AIBU to think people feel entitled to be rude to GP Receptionists?

[alpacasandwich]

I've got a job stacking shelves in a supermarket. I love it. People are mostly kind, friendly and above all respectful. If someone asks me where something is, they are so apologetic about me abandoning whatever I'm doing.

By my third shift in a GP surgery I'd been sworn at, regularly told I was responsible if someone died before they could see a GP, been given the line "I pay your wages", been hung up on over the phone multiple times, I barely went 20mins without someone angrily eye rolling and shouting and being hideous.

Why do people treat people like that? I always heard retail is hell, but the odd moany customer is the exception. As a receptionist you're treated with absolute disdain no matter how hard you work and how nice you are. I used to cry in the toilets.

AIBU to think people feel entitled to behave this way, maybe due to the idea that receptionists are evil witches?

I have never met a rude GP receptionist.

My old GP receptionist was a bitch! An absolute narky nasty bitch. Asking you in a room full of people why you need to see a GP, eye rolling, refusing to get a doctor to call me back unless I explained in great detail my condition - I swear it was a power trip. She fucked up my repeat prescription then denied I had phoned..I went days without meds which made my condition worse. I complained and left the doctor asked me why and I told them I don't want a battle to see someone and all of the above, he sighed and said I wasn't the first!!

My new GP receptionist is amazing! If I phone I'm asked if it can be a telephone appointment if they have no spaces that day, I generally get an appointment within 48 hours. She know my name, my children's names always has a treat (sticker/harribo) under the desk for them. If I phone for the children they will always get them seen that day, if it's urgent (dc is asthmatic and needs regular meds/appointment) She's approachable and if she says something will be done (faxed prescriptions) it's done by 1pm.

ways heard retail is hell, but the odd moany customer is the exception
Really? Where the hell do you work?
I was shouted at, threatened, had things thrown at and given abuse regulary.

My gp receptionists are lovely, so were my old ones at old surgery.
Except one.
Iv only ever been arsy to one, she was known as the arsy cow to many.
People would put the phone down if they got through to her
She regularly questioned your symptoms (even when you ssid you didn't want to discuss it.)
Only receptionist who did it.
Was very thankful when she left!
Love the ones at my surgery.
They go out of their wAy to help you out.
Lovely people

We do not triage to say whether something is serious enough, that's solely down to how important the patient thinks it is. We ask for basic information to pick out vitals like chest pain because that has to be passed to the doctor immediately so we have to check that we don't book them emergency appointment for lunch time when they are having a heart attack...

1. We would never refused someone an appointment because they didn't want to tell us the person, I totally understand that I wouldn't want to tell someone over the phone if I had trush or something! But we just ask if it's something our prescribing nurse can help with and if so the note just goes as 'personal' we are told off if we don't put a note

never been rude to a GP receptionist" but had them be rude to you, it's because the majority of patients are rude and they've been ground down by them.
I was abused regulary by customers, i managed to not be arsy to other customers.
That's an awful excuse
They're in the wrong job.

OP have you done Christmas in retail?

I have been threatened, called a bitch, whore, cunt. I have been threatened with a knife and been punched.

But nothing will compare to seeing a middle aged woman screaming and swearing at a 16 year old child on Christmas Eve because we had sold out of the top book. That woman informed my poor member of staff that the staff member was responsible for ruining her kid's christmas and she hoped she burnt in hell.

I only heard the last bit, before I kicked her out, but the public is awful when it comes to something like Christmas

Gp reception staff are like the mafia at times in our surgery. Think they are the doctors and allocate appointments if they decide you need one. They drive me insane but I'm. Never ever rude to them. I just always request a phone appointment

It's the frustration I think. You're at a low ebb and, in the main in many years of experience, don't get a lot of sympathy or particularly explanation about why it's impossible to book an appointment even though the doctor's just told you to make one for a fortnight's time etc. Huge generalisation but they often don't seem to make an effort to help or reassure you in any way.

