Yup.Date: 5/12/2010 7:56:29 PM
Author: Porridge
Yup, I have to say I do. Patients deal with receptionists a lot - calling for prescriptions, certs, sensitive issues. So I think politeness, at the very least, is vital.
Also, on the flip side, I can''t stand people who are rude to receptionists and then turn around and are sweet as anything to the boss
Hah! I was a receptionist for an attorney's office for a year, and I totally thought of myself as a gatekeeper. It was especially fascinating since I was the managing attorney's daughter and no one had any idea of that fact. So sometimes they'd come in, be total jack@$$es to me and then sweet as pie to my dad. Once one of said jack_ _ _es happened to find out that my last name was on the door too, and suddenly I was his best friend.
Date: 5/12/2010 7:56:29 PM
Author: Porridge
Yup, I have to say I do. Patients deal with receptionists a lot - calling for prescriptions, certs, sensitive issues. So I think politeness, at the very least, is vital.
Also, on the flip side, I can''t stand people who are rude to receptionists and then turn around and are sweet as anything to the boss
Ohhhh, that drives me NUTS!!! I work at a law firm, and the clients have what we call "levels of rudeness." When they talk to the receptionist, they''re usually displaying Rudeness Level 1, which is no-holds-barred, all-out rudeness. When they talk to a paralegal (i.e., me), they''re usually at Rudeness Level 2, which is somewhat nicer than Level 1, but still rather rude. When they talk to an attorney (IF we let them get that far . . . HA!), they''re usually at Rudeness Level 3, which is the least amount of rudeness. This is a running joke in our office . . . if our receptionist talks to someone who is only Level 2 or 3 rude, she''s thrilled!Date: 5/13/2010 4:30:06 AM
Author: bee*
Date: 5/12/2010 7:56:29 PM
Author: Porridge
Yup, I have to say I do. Patients deal with receptionists a lot - calling for prescriptions, certs, sensitive issues. So I think politeness, at the very least, is vital.
Also, on the flip side, I can''t stand people who are rude to receptionists and then turn around and are sweet as anything to the boss
I agree on both counts. I think that politeness is very important in a receptionist.
And it drives me mad when I see people rude to our receptionists in work and then fall all over the vets.
I worked in one school for 11 years. I was right out of grad school, a young thing with no experience. My parents have always drilled into my head that paraprofessionals, support staff, janitorial staff in any institution are often treated poorly and that I was to always understand and appreciate how hard peple in these positions work and how much they keep a business or a school running.
One of the school secretaries was beyond rude. She wasn't a receptionist, per se, but she was the who parents, teachers, and students all dealt with. She was the gateway to the principal and the gateway to everything else: supplies, requisitions...she knew where it all was, how to get it all done. She was older and had been doing this forever. I had been warned she was a real passive aggressive, horrible person when I first started. The principal even said when I was hired, "A lot of people have problems with her. She has no people skills. But boy! Does she do a great job with everything else."
For my first few months, she was pleasant to me and I back. One day, a parent came in the office and asked for someone in charge who could help them. I pointed them to the secretary. She SCREAMED at me, in front of the parent and in front of several other people in the office, "I AM NOT THE BOSS!" I was mortified. I apologized immediately. She told me to "Be quiet" and helped the parent, who was also embarrassed at this point. I tried immediately to apologize again, figuring I had really insulted her or maybe she thought I was making fun of her. She walked away from me. I waited a day and tried to apologize again, this time privately. She walked away from me as soon as I said, "I would like to apologize for..."
For the next 6 years until she retired, she never spoke with me again. She ignored me if I asked her for something. The other secretaries would take pity on me and try to help without stepping into this secretary's circle of responsibility. I was supply-less. I started asking other teachers to ask for things for me. She told them to tell me to ask for myself. I did and when I approached her desk, she acted like she couldn't hear me or she would get up and walk away.
I was terrified to the point of buying my own supplies.
I was not the only person on staff who received this treatment. There were about 6 or 7 of us.
Parents complained about her. Students complained about her. The other secretaries complained...the principal kept wringing his hands saying, "She's a few years from retirement and she's soooo good at everything else....she's like a machine at her job."
So it went on. The day the principal retired, he went up to her at her desk and started to say goodbye. She pretended she couldn't hear him. He kept trying to talk with her, and she stood up and walked away. (NOT sad he was leaving, apparently she'd hated him for years.) Then and only then was he offended.
YIKES Jas! What a crazy woman!
Fiery- I would mention something to the doctor, since this woman works for them. It’s totally unprofessional for her to treat you this way. In the professional world, the customer (or in your case, patient) always comes first. She is in a customer-service position, essentially, and yet she’s lacking the basic skills necessary to effectively do her job. Maybe the doctor is too busy during the day to notice, or maybe the rest of the patients are too nervous to say something.
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They are truly wonderful and the calmest people I''ve ever met. 