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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Our Receptionist is really rude on the phone!

71 replies

fanfan18 · 31/07/2018 12:20

I'm looking for a bit of advice really or to be told IABU and should just ignore it!

We have a receptionist at my office and her way on the telephone is awful. She has been here longer than anyone else and to be honest she is quite scary. She answers as though she is in a terrible bad mood, one word answers, blocks calls from clients who then call my mobile a bit irate.

I just had a customer put through to me this morning who said "what on earths wrong with the receptionist, she's damn rude!". It was quite embarrassing. I'm not her boss or line manager or anything but also don't particularly want to raise it with a Director (we are only a small company so most of us report to a Director). She can be quite aggressive but she is also very very sensitive so i'm at a bit of a loss.

I don't want the customers put off or get a bad impression but she isn't the kind of person I could just casually mention this to. I think she would be angry.

Any advice?

OP posts:

Happygoldfinch · 31/07/2018 15:37

Definitely what @labradoodliedoodoo said. Nice solution!

BoneyBackJefferson · 31/07/2018 15:41

fanfan18

when I say "just" the receptionist, I mean does she have some other role within the company that you don't know about.

Does she have some other link with upper management? is she wife, mother, daughter of someone higher up?

Whereismumhiding2 · 31/07/2018 15:42

Is drop a memo (marked confidential) (if you can't confidentially use his email) to her line manager (if that's the director then so be it). Factual and brief.

It's better to put things in writing as then you control what was said/heard by person you report it to.
What @Sparklesocks said at 12:58 is very well worded.

Whereismumhiding2 · 31/07/2018 15:46

If it's a small company, it can't afford to beoaing business or to gain a reputation as having an unhelpful attitude (which is what receptionist is presenting as company face).
You reporting facts does not affect how her manager decides to deal with it. For e.g. it might be she is going through a hard time, or that she has a problem with some of the clients, but her line manager needs to have that conversation with her. And to support or retrain her if that's required.

Original poster

fanfan18 · 31/07/2018 15:49

@boneybackjefferson

Apologies I mis-read.

Her role is quite varied, she does admin for the directors, books travel - office admin generally but from the front desk.

OP posts:

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 31/07/2018 15:51

The only worry with emailing her is that she sounds like she could just ignore it and carry on regardless. If she's spoken to by her superior it might have an effect on how she is in future.

Original poster

fanfan18 · 31/07/2018 15:51

There must be more than you thatnhas noticed her behaviour?

A few people have said that now! Maybe once I mention it i'll find out but to my knowledge no one else has picked up on it. She is the only 100% office based person though as the rest of us come and go for meetings / site visits etc. Maybe the others just haven't noticed. I'm not sure.

OP posts:

sporadicrains · 31/07/2018 16:00

Sounds to me like she has got a finger in every pie in the place and I suspect she thinks of herself as the office manager rather than just a receptionist.
Perhaps it might be worth mentioning the complaint in passing to your own boss rather than hers, and purely as a comment passed on by a client who moaned about her.

LeftRightCentre · 31/07/2018 16:21

'just a receptionist' is the reason it's the shittiest job in the whole office structure. Or receptionist/admin assistant, where you're expected to do everything and answer the fucking phone, too. For shitty pay. I don't disagree with reporting her, but man, it's a shit role for being so vital as so many on here claim. I did it a few times and then signed on with a cleaning agency as at least then I was only treated like shit by a couple of people a day rather than every fucker in the place plus those on the phone.

BoneyBackJefferson · 31/07/2018 18:04

LeftRightCentre

Quote the whole thing or at least read all the way through, before misrepresenting what was said.

ForalltheSaints · 31/07/2018 18:23

I think you should raise it, as it must be affecting business. As the only 100% office based person it may have been missed.

LeftRightCentre · 31/07/2018 19:47

It's not misrepresentational to point out the role is a shitty one Boney but if you have a problem with how people post and it's not to your liking then by all means report my post to HQ because they are the ones who dictate how people post not you.

Tubie · 31/07/2018 20:00

Raise it, the director could be waiting for some better evidence. Especially if she has been in the job a long time, it is a long particular process through warnings etc to dismissal when is not gross misconduct. Each step has to be made with evidence and yours may help them raise it with her. She then chooses to improve or provides them with a behavioral reference point ( it was raised with her, expectations expressed and discussed) against which they can once again monitor more closely and act upon.

ItLooksABitOff · 31/07/2018 20:38

Agree with PP that Receptionist is a very important role and should be paid as such.

Good luck, OP.

BoneyBackJefferson · 01/08/2018 00:08

LeftRightCentre

I have a problem with you misrepresenting what I put in a post, but you seem quite happy to do so.

LeftRightCentre · 01/08/2018 02:12

Considering several people posted 'just a receptionist' have you considered that perhaps not everyone and everything is all about you? It must be hell to go through life thinking every single person is out to get you. I wrote 'just the receptionist', you wrote 'just' a receptionist, two entirely different phrases. But again, as you feel it's a personal attack, report to HQ since they ultimately decide how people post.

BitOfFun · 01/08/2018 02:35

My understanding of the 'just a receptionist' query was that it was an attempt to ascertain whether there was also some kind of ubiquitous IT access involved which might compromise internal emails about her conduct.

Kicking off about it seems to point to the kind of defensive 'sensitivity' previously mentioned.

User1011 · 01/08/2018 03:00

I’ve found a lot of medical receptionists to be rude and condescending.
Is it receptionists in general?!

BitOfFun · 01/08/2018 03:28

Definitely not. It is their role (usually) to be the welcoming first encounter with a business. The conflict generally occurs when they are also expected to act as a 'gatekeeper', and this is made a priority by the workplace. In many ways it's a thankless task.

usernameismyusername · 01/08/2018 04:37

I'm amazed she gets away with it and no one has complained before. I'm in a Australia so different rates of pay, but I was always paid well as a receptionist, especially in a corporate role. I would never dream of being rude to people. The only rude receptionists I ever come across here are at gp's!

Original poster

fanfan18 · 01/08/2018 08:06

Like I said, she has been here a long long time. Longer than anyone else, even the owners / directors! I imagine that's why she has gotten away with it for so long. She would have definitely been tasked with being a "gatekeeper" at some point because I would genuinely be scared to be a salesperson calling this office.

OP posts:

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