I've never been rude to a GP receptionist but I definitely do not like the attitude of some of them.

Retail workers definitely take loads of abuse. I worked in a solicitors office for almost 30 years and regularly dealt with the public. In all those years I had 1 abusive client who swore at me.

I've worked in retail for 6 years although it feels more like 60! I could not even begin to count the amount of rude, obnoxious, ignorant, abusive customers I have had to deal with. I have been told I am thick because I work in retail, I obviously could not get a better job, treated like dog shit and absolutely everything from the price of items, to things being out of stock is my fault

Our GP surgery's receptionists are lovely! And I really don't understand how they can be bothered, some of the patients are vile to them.

Our GP Practice used to be 1 GP with a team of PT receptionists who had been there for years and who knew all the patients and their families. I can't imagine anyone was ever rude to them. Then the GP retired and the practice was swallowed up by a bigger practice in a nearby town. They stated to bring in receptionists from the other surgery, couldn't seem to keep their staff for long and everything went downhill. The patients didn't change - the attitude of the staff most definitely did. I had always had a great relationship with the previous staff who understood my situation and my difficult job in caring for a family member with complex health needs. The new receptionists knew none of that and made everything I aksed for into a interrogation and an arduous task. They were actually patronising and rude. I was never rude back - I just walked away and came home and rang the Practice manager or Senior Partner and made a formal complaint about whichever receptionist it was. Other patients in the village were also complaining about them -so it wasn't just me.

"' if you ask for an urgent appointment or one more quickly than the routine appointment we can offer, part of our job and a vital part, is to ask a very brief indication of the problem, this is for YOUR safety, we need to understand whether the call needs to be passed immediately to the doctor or whether an ambulance needs to be called."

And how do you decide that?

I've never come across a bad one.

I have the utmost regard for those at my current surgery, especially one. She queried why I hadn't received a regular injection last year and I told her I'd gone to the appointment but the nurse refused to give it to me, basically accused me of wasting the NHS's money for years and was just incredibly rude to me. I'd left the appointment in tears. Receptionist booked me in with a doctor on the spot, making sure she'd be there on the day in case I had further trouble. Got my jab fine from the doctor, and, discussing it with another doctor at the surgery he said the reasons given by the nurse were preposterous and I should never had been refused in the first place.

J, if you're reading, thank you!

I'm on the fence here. Have been reduced to tears by a GP receptionist when I was pregnant. The same woman turned out to be a client of mine, who phoned out of hours demanding her dog be seen RIGHT NOW! I did see her dog, but the irony was not lost on me.

My current doctors receptionists are nice enough, but I think the main thing that makes the difference is that my current practice will only give out same day appointments. So if your child is unwell they can usually see you that day. Makes a big difference, as you're not having to plead or wait for an appointment. Happier all round

Receptionists at my GP surgery are all professional and polite. That hasn't always been my experience though.

Some have been verbally aggressive, the kind of behaviour that would have got me banned if I had done it, dismissive and obstructive.

I've only ever had one unpleasant experience - when a doctor's receptionist refused point blank to make an appointment for dd to see the doctor for a booster as she was technically just outside the specific age group it was for.

There were other pressing reasons she needed it though, and we needed to see the doctor and discuss it. The receptionist was quite adamant that dd would not be allowed the treatment no matter what, and kept on refusing. In the end I had to point out that it should be the doctor who took decisions and not her. We got the appointment.

On the whole, bar a few exceptions, this thread has proved the OP's point.

My GP surgery is great. The receptionists are lovely and do their best to find an appointment if you need one - yes they ask the reason in order to prioritize - if I say my baby is poorly with X they find me an appointment within an hour or two....if i say it is for me or DH can we be seen today but this evening will do...then they know it is not the highest priority for that day.

They remember the names of most patients, and say good morning Mr X, etc which impressed me when we joined the practice. Now of course they say Hi and remember each of my children's names.

