Appointments with attitude

Hey lady, don't have attitude with me!

So yesterday I spent most of the day in the waiting rooms of several doctor’s surgeries.

Apart from the creepy smell that always comes with anything medical, one thing I always notice when I am in waiting rooms is the antics of the receptionists behind the front counter.

In particular, yesterday I was in a radiologist’s office in Southport for quite some time and I found myself eavesdropping in on the conversations of the four women taking calls and making appointments.

Honestly, these women spend half their time gossiping and fluffing around. While I was waiting, one woman got up to have her break. After she left her spot behind the counter, two of the other women started saying things like “she always smells when she comes back from her breaks of cigarettes”.

Another thing I noticed was when the two male radiologists came in to pick up their job sheets for the next round of patients, one woman in particular would gesture towards them and start whispering to each of the men in a way that told me this was the only kind of intimacy she experiences each day – the attention of her male colleagues.

A young guy who left after getting scans done was particularly tatted up. As soon as he was out the door, one lady just HAD to tell the others how much she despised tattoos and how ugly they were blah blah blah… to stop your work and just talk about rubbish like that while people in the waiting room can hear you is unacceptable.

So it surprised me when patients – most of them elderly – went up to the counter to pay their bill or make another appointment, that these women were so rude to them. Given that they weren’t doing much work at all, you wouldn’t think there would be a need for such impoliteness.

“I’m not finished what I’m doing just yet, so you’ll have to wait,” said one woman to a mother and her daughter who just wanted to pay their bill and leave. I felt like saying, “Why? All you’ve been doing is bitching about your other female colleague for the past 10 minutes about her smoking habit, surely you have time to look after this patient?”.

There is no need for this kind of attitude and what surprises me is that I seem to see it quite a bit, no matter what doctor’s surgery I go to.

Once when I arrived for an ultrasound appointment, I waited for about six minutes while the two girls behind the counter finished their personal conversation about what happened on their weekend, before they would acknowledge me. It wasn’t until I blatantly interrupted them that they rolled their eyes and checked me in.

Seriously, for all you people who work behind reception desks in medical offices, think about the people coming in for appointments – a lot of them aren’t well and are in pain. It’s your job to serve them and if it’s not too much trouble, do it with a smile.