Why do people treat receptionists like shit?

[NotSummerYet]

I have worked for the past two months as a hotel receptionist and have handed my notice in today as I'm fed up of being treated like shit and looked down upon by both staff and hotel guests.

Staff speak to us receptionists like dirt, and try to palm off any parts of their jobs that they don't want to do onto us. There is a distinctive difference in how management speak to non-reception staff and how they speak to reception staff. Some of the back office staff are no more senior than us yet are allowed to treat us as if they are senior to us, and are also allowed to offload things onto us that they (openly admit) can't be bothered to do. Also, receptionists were not invited on the office staff Christmas do, even though we are all supposedly a team.

Then there's the customers; mostly speaking to us all as if they're better than us, and thinking we are either their servant, or working there because we're too thick to do anything else.

All that for minimum wage and not even a shift enhancement despite having to start at 6am for an early shift and finish at 11pm for a late!

Why do people treat receptionists like this?

It sounds awful, no wonder you've handed in your notice.

I had a completely different experience though when I worked as a cleaner for a large hotel group. It was the receptionists who were awful to us and really looked down their noses, particularly at staff who didn't speak very good English.

We always felt they thought we were the thick ones and that's why we were cleaning/changing beds, instead of sitting at the front desk.

The housekeeping team are the only ones that are actually nice to us.

Management, event planning, group booking, HR, accounts, kitchen staff and waiting and bar staff all speak to us like crap.

I’m a hospital dr and whenever I answer the phone it’s AMAZING how rude ppl will be and then how absolutely grovelling they are when I say who I am.

Disgusting.

I know what you mean. Ive noticed this in the last 2 places I've worked - I think it's the belief they're 'better' in some way and acting accordingly.

Ahh with us it was mostly management and receptionists speaking to cleaners/housekeepers, kitchen staff like shit. We didn't really have any bar staff.

I used to work for IBIS but my boyfriend at the time worked next door at a Premier Inn and they all ticked along nicely there.

Maybe times have changed but when I worked in hotels, the receptionists were at the top of the tree. Theirs was definitely the job to aspire to.

They were definitely above the cleaners at my place, or thought they were anyway!

I think the attitude filters down from management really. Ironically one of the managers was once a receptionist herself.

I do reception work and i love it when business providers, people looking for work treat me badly. I own the company with DH. I just float departments and would rather my team to the more indepth work as i'm still working around kids. Many people don't get a foot in the door and we refuse to work with companies because of how i was treated. Everyone gets treated equally here from ground up.

I worked as a receptionist in an Opticians, the optometrists were awful! They used to go into their little rooms and just bitch about everyone.

Oh that's so sad, I absolutely loved being a receptionist and meeting new people everyday. This was about 25 years ago though, so I would say its because people are turning into rude a**holes now. Just look at some of the people on MN!! Hope you find something you enjoy

What's the difference between an optician and an optometrist? Gossiping aside, of course.

I have worked in just about every department in hotels and without fail the one that had everything dumped on them, and we're treated with the least respect were Night Porters/Managers - "What do you do all night?" when you clean all the public areas, set breakfast, set functions, do stocktakes and audits, man reception and the phones, as well as serving on the bar and dealing with drunk knobheads....🤦 Any job no one else wanted to do "The Night Porters will do it" anything wasn't done "Night Porters fault".

I've never known an issue towards receptionists though from other staff, they were always a bit better than the rest of us in most places I've worked, I work on reception and restaurant now but I'm a shift manager so it might be a different perspective because I'm in charge no matter which area I'm based.

As for the public, the attitude towards anyone in hospitality (and probably dealing with the public in most service positions) is frankly, disgusting and getting worse, and on reception you bear the brunt of it because you're the 'face' they can see or the 'voice' they can hear.
The moment someone swears at me, uses personal insults or starts to shout then it's game over for me, I tell them I'm not dealing with them until they've calmed down and am hanging up/walking away. I don't care of someone is frustrated, angry, have just lost their gerbil, if they're aggressive towards me I'm not dealing with them, full stop.
And no, that's not bad customer service, because until they get personal/aggressive/abusive I'll bend over backwards to help someone out, even when it's them that have screwed up and got something wrong (increasing trend of people getting what they book/order and although it's as described, they had a different idea in their heads and they seem to think I should be responsible for that) I'll do anything to put something right even when it's not me/where I work that's been the issue.

