School reception was rude to me

[Avalaura]

Do I have the right to be angry?
My son moved school and today I forgot to give him some money for a stall were they will be selling buns. So i went to recpetion to see if anyone could give the money to him because they always did at the other school. And she just said " I haven't got time for that I'm afraid I've got other things to do " and then when I walked away she said to other people in the corridor that she has other things to do not bother with that. Then I waited for the reception door to open because it's a lock one. Then she said the other woman that she said she could take it up for her but she can't bother with silly things like that. Im so angry should I complain?

Yes they sound unprofessional and rude.
Primary age kids forget stuff all the time. I've had kids in primary for a total of 12 years and the reception staff have always been polite and happy to deal with requests.
The secondary school here have a system where each Y8 spends one day working as "pupil receptionist" ie as a runner. Works really well.

She was certainly brusque.

No it isn't her job - or anyone else's in school - to fix your mistakes. You forgot something, and there were consequences. Nothing major, but there we go.
Yes, many school staff will do it anyway because they're generally helpful.
Some periods, however, are extra busy and stressful and the nice helpful 'bonus bits' fall by the wayside.

She didn't need to say No in an unpleasant way, but she definitely had the right to turn you down.

Some days it's an endless procession of people dropping off swimming kits/lunches/water bottles/permission slips/PE kits/suncream and I feel for the office staff who have busy jobs already without schlepping to classrooms interrupting lessons because of parental absentmindedness.

EvilEdna1

Same, along with all my school office colleagues, one of whom is s highly qualified lawyer.

I take that view that it's reasonable for both schools and parents to grin and bear each other's minor omissions. I am quite surprised that some see this as an outrageous request.

yes, it's annoying, and no doubt there are several people each day bringing forgotten items in. Having had two DC at school for 8 years now, I've probably had to do this on 3-4 occasions. I always apologise for our mistake, but it's always been a bit of essential kit for that day (food tech ingredients, PE bag, completed homework) and I've perhaps wrongly assumed that the school would rather a small interruption than have the child miss on on that bit of the day's learning.

I would like to add that I've had both doctor's and school receptionists that go out of their way to be helpful and are very professional. I've had some that do their job professionally and no more (fair enough) and there are the variety who seem to roll their eyes at you before you've even opened your mouth.

She was definitely rude and shouldn't be a receptionist of she can't manage to be polite when responding to simple requests.

Where I work it wouldn't have been a problem. Also if your child was one of the only ones with no money, a staff member would have given them some spare change.

It's a school, happy children and good relationships with parents are always number one priority.

Dreadfully rude Op

She is clearly way too important to help you out.

Hope dc got their cake

That's the main thing

I would contact your son's teacher if he's of primary age and the head if secondary and ask what is considered important enough for reception to pass on to him. That raises it without 'making a complaint' and you actually need to know. What if he had vital medicine that he had forgotten for instance? Would that be passed on?

vital medicine versus money for buns

Yes, I can see how a receptionist might easily confuse the two.

Yes, rudeness is annoying, but it's not worth getting into bed about. If anger is your response every time you encounter rudeness, you're going to spend an awful lot of your life angry. Life's full of wankers, and I for one am not about to give them that power.

Doesn't make it right; doesn't make rude behaviour OK; doesn't make having to tolerate rude behaviour in silence ideal, either. But as we all know the world's not ideal. I've learned to choose my battles, and I complain when I consider a situation serious enough. If you're a regular service-user (i.e. GP surgery or your kids' school) you're far more likely to be taken seriously if you raise a real grievance than if you're known for raising minor complaints about trivialities.

I'd be letting this one go. In the scheme of things, it isn't particularly important.

You were having a bad day (forgot money)
She was having a bad day (was rude).

It's good that you have decided to shrug and walk away frm it.

I hope your DS gets on well in his new school.

Well they wont get the money off the bun funds then will they 🤷‍♀️

"Yes, rudeness is annoying, but it's not worth getting into bed about".

Is that a saying. I have never heard anyone say that something is "not worth getting into bed about" before. Does it mean it's not worth getting angry about, because that's an odd way to say it IMHO or does it mean something else?

She was rude so yanbu , yes it is sat"s week but even if she couldn't take to to your DS surely someone could have just popped it in .My DD primary all the staff are lovely. If something is forgotten the admin will slip it to the child normally as soon as you drop it .We are all human we forget sometimes .

Lemme get this right.
You forgot one thing, you think the rest of the world revolves around you?
When you found out you’re not important to anyone else, you think they’re being rude and you want to complain that you forgot to bring money? 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️
What good would complaining do? Apart from making you look like a twat?
Get a grip love.

Wow @NannyRed something certainly touched a raw nerve! I would've thought the happiness of a new starter to the school was important and would think the rude receptionist should've thought that also What about pastoral care?

It was probably the 25th time a parent had brought in a forgotten item that day and tbh money for a bun sale isn’t exactly crucial. It is a waste of her time and perhaps you weren’t sufficiently grovelling about the inconvenience? I can see why she was fed up.

My DDs' school would always do this. The Receptionist sounds really grumpy.

She sounded a bit rude TBH. When I was a receptionist we were always busy but I never minded helping out with things like this.

I've not read the entire thread but I have to say the receptionist at our school would have done this in a heartbeat. She is so pleasant and lovely and if I popped into reception and said 'sorry but DD has forgotten her cake money would someone be able to get this to her' not only would she already know who my daughter was (shes given her antibiotics every day for 2 weeks in the past for us), she'd know what class she was in and she'd say it with a smile.
Shes wonderful.
OP I don't think you are BU to ask, shes not BU to decline if she is busy but she is BU if she was very rude.

Passing on forgotten items is part of the job.
Sometimes They call the kids to the office, sometimes they deliver to the classroom.

Our receptionist has form for being a bit off and is known for being a bit sharp on the phone and if you are talking she has this way of shutting the conversation down if she thinks it isn’t relevant and then shutting the hatch down, BUT if ever one of the children needs something or a parent brings something in, she will facilitate this. She has told me she knows she is the only one with the power to get forgotten belongings from parent to child, to get a message from child to parent, to pass a message from parent to class teacher etc. So despite her grumpiness (which I suspect comes from being over worked and spending most of her quite harassed) it is never the children that suffer. Parents might feel the sharp side of her tongue, but the children never suffer from that.

She was rude - in my child's school they'd happily help out with something like this.

Yes, of course it was rude of her, and a perfectly reasonable request from you. I work at a school and I would be calling this person if I'd heard her speak to a parent like this.

I think it’s rude too and it wouldn’t be seen as problem at my children’s school. I wouldn’t complain though.

If you have a genuine reason to visit, eg a meeting or school pkay they will regiftwrap you then buzz you in.

Oh gosh, this typo makes me so happy! At least I assume it's a typo! Our office staff are awesome and nothing is too much trouble (including DS turning up for school without his pants a few weeks ago) but I have yet to be gift-wrapped by them. Or indeed re-gift-wrapped.