packrat
Super_Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2008
- Messages
- 10,614
How do you handle crabby/bitchy/rude/belligerent people in your job? I work as a secretary in a Dr's office. I don't know that I've ever worked a day there in the 7 1/2 years I've been in the office w/out being snarked at by at least one patient. Sometimes they swear at us, they yell, pound the counter, point fingers right into our faces etc.
Yesterday a patient just sat there and shouted "This is BULLSHIT" over and over when I asked him to fill out a paper of information we are now required by the government to have in our system. I tried to explain I have no control over it-dude honestly, do I ENJOY getting yelled at 50 times a day for having to spend all of 4 minutes filling out a form? Last week I was yelled at b/c the form asks for a signature stating they've been offered the HIPAA policy to read and she hadn't been offered it. I offered it-and she yelled at me again and refused to sign, threw the pen at me and stomped off. Luckily after that many years I've honed my catlike reflexes.
We encourage the patients to call and see how Dr. is running-she also does OB so if she has a patient in labor, she has to leave at any given time for delivery, she's on the trauma team and may have to leave, and also has to cover the ER some days. Also, if our patients show up at the ER w/a non emergency problem, we have to see them in the office immediately-which also obviously puts us behind in schedule.
This is a conversation I had yesterday:
"This is so and so, I have an appointment at 11:40 and am checking to see what time I should come"
"Oh, ok, sure let me look quick-"
"EXCUSE ME! EX-CUSE ME I SAID!"
"um..what was that?"
"I WAS *NOT* DONE SPEAKING TO YOU!"
"Uh..ok..."
"What time do I need to come?"
"I was trying to-"
"EX-CUSE ME IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO *SHUT UP* SO I CAN FINISH TALKING?"
"Uhh..what????"
"SHUSH! I have to take my glucose test today and I want to know when I need to COME!"
"Uh, yeah, what I was trying to say is if you want to come now, by the time you're done w/your test she'll be ready to see--"
"HELLO?! Shut up! You keep TALKING and I'm trying to find out what time to COME b/c I'm not sitting there for THREE HOURS AGAIN THAT'S JUST COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS, you always say to call and now I want to know when to BE THERE!"
"so..yeah, anyway, she's running about an hour behind, but if you come now-"
"WHY is this SO HARD?? I'm telling you RIGHT NOW I'm NOT sitting there for an HOUR waiting to be seen!"
"You have to wait an hour after drinking the solution-"
"That's NOT what I'm saying!"
"If you would LISTEN, what I'm trying to say is, she's running an hour behind, if you come NOW and drink your solution, by the time the hour is up she'll be ready to SEE YOU"
And then she told me I "*better* be right" and I just hung up. I was so irate when I got off the phone when I tried to talk spit was flying everywhere and I was just shaking like a leaf.
We tell Dr. when patients behave that way, and she listens, but that's about the extent of it. They're not like that to HER of course, she's the Dr, we're just lowly front office staff.
So what do you do in these situations? I don't feel I should have to accept being treated this way just as a regular course of my job duties/descriptions. Do you hang up the phone? Walk away from the patient screeching and waving their arms in the waiting room? Smile and turn your attention back to your computer work when the patient is standing at the counter yelling?
My very first job, I worked in the laundry at a packing house. I was treated BETTER by those workers than I am by the patients! Of course, in that job, if someone wanted to be rude, I was able to give them a big Missi smile and say "Go **** yourself"
Yesterday a patient just sat there and shouted "This is BULLSHIT" over and over when I asked him to fill out a paper of information we are now required by the government to have in our system. I tried to explain I have no control over it-dude honestly, do I ENJOY getting yelled at 50 times a day for having to spend all of 4 minutes filling out a form? Last week I was yelled at b/c the form asks for a signature stating they've been offered the HIPAA policy to read and she hadn't been offered it. I offered it-and she yelled at me again and refused to sign, threw the pen at me and stomped off. Luckily after that many years I've honed my catlike reflexes.
We encourage the patients to call and see how Dr. is running-she also does OB so if she has a patient in labor, she has to leave at any given time for delivery, she's on the trauma team and may have to leave, and also has to cover the ER some days. Also, if our patients show up at the ER w/a non emergency problem, we have to see them in the office immediately-which also obviously puts us behind in schedule.
This is a conversation I had yesterday:
"This is so and so, I have an appointment at 11:40 and am checking to see what time I should come"
"Oh, ok, sure let me look quick-"
"EXCUSE ME! EX-CUSE ME I SAID!"
"um..what was that?"
"I WAS *NOT* DONE SPEAKING TO YOU!"
"Uh..ok..."
"What time do I need to come?"
"I was trying to-"
"EX-CUSE ME IS IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO *SHUT UP* SO I CAN FINISH TALKING?"
"Uhh..what????"
"SHUSH! I have to take my glucose test today and I want to know when I need to COME!"
"Uh, yeah, what I was trying to say is if you want to come now, by the time you're done w/your test she'll be ready to see--"
"HELLO?! Shut up! You keep TALKING and I'm trying to find out what time to COME b/c I'm not sitting there for THREE HOURS AGAIN THAT'S JUST COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS, you always say to call and now I want to know when to BE THERE!"
"so..yeah, anyway, she's running about an hour behind, but if you come now-"
"WHY is this SO HARD?? I'm telling you RIGHT NOW I'm NOT sitting there for an HOUR waiting to be seen!"
"You have to wait an hour after drinking the solution-"
"That's NOT what I'm saying!"
"If you would LISTEN, what I'm trying to say is, she's running an hour behind, if you come NOW and drink your solution, by the time the hour is up she'll be ready to SEE YOU"
And then she told me I "*better* be right" and I just hung up. I was so irate when I got off the phone when I tried to talk spit was flying everywhere and I was just shaking like a leaf.
We tell Dr. when patients behave that way, and she listens, but that's about the extent of it. They're not like that to HER of course, she's the Dr, we're just lowly front office staff.
So what do you do in these situations? I don't feel I should have to accept being treated this way just as a regular course of my job duties/descriptions. Do you hang up the phone? Walk away from the patient screeching and waving their arms in the waiting room? Smile and turn your attention back to your computer work when the patient is standing at the counter yelling?
My very first job, I worked in the laundry at a packing house. I was treated BETTER by those workers than I am by the patients! Of course, in that job, if someone wanted to be rude, I was able to give them a big Missi smile and say "Go **** yourself"