Hi everyone, I've just had a very unpleasant phone call with the receptionist at my dentists office. I've been with them for a few years now. I know how lucky I am to have a dentist, especially with the NHS and as such I've never cancelled, rescheduled or been late to an appointment.
Anyway, I've had terrible tooth ache since Monday night. I've been monitoring it, taking painkillers and hoped it would go away on its own. This particular tooth can be sensitive at times, however it hasn't stopped on this occasion and seems to be getting worse.
I phoned the dentist this morning to ask for an appointment and before I'd even had a chance to finish my sentence/explain what was wrong, the receptionist cut me off and said "well it's no good phoning now, why didn't you phone on Monday?" I replied "Ok, well I wanted to see how I got on. The tooth can be sensitive sometimes and the pain never usually lasts this long". She ignored me and offered me an appointment on Monday.
I'm travelling for work on Monday and had totally forgot so I apologised and said "I'm so sorry, Monday is the only day I can't do because I have a work trip and I can't cancel it at such short notice, do you have any other days available?". She then said, quite sarcastically "we don't, no. Look I've offered you an appointment on Monday and you don't want it". I told her it wasn't because I didn't want it (of course I want to get it sorted) but that I was going to be 6 hours away and couldn't come without cancelling the entire trip. She then managed to find me another slot on Wednesday.
I'm very grateful for the appointment obviously, but was there any need for this attitude/unpleasantness? I know how much shit nurses/receptionists put up with from patients at times. But this woman just seemed gunning for an argument as soon as she answered the phone.