I occasionally pop in with boxes of cakes just to say thank you for looking after our family. Receptionists don't deserve the shit they put up with!

I've got to agree with KoalaDownUnder here. People probably aren't getting abusive with you per se. They're getting abusive with the system and you just happen to be the face of it.

I have hopefully never been rude to a doctor's receptionist but I know I've definitely been 'short' because I've not been able to get an appointment and last time this happened I ended up in A&E several hours later/I'm being told I need to be more patient for my test results when the doctor told me they'd be done two days ago/I'm being told I can't have my details updated for the umpteenth time because it needs to go through a different system/I'm having to loudly describe embarrassing medical problems because the doctor has called the test I need something the front desk doesn't understand/I'm being told I can't have test results because I don't have a form because the doctor never gave it to me to begin with....the list goes on. I try to be mindful not to be rude because it's the overall problem I'm mad at, not the person I'm speaking to who can't do anything about it anyway but I am about ready to scream into a pillow at those moments so I have no doubt I don't exactly come across all candyfloss and gumdrops in those moments.

I also agree with Pinkpineapples that you're dealing with people who are already dealing with a very stressful situation so probably don't have as much as a cap on their emotions as somebody choosing whether to have baked beans or spaghetti hoops with their tea.

I'm not saying it makes it ok and the rude people are still being unreasonable. I'm just saying I can see how it happens.

part of our job and a vital part, is to ask a very brief indication of the problem, this is for YOUR safety, we need to understand whether the call needs to be passed immediately to the doctor or whether an ambulance needs to be called.

No it really isn't unless you are medically qualified to triage. Its dangerous and could expose the practice if anything goes wrong. There is nothing wrong with putting urgent requests to someone qualified to triage.

I remember running a friend and her child to A&E when a receptionist had decided her child wasn't ill enough even for her to talk to a qualified person (similar situation to the appendix case above). The child was seriously ill. The practice subsequently banned non qualified staff from making these decisions after a complaint was raised.

I'm always polite to customer facing staff anywhere. Mostly it gets me polite and helpful responses.

The one exception is GP receptionists where I have had far more rude and dismissive comments than polite answer whatever the question. I've also experienced the magic availability of appts if DH calls (when the children were young).

Similarly I've seen patients quizzed on intimate details of condition and treatment in public where the whole waiting room can hear.

My practice has had some changes in line up in the last couple of years and adopted online booking which helps both sides I guess (well the changes in line up certainly do).

But nothing will compare to seeing a middle aged woman screaming and swearing at a 16 year old child on Christmas Eve because we had sold out of the top book. That woman informed my poor member of staff that the staff member was responsible for ruining her kid's christmas and she hoped she burnt in hell.*

WTAF?!!!!

I worked in customer service for a truly shitty company. I couldn't sort any of the problems people would call up to complain about as they wouldn't allow us to do refunds. We also weren't allowed to transfer calls to anyone senior who could approve refunds. It was just being screamed at by justifiably furious people for 40 hours a week. I and none of my colleagues were ever rude back to customers or we would have been fired. I don't see how (a lot of) gp receptionists who deal with vulnerable people get away with their behaviour tbh.

I've not had a problem at the surgery I go to and I've been there for about 20 years. The surgery moved into a new medical centre and took loads more patients and there were loads of complaints about surly, rude receptionists.

While I found some of the new ones weren't as nice as the existing ones, I didn't have any issues. Only now they are all uber helpful so I think they've received more training in being approachable and more polite (some didn't bother with good morning/afternoon etc. Just looked at you when you approached the counter). The ones from the existing surgery are my faves though and there's one who is so kind and sympathetic (i'm trying to get a kidney problem diagnosed). Every time I bring yet another sample in to be tested for infection she just looks despairing that I'm still waiting for a diagnosis and goes out of her way to be accommodating and says she hopes I feel better soon etc. I think I'm just very lucky to have found a good surgery.