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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

322 replies

alpacasandwich · 07/07/2017 20:22

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 posts:
nina2b · 07/07/2017 23:07

Dental receptionists can also be dragon-like, as can certain types in school offices.

I think they are jumped up and resentful for some reason which begs the question why do the job is you dislike the public?

orenisthenewblack · 07/07/2017 23:08

In my humble experience, the public can be rude and aggressive to front of line staff. After dealing with 40+ rude calls before lunch, it's hard to be pleasant for the rest of the day. It wears you down.
The frontline staff only pass on policies of managers etc.
I have to remember this myself when I phone anyone with a complaint. No point shooting the messenger.

WaaWaaWaaa · 07/07/2017 23:10

Crikey!!!The drs receptionists at my old cars were Good. At my new ones they are brilliant. I love them! I sent a box of chocolates last year. I have a chronic condition so I'm calling and in often and they even recognize me sometimes on the phone. I have witnessed rudeness from others and they deal with it well. However I have still not witnessed rudeness. In a hurry yes but rudeness no. Love them. They make my life so much easier

brasty · 07/07/2017 23:13

My GP it is easy to get an appointment. I live in an area with no GP vacancies. It makes a real difference. I can get seen when I need to. It is scary as I know being with a GP when you can't see anyone for ages, although you need to see someone. Fear makes people be rude.

Intheknickersoftime · 07/07/2017 23:13

dragon like, rude, jumped up, lazy, nosey, "like others" who work in this profession I find this a tiny bit upsetting. We are human beings trying our best in a difficult situation.

minionsrule · 07/07/2017 23:14

Orenis be careful now, you will be lynched for not agreeing.... have you made any general assumptions in your post.... retract immediately for your own sake Grin

WaaWaaWaaa · 07/07/2017 23:15

My old drs

minionsrule · 07/07/2017 23:16

To all doctors receptionists on here, you are appreciated by some. I wouldn't want to do your job

glitterlips1 · 07/07/2017 23:17

My GP receptionist are really rude. They do that thing where they totally ignore people when they approach the desk. Whatever happened to "I will be with you in a moment?" If I need to make an appointment with one of the nurses I need to tell the whole of the waiting room about it. However, I hardly see my GP nowadays because I can never get an appointment!

TearsOnTheGround · 07/07/2017 23:21

It's not always s bad thing to tell the receptionists a brief description on what's wrong. I don't suppose they really care what it is as they've probably heard it all before. I'm glad I told mine a brief description of what was wrong last week because she bumped me up so to speak from s call back to being seen with a few hours. If I had been s ninny about it I would have got a call back then the gp would have told me to come in and by the time all this was done I probably wouldn't have been seen that day. So it saves everyone time. I'm sure the receptionist isn't interested in people's fanny problems etc!

SuperBeagle · 07/07/2017 23:23

In Aus, but evidently it's much the same here. GP receptionists are some of the rudest people I've encountered.

puffylovett · 07/07/2017 23:28

I got really upset the other day, when our local town Facebook chat forum with over 7000 members wouldn't take down a post complaining about a receptionist at our local surgery. This was an easily identifiable woman in one of only 3 GP surgeries in town, and she was being publicly abused on a public Facebook chat site by 30-40 people. Not one of them could see that what they were doing was utterly vile Hmm, it was 'ok to talk about her because she wasn't being named'!

I belong to the same surgery and have never had anything other than good help and advice, friendly receptionists who go above and beyond, get my kids booked in whenever needed & today organised me a prescription for emergency inhalers for my son & got it over to the pharmacy for evening pick up. I think they do a fab job and I suspect the common theme here is the entitled public rudeness running through our town of late :(

orenisthenewblack · 07/07/2017 23:31

Minion - so sorry, I take it all back, my fault entirely Grin

Puffy that's terrible. Bullying and nothing else.

Original poster
alpacasandwich · 07/07/2017 23:31

I always referred to patients as mr/mrs so and so.

as for this "If you want to use first names then use the doctors first name too. That also goes for the doctor." our doctors at my third surgery all went by their first names. all eleven of them.

Re: frustrations, please write to your practice manager, your MP. A young woman on 7.50 an hour who has to take the full flak for nhs and practice policy 8-6 every weekday is going to breakdown and leave.

I was a great receptionist and I am well shot of that job.

Next time you're in front of someone poorly trained, take into account staff turnover. The only receptionists who stay long term are those who don't give a fuck.

OP posts:
thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 07/07/2017 23:33

Hmm my mam goes to the same GP as me, she always is polite (that I've seen) although she can be judgy. She really doesn't like the GP receptionists and think they're obstructive and rude. Me? I think they're great, friendly, they've always bent over backwards to fit me/the dc in - even when I've phoned in a right state when I thought I was having a mc and when DC was really ill. I do sometimes wonder if it's my mam that winds them up the wrong way.

