to think this text is rude?

[Mintyy]

How much does it cost to put a please or thank you in a text?

"Mintyy, we are expecting you at the x department at x hospital on x date at x time. Not attending costs the NHS £160 approx. If you cannot attend call 12345678"

RUDE!!

[Mintyy]

Elizabeth - that's slightly stalkerish if you don't mind me saying.

[User543212345]

Have you only had one of them Mintyy ? I agree that they're rudely worded and a please/thank you wouldn't go amiss. The three or four in the run up to your hospital appointment are overkill, imo, and add to the rudeness not to mention the two hour wait past my appointment time with no apology after the slew of snotty texts about attending

[LoisWilkersonsLastNerve]

I read this thread as lighthearted. Am I wrong Mintyy How annoyed are you on a scale of 1-10?
If your mildly bemused then yanbu. If you are planning on blowing up the robot that generated the text then yabu.

[LurkingHusband]

How do you know how many characters the text contained LurkingHusband?

I don't. I just know that what you posted had 159 characters. And since you had already truncated the hospital name, department, time and date, then there must have been precious little left for courtesy ...

[PermetsTu]

Lois, I thought it was lighthearted too so responded in kind but I think Mintyy read my jovial ponderings as sarcastic.

I'm having a morning with no dc and no dh. Just the hamster, Pride and Prejudice dvd and a cup of tea. Everything's lighthearted for me right now.

[Mintyy]

Sorry to be picky, but if a text has a limit of 160 characters then how come the text I have received has quite a lot more than 160 characters? And how much difference would an extra 6 make?

Thanks for the explanation AnonymousBird! that makes sense. And same to MuttonDressedAsAGoose.

[OooooohMissDiane]

i think you're probably old and ugly enough to take that slightly brusque text, OP. At least they got your attention.

[LoisWilkersonsLastNerve]

perments Oh same here, no dc, no dh and one hamster! I'm not watching a movie though, I'm exclusively terrorising mumsnet.

[ExitPursuedByABear]

Well the texts I got from the Blood Donor people were very similar to Permets suggestion and made me feel loved, appreciated and special.

Thanks

[FuckYouChrisAndThatHorse]

I bet there's some psychological reason, whereby if they put please or thank you, then the implication is that they're requesting your attendance for their benefit, rather than you requesting an appointment for yours.

It's brusque and factual rather than rude IMO. I'd be bloody grateful if my hospital did this.

[OneBreathAfterAnother]

It's not a text limit thing.

It's because people actually make the call to cancel if you don't ask them nicely. If you say, "Please call xxx", they are far less likely to actually do it. And for the hospital, the priority is maximising efficiency.

[FuckYouChrisAndThatHorse]

Exit, but in that case you're attending for their benefit, so that would be expected :)

[PermetsTu]

Not the ruddy movie thankfully (I shan't ever forgive Keira McPout for what she did in that film). The 1995 BBC adaptation. Wickham and Lydia are currently making vows neither of them will keep.

I'm supposed to be doing some proofreading but I've decided to Sit instead. I'm having a brilliant time.

[LurkingHusband]

how come the text I have received has quite a lot more than 160 characters?

Was it an SMS text, or an email ?

Some phones are able to cope with chained texts, where several 160-character texts are sent and are assembled to make a bigger text. However, I would be surprised if the NHS used this. It is rather proprietary.

One last thought ... it could have been an MMS, which allows more text and pictures/vidoes. But MMS isn't as universal as SMS (my work phone doesn't allow it) so would be a strange choice, if you are aiming at the lowest common denominator.

[TimeToMuskUp]

I agree with OneBreath; when I say to my DCs "could you please do x, y and z so we can leave the house on time today" they hear "feel free to piss about wearing only one sock and chase each other with guns until I go batshit and begin the screaming which means I've fully lost the plot". When I say "I need you to do x, y and z" they hear "there is no room for dicking about here, you will be shot if you do not comply". I think the hospital is going down the brutal-parent route.

[Mintyy]

It wasn't an email. I don't know about the other...

[FuckYouChrisAndThatHorse]

Permets

[Theoscargoesto]

They have done some research that says if you tell people the cost of a missed appointment, they are more likely to turn up than if they are given other information. Perhaps the research decided please and thank you weren't necessary. i agree it's blunt, but if it does the job I wouldn't be offended by it.

[LurkingHusband]

Pride and Prejudice dvd

Snap ! MrsLH and I are currently watching (for the first time). Have 3 more parts to go .

I am sure if we'd done that for Eng. Lit. I would have passed.

[PermetsTu]

First time? Oh you lucky ducks.

Isn't it superb?

[BitOutOfPractice]

TimeToMuskUp and PermetsTu have both made me guffaw on this thread

Thank you

But please dont's see that "thank you" as piss about wearing only one sock Time

Thank you

(Or that one!)

[Flingmoo]

YANBU. It's a small thing but it annoys me too, almost every interaction I have with the NHS has a general tone of being huffy, condescending and patronising.

Whenever I have to make any kind of NHS appointment, it just feels like "Look, this is a massive inconvenience and we don't have the time or budget to be dealing with you, but seeing as your leg appears to be falling off and bleeding everywhere, here's an appointment in five weeks time, you have to get here 10 minutes early to check in, otherwise you're a total prick, although you might have to wait 150 minutes when you arrive as the doctor is very busy. Now sod off"

Then I realised my employer offers private outpatients cover up to a certain limit... You call up the same doctor's secretary to book an appointment privately and it's all "Oh, wonderful, Dr Brown would be delighted to see you immediately, at your earliest convenience, would you like a chaperone? Let's book you in, don't forget to help yourself to tea and biscuits in the waiting room! Splendid!"

[TimeToMuskUp]

God dammit I'm going to have to find the other sock now.

[PermetsTu]

I've got it Time. I'm using it as a sock puppet. He's currently saying Very Bad Words and definitely no please, certainly no thank-you.

[slicedfinger]

I don't think it needs a please and thank you, but "your appointment is..." rather than "you are expected at..." would be a tad more civilised, and no longer.