Feel utterly ashamed of myself, today I watched a doctors receptionist speak so appallingly to two patients and, instead of challenging her, or mentioning it to another staff member, like a coward I froze in fear.
long story short, long queue at surgery for the last appointments of the day and one late 20s girl and another maybe 50s, asked something rather innocuous, as I heard blood test and referral. Each time the receptionist was talking to them both like they committed a crime.
The younger girl took her bollocking and said she would call back on Monday after 2pm. The woman though, fair play, tried to give it back but the receptionist used her leverage as staff to make the woman back down.
maybe both patients had done something so terrible to illicit such a response but the receptionist appeared that she quite enjoyed belittling them, loudly and publicly. The thing is, most of what I heard in the queue was from her tone not theirs.
Most of us were shocked and we did the rather British thing of tut and shake our heads.
However, I am ashamed because I would have desperately wanted someone to stand up for me if I were being baited and humiliated it public and instead I froze (I’ve had an incident where I was reduced to tears so I know how demoralising it can be) instead of being a good human being and standing up for them.
Being so cowardly in that moment, is really affecting me to such an extent on a Friday I’m on MN writing this thread.
should I report what I saw? I know I couldn’t help in the moment but would it be reasonable to report it via an online reporting form or a call on Monday?
or should I let it go and hope she doesn’t humiliate any other patients.