Receptionist shouted at me and flounce off job

[Waytooearly]

I'm trying to run a department with very little admin support.

We have loads of time-sensitive work and we get sued if it doesn't get done on time. We had a couple crises arise today. It's fulfilling work but you can only manage if you're super organised.

Our main receptionist has a bad habit of ringing me when randoms drop in. Fine, ring once, nice to see if I'm free, but usually I'll have to say take a message or book him in later. I can rarely come down for "just a sec". We don't see people without appointments.

Lately I've had to talk to her manager because the calls are becoming like:

"This lady dropped in..."

"Yeah, got this bundle due at 4,sorry,book her in on Thursday?"

"Yeah but she said that you said that she could come in any time..."

"Yeah really no, okay bye"

"Yeah but she has kids with her and they took the bus..."

I even get calls when I'm with clients.

Today she rang because a current client stopped in for a "quick question". I said "No, sorry, urgently getting something done before my 4:00 appointment," She rang again ten seconds later, saying again, "Yeah but he said that you said that he could just pop in?"

I said, "Well now I have to come down because you're doing this in front of him. When you do this it means my work doesn't get done and I have to stay late."

Of course the person popping in pulled out paperwork and wanted to have a sit down so that happened. I just shrugged and thought, " Fine, late-ish night at office" and resigned myself to it.

I left the impromptu appointment to find the receptionist flouncing about the lobby shouting that she was quitting because I had talked to her like shit. There were clients in the lobby. My colleague and I got her into a room and made soothing noises to shut her up.

She still left. I'm pretty sure it was a drama quit because her things are still here.

Our manager isn't here today.

What's the appropriate response from my manager here? She is very good friends with the receptionist and they socialise outside of work. I fear therell be some placating response so they don't have to hire a new admin.

Can someone coach me on how I navigate this?

OP, you said earlier that a client said a referral agency told her she could just pop in to yours. So you need to contact that referral agency and tell them not to tell the clients that.

I’ve managed receptionists and admin staff and she’s not filtering the clients effectively at all. You need to start putting your out of office on your phone when you’re with clients.

Both of those sentences can't be true at the same time. The reason she's not filtering them is precisely because the OP keeps answering the phone during meetings.

No I think she means just that... she's not screening properly, so I'll just need to not answer my phone when I'm not available. At least until we can build up her screening skills and giver her tools like signs,like people have suggested.

Thanks, you guys have got me more into solution-focus state of mind.

Doesn't your phone have an answer phone message that you can turn on during meetings?

Sounds like it’s time for a new receptionist

But you're still blaming the receptionist and not responding to the suggestions that there is a failure to address the salient issue - why your clients are turning up 'all day' trying to speak with someone.

People can be demanding, I absolutely know that, but it's actually not normal to have a steady stream of 'aggressive' and 'obnoxious' (both your words) clients - or 'randoms' - coming into the office every day demanding to see someone.

I know this environment well. If a receptionist was constantly fielding unhappy clients for fee earners, I would be extremely concerned that something more fundamental needed addressing. I wouldn't expect a receptionist to be dealing constantly with this situation or the failure to implement changes.

I honestly think that many people would find this situation difficult. The receptionist could have handled it better, but I suspect that this might have been a bit of straw breaking the camel's back.

How about the suggestion upthread that your referral agency needs to change it's MO?

*"Yeah, got this bundle due at 4,sorry,book her in on Thursday?"

"Yeah but she said that you said that she could come in any time..."

"Yeah really no, okay bye"

"Yeah but she has kids with her and they took the bus..." *

This reads like a little britain sketch.

Yeah but no but....

Stop telling her yes but. Tell her no. Saying yes but- that to her does not mean no.

I left the impromptu appointment to find the receptionist flouncing about the lobby shouting that she was quitting because I had talked to her like shit. There were clients in the lobby. My colleague and I got her into a room and made soothing noises to shut her up

Regardless of the ins and outs of the appointment booking process, this is unacceptable behaviour. I would expect to lose my job if I behaved like this.

@ClaudiaWankleman
Everyone has a breaking point and we only have OP side of the story. Also , sounds like she has quit anyway . Who is to say she will be back Monday? Sounds very unorganised/chaotic, I wouldn’t want to work there.

OP, has the receptionist complained before about this? Sorry if I've missed it upthread. It all sounds quite unsatisfactory for her, the clients and the fee earners. The receptionist, however, doesn't have the power to fundamentally change things. That has to come from the partners/managers.

However amazing your firm's reputation, it does sound like a problematic area that needs addressing. Waiting for someone to 'crack' again like this is an employment issue waiting to happen.

It sounds like people are fairly desperate to receive the service you are providing.

From her point of view, I suppose she is trying to help people get the help they need by squashing them in.

It must be fairly distressing for her to see people in need and for her job to be telling them to go away.

It’s a sad world when “screening skills” are needed to tell people they can’t have what they are desperate to obtain.

She sounds like she might be better suited to a job where she does not have to keep telling desperate people ‘no’.