I realise I'm lucky though because I'm backed by my employers because they know that I'm good at my job and the only thing I won't deal with is abuse from customers, or staff either, so if I refuse someone service or to deal with them, or pull a member of staff to one side, there's a damned good reason. Big learning curve to get here though, and I've been on the recieving end of all sorts of nonsense.

Most people do actually want an issue sorted but think the way to do that is shout and ball, and when you're calm and explain you'll help if they stop being an arse (obviously not in those words 😂) then they calm down and things get solved much faster. Failing that a standard "I'll pass your comments on" and repeat bores the most determined shouter into going away.

Hotel work is an eye opener and we've just done Christmas, when everything is 100 times worse, but then I've just had 2 weeks off, so feeling pretty positive ATM, my response would have been very different on Jan 2nd because I was totally fed up of arsey people. You need regular time away from this job or it can drag you down.

Wow sorry! I wasn't there for long 🤣

Oh, @C2190 , you've let me right down there. Pay better attention in future, please. 😡
It's a MNer's duty! 😁😁

Once when we were hiring we had to do the interview before the receptionist started for the day so I stepped in to greet the interviewee. She was so incredibly rude to me, I was shocked.

I told our manager, who was interviewing her, and we did not hire her because of this specifically, even though the interviewee was all sweetness and light when formally introduced to me. She clearly didn't recognise me from the reception desk.

Even a subcontractor bloke who comes in for two hours every fortnight tries to speak to us like shit and tries to order us around

I think pretty much everyone has a status in the hotel except receptionists!

The woman who does group bookings is supposed to allocate a room for all her bookings but sometimes doesn't feel like doing it so comes through to reception and orders us to do it, even though we are usually super busy. Management will always back her up. She bulldozes her way onto reception and onto our computers if she wants to use them when she's in the reception area

I was at work on Friday and a sales rep came in and I said 'hello, can I help you?' And he said 'No! I want to speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey'. And laughed! And two guests that were in reception laughed, too.

It's just not fucking funny

I worked in a hotel and the hierarchy was-
Owners
Senior management
Management
Office staff
Receptionists
Floor staff
Kitchen
Housekeeping
Cleaner/porter

Ime the people who come in and speak rudely are the ones who want to speak to the right person now.

That's because they either don't understand the role of a receptionist because they are stupid or think they are too important (rude) to have to follow the process of speaking to the middle man first.

It used to happen when I answered calls and occasionally face to face in the three places I worked front of house.
One of those was a business I owned, so that was much more fun.

I've done reception in healthcare for years, as well as general customer service work. The amount of people who don't understand triaging is truly mind Boggling. Yes I want to know all about your pus filled toe for my own pleasure, Mrs Briggs. After working there for so long, we know a thing or two about physical health and what should be directed where and to who.
It's shocking how rude people are, there are a particular brand of people who even shout at us for them putting the appointment in their own diary at the wrong date or time.

Well done for handing in your notice!

I think the general public are becoming ruder and much more impatient/ nasty as a result. It seems to have stemmed from lockdown.

I've worked in retail / pharmacy for over 16 years now and I don't know whether it's age or my tolerance level is plummeting but I'm finding it hard to be all smiley, light and understanding when someone's spitting in my face for the umpteenth time 🙃I'm trying to find another job.

Over the years I have come to realise that hospitality is seen as very low in employment terms in this country.
On the continent it is seen as a career needing great skill.

That sounds awful OP, can see why you handed in your notice. I hope you move to a much better place.

I once left a job interview before even getting into the interview room after witnessing interactions between staff and the receptionists as they were so rude to the receptionists.

However in my last place the receptionists had control over meeting room booking slots and some other critical areas. They relished in their power and everyone was a little scared of them. Not only did they have their own receptionist department Christmas dinner, they’d tag along to other departments dinners too!