To report this receptionist?

[Ezlo]

Today I had to call in at my surgery to get blood bags.

I had to queue for a while to get seen to and when I did, the receptionist didn't smile, she didn't apologise for the long wait and then couldn't find on the system why I needed the blood to be taken. Her colleague eventually helped and after more faffing, I got my blood bag. She had a sour face throughout.

There were two other staff members Sat who were only taking prescription requests or arriving people in for their appointments but were mostly sat without any patients.

By that point I had just missed the hourly bus to where the bloods where being taken and had to walk about a mile all up hill whilst severly anaemic.

This is the same clinic where you can only book an appointment by going in to surgery at 8am each weekday or by using the online triage which is accessible from 8am to around 9.15am each weekday. If you work those times then you don't get an appointment. They refuse to give appointments by phone.

Being customer facing demands some acting skills, IMO. When a new person appears in front of you, you should be able to put aside everything else, pin a smile on and ask how you can help them.
In your situation I'd probably put some feedback on their website without being specific about which receptionist it was.

Most of the above posters don't have a clue what the job entails. I'd like to see you giving it a go but no you won't.

Perhaps if you smiled at the Receptionist you would get a smile in return. It's a stressful job dealing with the rude, entitled, demanding and self absorbed of society who feel they are owed something and who always blame others for their shortcomings.

@Frenzi 💐 to you from a fellow Receptionist. If my colleague was to read what you went through I expect she wouldn't complain about being peed on by a child and having to go home and get changed or the shit she had to clean up off the toilet floor. She wasn't smiling either.

It's a flawed system (understatement), it would have been nice to get better customer service, and it's unfortunate you missed your bus. However, complaining is unlikely to resolve any of this.

Your interpretation of her facial expression just isn't something you can complain about. It's subjective, people look different, and it's easy to miss a quick smile on some people.

I wouldn't normally expect an apology for waiting in a queue at a reception.

She had trouble finding your information. That's not necessarily her fault. Someone came to help her. Why call that faffing around - do you know the system they were working with?

You're judging that the delay was her fault without evidence here. Why complain and worry and upset someone on low pay in a hard job without solid facts to go on. You don't know what her manager is like and whether she will get a fair hearing. Save complaints for definite problems.

It's a miserable world with people constantly jumping to pull each other down. What would you get out of doing this?

Make it a request to improve the system instead.

And I would have told you "excuse me, I'm dealing with this patient first". How rude are you?

I'm sorry you missed your bus but I don't see how this is in the receptionist or the surgery's fault.

My elderly father couldn't get a GP appointment despite phoning during the allotted times for several weeks and in the end visited the surgery he's been registered with since 1968 and the receptionist smirked and told him he would have to write a note and then pointed at a tray of notes and papers that was over a foot high!

My father asked if he could use a pen and some paper and the utter bitch said no and he would have to bring his own as she was fed up of people stealing her pens! There were no other people in the surgery so he would have written it in front of her!

My lovely dad felt humiliated and had to walk home and get a paper and pen and return and the woman continued to smirk at him.

I asked my dad why he didn't stand up to her and he said he was worried she would tear his note up after he had gone.

That's a receptionist that should be complained about, not your one!

I mean you could do it politely - like, "is there any chance I could jump ahead and get my blood bags because I'm going to miss my bus otherwise", but only if you are happy with a no, sorry, have to do this or that first.

I am amazed anyone thinks that demanding faster service again and again, even with a "please" is appropriate in an NHS surgery. They are horribly stretched and they can't always prioritize you. This wasn't a medical emergency. It was an inconvenience.

I don’t think it is ok, but it is so minor. I don’t really see how anyone can think this is something worth making an official complaint about. It would be a total waste of OPs time.

This
Don't complain about the receptionist. I would make a complaint about the complicated system to get a blood test

Not quite sure that you understand what a queue means. Why should you feel that you can shout your way to the front of it, over other people? Would you be happy for someone to do that to you?

Report her for what…? Because you had to queue (shock) and then she didn’t smile at you?

You missing the bus isn’t their problem at all - they see people on a first come first served basis, not by who has to catch the bus first.

I don't think it is the receptionist you should be complaining about. The booking system which is discriminatory against many groups which are in scope for the 2010 Equalities Act is far worse.

She did her job 🤷‍♀️

I suppose it's because I think people in customer facing roles dealing with people who could be vulnerable are likely to feel the person "helping" them is less approachable if they put a sour face on so they won't divulge all their issues. In my line of work, the outcome could have had financial implications. It wouldn't have happened if I was the person they dealt with because I put a face on and mitigated the rubbish system. In a medical receptionist's, the outcome could be worsening health because they don't want to engage with a surgery with staff who don't appear concerned about their health issues. The issue is in my sector people could choose another provider. Not so easy in nhs

Nobody owes someone a bloody smile. Why do you think her face is anything to do with the person Infront of her.

To me this is sexist, smile woman smile 🤦‍♀️

Not necessarily. People need to trust their surgery reception staff are actually bothered enough about them so they don't hold back with other concerns that could impact their health

Nobody said only female receptionists are the only ones who should show approachability (a smile doesn't hurt). I'd expect the same from a male. I don't think this is a debate about gender

She wouldn't act like that if it was her own business. She would be trying to impress you and hope for business.

In this case she should have smile and there's nothing wrong with being polite.
What sort of customer service does she expect?

And we wonder why so many leave. 🤦‍♀️

What exactly would you be reporting?

Receptionist doesn't need to apologise for que, that's not her fault. Neither is a sour face, I assume because she's got a shit tonne of work to do.

And it's unlikely that the other receptionists could have dealt with people - there's huge amounts of admin to do that has to be done at the same time as checking people in/face to face queries. They can't pause that to see to someone.

Why is your first response to complain? Do you think they might have 'sour faces' because of people quick to have a go like yourself perhaps?

Having a ‘sour’ face apparently 😂😂

I have never met a pleasant GP receptionist. They are universally rude, grumpy, don't meet your eye, offer zero pleasantries and are unfairly annoyed when you can't navigate their ridiculous booking systems, which they can do something about.

I've met loads of normal to lovely GP receptionists. They seem similar in presentation to any other receptionists. I have no idea where all of these rude receptionists are clustered. Is it a regional thing?

I'm a receptionist in the NHS and I consider it an integral part of my job to be friendly and welcoming and to recognise that people who use our service are anxious, stressed and need small kindnesses when navigating their ill health. We're the front facing staff, the first point of contact for our patients. I also find that receptionists who are friendly tend to experience less aggression from patients. There are always rude patients (we don't see them at their best) but to some extent it's a "you get what you give" scenario.

As for navigating ridiculous booking systems thunder legs you'll find that receptionists have no say in the criteria for providing appointments. We have guidelines we must stick to when booking appointments and if we don't follow them we get it in the neck from both the clinicians and management. We're kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place as decisions are made about how we have to triage patients and in terms of hierarchy, we are the bottom of the pile, staff wise.

The bottom line is, there is simply not enough funding for primary care and some really difficult decisions have to be made, that we have to enforce, usually to the detriment of our patients.

Op, I would feel cross if I were you too but I really think you need to take a bit of time to cool down and then compose a complaint about the ridiculous blood bag situation. I'd also use this as a learning curve to allow more time in future: it's annoying, but you'll be less stressed.