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?

OP I'm an administrator at a GP surgery and I've not rtft as its making me feel a bit ill. However, therein in a nutshell is why people are rude to you. I am 46 and done many different jobs but I've never found a job as draining as this. You have to be made of stronger stuff then you realise. However, I love it. I work with a great bunch of people. I may be on the phone or tapping away on the computer looking pretty lazy but after answering the phone for 10 hours and updating about 100 patient records every day I'm pretty fucking spent. I read an article by another GP receptionist and she said it is the alpha and omega of all reception jobs and that sentence nails it for me.

I think the OP is right in that some people feel entitled to be rude. Unfortunately some of those in the job beforehand have not helped, to say the least.

Probably many of them feel they can be rude to anyone seeking to provide customer service.

I try to be polite to everyone but I'm afraid I did get angry at the GPs receptionist for raising her voice at me because I told her that reminders for a smear test weren't necessary as I'd had a total hysterectomy due to malignant cells.
I was told I was irresponsible, that the embarrassment was short, and did I want to die, I repeated that I didn't have a cervix, and she told me that the computer said I did have one.

I have a few friends who are GP receptionists and they are lovely, they have put off ever working at that particular surgery

I have never been rude to one and in the 18 year of my childrens lives (which is where i have seen them the most) i have never had one be rude to me

I have had three jobsworths who i think should have checked with another member of staff before dismissing me but they were very polite while they did it

I think the problem is that many patients feel that they are customers and are entitled to see a GP when they want. If I added on appointments constantly the doctors would never go home. Its a very different dynamic because the service is under so much pressure. And whoever is on the end of the phone generally gets the brunt of it. Honestly I'm shocked at how many people think that we are all lazy, nosy busybodies. I work fucking hard and am very proud of what I do.

At our surgery if they say they have chest pains we ask if they're centralised and if it feels like the chest is being crushed.

Do you also check for the common heart attack symptoms for women or just those experienced by men?

People will demand to see the on call doctor because they've run out of their contraceptive pill and they're going on holiday tomorrow - sorry but that isn't urgent and isn't a good use of our doctors time

Not sure what you mean by "on call" here if its day time?

But either way, who are you to decide what is urgent or not for the patient and withhold access? Possibly its laziness or disorganisation, or human error counting the packets the previous month. IME its a common problem for women who are in abusive relationships to have contraception taken away.

The gp receptionists are the reason I hate ringing the doctors. I am always polite even put on the stupid phone voice but I always get an arsehole. I get they need a brief description to best direct me but when they start questioning things they don't need to know I do sort of feel like how can you advise me your not a doctor. I always do the pharmacy first I absolutely hate doctors appointments.

The gp receptionists are the reason I hate ringing the doctors. I am always polite even put on the stupid phone voice but I always get an arsehole. I get they need a brief description to best direct me but when they start questioning things they don't need to know I do sort of feel like how can you advise me your not a doctor. I always do the pharmacy first I absolutely hate doctors appointments.

My GP receptionists are lovely and I'm surprised to hear what so many others are saying about theirs. I don't think it's acceptable to be rude to GP receptionist as I think they do an admiral job.

OP you sound like a nice person who just wants to do your job well and I hope you continue to do it and not get worn down by it. I hope you get some people who are nice to you that will outweigh the rude ones!

Its a very different dynamic because the service is under so much pressure. And whoever is on the end of the phone generally gets the brunt of it

I think this is true and its not fair on the person on the phone. The difficulty I have is that my experience of receptionists has not worsened in line with the cuts/reductions in service - it was just as bad when my kids were little in the 90s. I am always polite to front line staff, i wish that courtesy was returned in GPs in the way it is by other pressured front liners.

I agree its not universal, DM's team are great (although one is a gossip in a rural practice). I also agree most receptionists are not nosy gossips - the only cases of that I've come across have been in rural areas with smaller communities.

My GP receptionists are the rudest nastiest people you could come across. For example I received a telephone call saying I had to take my blood pressure morning and night for three days and to hand on the results.

I do this leaving work early to do so - all was fine when I received another telephone call from the receptionist saying "we told you it was for seven days - did they heck and "where are the forms you should have completed". I pointed out I never received any forms etc and the charming woman called me a liar and how stupid was I not to know about the forms as I would have been given them in the practice etc etc.

She then went on about how the blood pressure readings must be wrong etc until I pointed out they had been taken by my work's nurse. And then did I get it for not having the forms, using the blood pressure machine in the practice etc.

This happens all the time and I avoid the receptionists like the plague as they are the rudest folk I have ever encountered.

Well often people are a bit stressed if they are ill, plus so many employers are ridiculous wankers about time off to see Doctors, that if you get a knock back when you need care you feel unemoloyable/a problem/like you are going to get fired.
Some receptionists do see the job as a battle of wills too, and can be very free with the 'what we can't do' but less free with what we can. Also there can be a 'protect the boss' attitude that is 'traditional' in support staff

We are well aware we're not doctors, we are doing what we have been told to by the doctors. We don't need to be told every time someone phones up that we are not doctors because we do know this. We are however trained to pass information on to the doctor if needs be. This means we can pass messages on if you need a further script or information about your referral or if your test results are back. Because although we are not doctors we do know how to do these things. We can also advise on the best clinician to see. We know this but we also know we are not doctors. We cannot advise and we cannot get you seen by the best person to help if you don't tell us what the issue is.

'On call' means we have one doctor every day who deals with triage/urgent prescriptions.

If there's ever any question we ask a nurse or doctor if something is triage appropriate before putting it on the list, but if we put something on the list that's not appropriate we'll get a bollocking from the on call doctor as funnily enough they're actually very busy and it's important that they deal with the most pressing matters first.