Original poster
alpacasandwich · 07/07/2017 23:38

I do sometimes wonder if it's my mam that winds them up the wrong way.

Could be the case. The following anecdote isn't about your mum but differences in perception.

I had a patient who was in all other respects a normal bloke, in with elderly mum. He came out and asked if the doctor was muslim. I asked why it was relevant? "Clearly he's letting muslims in before my mum". This was in london so a multi cultural area and many women in hijab.

This was said in front of women in the reception in hijab who were visibly upset.

I told the GP and the man was asked to leave but the mother could of course be seen.

The man called me a nasty, vindictive, spiteful woman and harassed me with a series of phone calls, wrote down my name and threw the pen at me, stormed in and out of the surgery at random through the day to have another go and I had to come off front desk as I was worried he'd attack me.

If you asked his version of events he'd say I was being a spiteful cow.

OP posts:
thatwouldbeanecumenicalmatter · 07/07/2017 23:42

Jesus what a dickhead. You're right he probably goes through his whole life feeling aggrieved at any perceived slight, not realising he's the common denominator.

Original poster
alpacasandwich · 07/07/2017 23:43

As for the argument about people being vulnerable and ill.. in my experience it is not the vulnerable mental health patients I've talked through panic attacks who abuse me, nor the elderly people who need me to call them a taxi, or the medical emergencies I've called ambulances for.

OP posts:
OhTheRoses · 07/07/2017 23:45

Well that's absolutely unacceptable. But I also think my points 1-5 were perfectly reasonable concerns yet you have ignored those.

I'm very pleased to hear that you addressed patients as though they were equal to the doctors. Doesn't happen at my surgery.

Ohmyfuck · 07/07/2017 23:57

I am ALWAYS polite to the receptionists at my GP's and they are ALWAYS abrupt and rude. I'm sorry you are upset at your job, it must be horrid. Flowers

Original poster
alpacasandwich · 07/07/2017 23:58

i skimmed the posts because tbh this thread is not enjoyable, but fine I'll answer your list.

1.This is due to NHS notes management and nothing to do with receptionists.

  1. The doctor would have asked the receptionist to cut something off it.
  1. Poor training.
  1. No idea how to answer that due to lack of info.
  1. Unacceptable but entirely due to GPs. We had a chronic non referral writer GP and were endlessly chasing him to refer and told to lie to cover him. Ditto unfiled test results, they come in electronically and a doctor must review them before they go on the record. Some doctors have months backlog.
  1. You know the public includes receptionists? we do pay tax. based on the tone of your post i imagine you gave her an earful to begin with. Capsules out of stock is a pharmacy problem. Doctor is a doctor problem. What did the receptionist even do here? She certainly didn't compose the data protection act or make the envelope policy.
  1. Because they are spending 20mins talking to other patients!!! I used to sit on the phone 8:30 to 11 and patients would insist i never answered it!
  1. Hardly seems like an egregious mistake.
OP posts:
Original poster
alpacasandwich · 08/07/2017 00:00

Ohmyfuck it was horrid. I quit when I began fantasising about stepping under a train on the journey in.

OP posts:
TooStressyForMyOwnGood · 08/07/2017 00:10

These type of threads never end well OP. YANBU Flowers.

JamesSpaderMadeMeDoIt · 08/07/2017 00:10

I called my GP surgery this morning and asked for an appointment- the next one was AUGUST !!

I had to option of calling the surgery at 0830 am on Monday morning on the off chance they had an appointment (involves calling repeatedly as everyone is doing the same) - this is then repeated the next day until you are given an appointment- hideous if you're ill. I ended up bursting into tears explaining to the receptionist that I'd had a miscarriage and was worried about it (to much private information) and then having the GP call me back this afternoon. If I'd have not been prepared to disclose this information I would not have been able to speak with a doctor.

As per other posters- the patients are usually ill, upset, stressed out and worried so their not at their best. I know it's not nice but it's a fact. Receptionist need to be a bit thick skinned and accept it tbh it's an occupational hazard.

pinotnoirismyjam · 08/07/2017 00:15

Just to add that I love the receptionists at my local GP. They are lovely, and I have no issue giving them the personal information they need to triage my request for an appointment. Yes, obviously, I often spend time on hold trying to book an appointment first thing, but that's hardly the fault of the receptionist.

Every time I've been in to my GP I've witnessed them treated horribly though. I have no idea why - it always seems to be related to repeat prescriptions, with rude people turning up expecting a prescription to appear like magic.

I'm with alpaca - there's no excuse for treating someone like crap just because you feel cranky. It's not the receptionist's fault there's no appointments when you need one.