Bullying the front office is cowardly
I don’t like to use the word bullying too often, because sometimes it is overhyped. The people being “bullied” in this situation have a pretty thick skin, and aren’t losing sleep over your opinion.
Bullying in this case is cowardly because the worker can’t be a jerk back to you, or else they would lose their job. It’s not a fair fight or argument. Corporate America expects the worker to just take the abuse, and rarely defends the employee. I’ve personally witnessed this many times, so it’s not the front office griping to me about it.
Some of you will be very short and “curt” as we used to say, with the front office. Even when the receptionists are trying to be friendly. No times seem to fit your schedule, you can’t get up by 9am for an open appointment, and it’s not their fault your cat is sick.
But then! Doctor dreamy comes to get you, and it’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. All of a sudden, you have a smile on your face. You’re all sweet and such. “Oh, doctor so and so, I’m so happy you’re here!”
Now the receptionist has to see an ophthalmologist. They’ve rolled their eyes so hard that they’ve strained their eyeball tendons, or the shooting daggers ruptured their retina.
Yo! Why do you have to come off that way? It’s not always the front office’s fault. Scheduling is a pain in the ass. So hard in fact, that the clinicians aren’t even trained in it.
We used to have these things called pencils. They were really cool. You could schedule someone for an open time on a piece of paper in 10 seconds. And if you needed to change one, it had this thing called an eraser.
Exceptions
I’m talking about the veteran receptionists, who are older. Many of them are actually retired from another profession, and don’t have to put up with your crap. In fact, it’s very hard not to tell you where you can go. They only refrain from it so that the others who remain won’t have to deal with the fall out.
Now if you’re talking about the 20 something receptionist, who ignores you while on her phone, neck tattoos, nose ring, blue hair (satire) wears ear buds at work, and can’t hear you, I wonder why?! (blame management, who allows this?!?!), well that’s a different story.
But going off on them probably won’t help. The cards are stacked against you. She’ll just file a claim that you were “harassing and insulting” her for an appointment. How dare you…
Go to the source
15 years ago I was on the phone with a large corporation and was unable to cancel a subscription. I searched for the name of the CEO, and found the phone number for corporate headquarters. I called and got as far as their secretary. “Who are you again?” “I’m a customer.”
I never got to speak to the CEO, but she quickly got someone to handle the issue. I’m sure that won’t work anymore, those numbers have probably been removed.
Use sugar
I enjoy seeing difficult patients. I see it as a challenge. I tell the front office I’m going to win them over. Sometimes it takes a few visits, but usually when they feel that I’m really trying to help them, they come around (take that, “empathy training!”)
You can sometimes do the same with the front office. They notice the friendly, polite and appreciative customers, and will go out of their way to help. If they don’t after a few weeks, talk to the manager. It’s their job to deal with those issues.