If someone calls and says "I would like to go on the triage list." I'll reply "Ok, can I ask for your symptoms or is it a personal matter?" and if they say its personal they go on the list no questions asked.

Are you being argumentative for the sake of it? I'm sorry if you've had bad experiences with receptionists in the past but a lot of people in this thread are casting blanket judgements which are never correct.

I've spent the whole week helping patients to the best of my ability, being compassionate, as helpful as possible and staying calm while people shout at me and call me every name under the sun.

If you're pissed off with us because we can't offer you an appointment as and when you want it maybe you should support the people lobbying for more funding for the NHS.

My doctor told me that the receptionists could be 'over zealous'

My GP's receptionist is a complete cow. Always so so rude. I never am rude back.

I always try to be nice to the receptionist but sometimes they say and do the stupidest things.

I recently had to go for a check up after I got burns to both hands (I tried to catch a hot pan with both hands). I couldn't write a thing, not even hold a pen but the receptionist refused to book me in until I had filled out a new form confirming my details.(they already had these details, they hadn't changed)

I explained I couldn't fill it in due to the burns on my hands and could she just let me complete it at a later date or can I just verbally confirm them to her while she checked the pc because I couldn't fill it in or sign it. She refused to allow me to attend my appointment without it being completed, I naturally got a bit cross and I insisted she book me as I was getting near to my appointment time and we had this stupid standoff where she wouldn't until the form was completed but I couldn't due to my injuries. I did get a bit huffy and scribbled on the form and asked her to send me another one in the post if she couldn't read it (which they did).

Really should she have been so stupid? It was obvious I couldn't fill it in as my hands were bandaged, I wasn't just being arsey about filling it in. The worse thing was my details had not changed from those on the computer they had already got. I could have easily confirmed them to her (as I suggested) while I was stood there but she said absolutely not.

On another occasion I dropped in to ask for a repeat prescription and she refused to request it and suggested I visit the pharmacist about my long term health condition instead of allowing me to request the medication I needed. I had to get the pharmacist to request a repeat prescription for me by phone from the doctor.

She really is bloody annoying and I'm convinced she is only still employed because no one would want her job as she has caused so much upset to the local community.

Wow some really mean people on here. The receptionists are there to do a job, they follow instructions but i find it really sad that people take thrir frustrations out on them.
It is not the receptionists fault you can't see a doctor within half an hour, nor that you with your cold ate not considered a priority over someone with chest pains.
The NHS is shit but not because if receptionists.
My GP's receptionists are lovely and i am lovely to them. I don't care i have to tell them my symptoms if it means i can get an appointment, and for the record i'm sure they didn't all get together and decide this between them. Give them a break, i'm sure they are only twatty to you in response to your own attitude
And no, before some smartarse asks, i am not a receptionist

My GP receptionists are pretty dreadful. One of them in particular clearly wants to get you off the phone asap. I don't care if she's busy, it's not appropriate to say to a patient who's trying to find out if she needs to come in to the surgery to see the doctor about test results 'I can't sit on the phone all day.' That happened to me less than a month ago. I know they're busy, I know they're under pressure, I know some people are abusive to them. You don't improve matters by being rude to people who are polite to you, though.

People will demand to see the on call doctor because they've run out of their contraceptive pill and they're going on holiday tomorrow - sorry but that isn't urgent and isn't a good use of our doctors time
I am very organised, unfortunately i have had multiple errors with prescriptions going missing, medications not being ordered, so do you assume all these people are lazy?
If i dont take my pill i get ill, id be really pissed if it was assumed i was simply lazy

And this is why I quit best thing I ever did! I put this on another thread but I got called a cunt more than once and got threatened by a patient for nothing more than politely doing my job and following rules laid down by the practice management.
I did work with one woman who we kept away from patients as much as possible because she was a cow to us, never mind them but the rest of us did our best and I loved most of it. A minority of patients and one doctor made my work life almost unbearable until I needed to go for my own sanity.
Never ever again.

if we put something on the list that's not appropriate we'll get a bollocking from the on call doctor

Then they shouldn't be asking you to triage - it isn't fair on you and it exposes them.

I'll reply "Ok, can I ask for your symptoms or is it a personal matter?" and if they say its personal they go on the list no questions asked.

Which is fine but not what you initially said.

Are you being argumentative for the sake of it?

I find it interesting that you dismiss my different and bad experience as argumentative.

If you're pissed off with us because we can't offer you an appointment as and when you want it maybe you should support the people lobbying for more funding for the NHS.

Like I've been doing for the last couple of decades? Again I find your assumptions interesting. I've also worked in this sector.

Of course GP practices are private businesses contracting to the NHS. The current senior partner in mine spends more time golfing than in the surgery which also has a significant impact on the services - he isn't a patch on the previous seniors and that undoubtedly rubbed off on the staff when he took over. I've also noted that since a couple of the old receptionists left and two new ones joined its been better despite the cuts in services.

I've seen a lot of people here explicitly describe their personal experiences and try not to generalise.

I was on the bus the other day. Bus driver was a complete twat, wouldn't give me any change and seemed really mardy. Alll bus drivers are wankers!

ReinettePompadour
If ypur medication is on repeat can you request online?
Or get your pharmacy to order it instead?

minionsrule i'm sure they are only twatty to you in response to your own attitude - how dare you. You don't know me and I certainly don't want to know you. The receptionist was once so rude to me that the GP had to order her to apologise to me (he was coming out with another patient and overheard her and he wasn't even my GP).

So please keep your ignorant assumptions to yourself,