it's the first time for them.