I know this environment well. If a receptionist was constantly fielding unhappy clients for fee earners, I would be extremely concerned that something more fundamental needed addressing. I wouldn't expect a receptionist to be dealing constantly with this situation or the failure to implement changes.

This. OP, if clients keep popping in to see you without an appointment, then you need to be much clearer with new clients about this when you take them on. You need to communicate better, both with new clients and that referral agency you mentioned.

As a customer-facing admin person myself, I'm disgusted by the number of people on here who are going out of their way to blame the receptionist no matter what. Anything to pass the buck.

Speaking from experience, the people who pop in without an appointment or specific time are very often telling the truth. Solicitors and accountants etc frequently make casual comments to clients, telling them they can drop off some documents but making it sound like they're allowed to drop in for a chat. What you need to say instead is "Feel free to drop off the documents at reception on Tuesday. I won't have time to see you that day, but if you leave the documents at reception then I'll collect them later during the afternoon and will get back to you about it the next day".

If that many clients are not getting the message then you need to change the message that comes directly from you.

I think it's British politeness. I was talking to a Dr at work who admitted to saying "call back at any time if you have any questions" when they knew full well that it could be a couple of days before they could get round to reading the messages from the secretary and calling the patient.

I've said many times that I specifically tell clients and referrers that they need to book an appointment to be seen.

When I invite people, for instance, to drop things off, I specifically say, "Our office is open till 5, I won't be able to see you of course, but just leave the documents in reception and they'll be passed to me."

I appreciate that it doesn't hurt to remember how much it sucks to be a receptionist.

At the same time I cannot imagine a scenario wherein a receptionist calls to see whether a specialist is free for a dropin, gets told, "No sorry deadline" and then rings again thirty seconds later to say, "He says it'll only take a sec! He says he friends with x!"

You really think that's okay?

In times of stress or whatever, that can be seen as an open invitation. To drop things off, even with they will be passed to me.

It makes sense to you, but the drop at any time can be misconstrued or even misinterpreted.

No, she shouldn't be phoning when you are in a meeting.
But neither should you be answering.
Let the call go to voicemail and have something between you and reception/secretary as a code for when it's urgent. Although these times weren't urgent, who knows about the next time.

If you want documents brought in, would you consider sending a sae to them? Then if they want to ensure they come to you, they can send via tracking.

At the same time I cannot imagine a scenario wherein a receptionist calls to see whether a specialist is free for a dropin, gets told, "No sorry deadline" and thenrings again thirty seconds laterto say, "He says it'll only take a sec! He says he friends with x!"

You really think that's okay?

She needs guidance. "This is the strict rule- no appointment, no meeting. Even if they say xyz - if they have no appointment, they can't be seen".

Because she doesn't know if you are friends with X or if this is something that you do.
And in the meantime, she is left to deal with the pleading and begging. And they are telling her phone her, you've just done it, please, he's mates with Lou. Even worse she knows you are friends with Lou.

It is hard for both sides.

Should she have had a rant in public like that?
Professionally no.
But it happens when you're dealing with the same things constantly.

I forget if this is company or your own policy. As if this is just how you want things to go, I can understand her frustrations. And I see yours. If it's the company policy then this needs to be properly clarified and used by all with no exceptions. (Ignore me if this has been covered)

At the same time I cannot imagine a scenario wherein a receptionist calls to see whether a specialist is free for a dropin, gets told, "No sorry deadline" and then rings again thirty seconds later to say, "He says it'll only take a sec! He says he friends with x!"

She didn’t get the idea that was okay from nowhere. This is something that has been allowed to happen in your workplace. Unless she was very new to the job?

OP, the problem is NOT your receptionist. She handled this badly, but many would struggle with a constant stream of 'aggressive' and/or 'obnoxious' clients demanding attention.

Your manager really needs to address - as both me and other posters have mentioned upthread - the reason WHY this is happening. The scenario you describe isn't ideal at all and not something I've encountered in decades of busy, high-pressure practice.

You really need to stop blaming the receptionist for failing to adequately fire-fight an impossible - and constant - problem that's not of her making.

This might be your firm's 'normal' but I find it slightly surprising that a decent practice can operate like this.

Let's suppose for a minute the receptionist did become more strict and started turning everyone away, even the ones who claimed their mate Lou said it was okay for them to drop in. You can bet your bottom dollar that the OP would then start complaining about her having turned away an important client, the one who really was friends with Lou. OP would then start a thread called "Why did my awful, gatekeeping receptionist turn away my client?" and complain about her not being a mind reader. These things happen far too often.

Surely Lou would have the OPs number and the OP would tell the receptionist to make an exception for Lou

Well if I were you I’d put my office phone on “Do not disturb” when I was having a scheduled meeting.

Does she have access to your online calander? she should be checking that to see if you are available when clients ask, that’s the whole point of the function that states whether you are “busy” “out of office” etc.

Also how does she pass messages from phone calls on? Is it by post it note, email etc?

Sounds like you need to sit down with the office manager and sort out how to make the system/process work better

Surely Lou would have the OPs number and the OP would tell the receptionist to make an exception for Lou

Maybe this has happened and the receptionist disturbed the op during something important.