Office Abuse

Most of the patients we see at my office are really nice.  Very friendly.  They call me sweetie, sometimes, and always compliment me on my handmade jewelry.

But every once in a while, someone has a bad attitude.

I know we all have our good days and our bad days, but I really do not believe there is any reason to be rude and belligerent as demonstrated by the following message that we received earlier today while we were on our lunch break.

(And might I note that this is literally word for word.  I wasted 5 minutes listening to it over and over and copying it down because I really could not believe that it actually happened.)

2/23/10  1:11pm

"My name is ______.  Dr. Smith (1).  John.  Or whatever the hell his name is.  Stupid.  I don't know who would name their kid that name.  Uh.  And I think it's 2.5mg of Klonapin or whatever the hell it is.  I don't know.  But uh, I'm out of it.  It's a little yellow pill.  I'm sure the pharmacist knows (2).  But I don't have any left at all, so I would appreciate it if you do it as soon as possible.  You make enough money off me, you know.  You don't even have Monday appointments (3).  That's ridiculous.  You have an easier job than me (4).  It better be done in two days (5).  I will be calling back and I'm not happy so make sure it's done.  (6)"

(1)  I changed their names to protect the innocent.
(2)  Notice he never actually provided a pharmacy phone number.  Or a phone number where we could reach him to ask him who the hell he thinks he is talking to us like that.
(3) The doctor works at another clinic on Mondays and Tuesdays.
(4)  Do you work in a coal mine?  Are you a rocket scientist?  No?  Then shut up.
(5)  Our medication policy states that it generally takes 2 business days to process a prescription request between appointments.
(6)  ...

Janine (the other receptionist) and I were basically speechless.  Text doesn't even do it justice.  I wish there was a way I could record it and take out all the HIPAA privacy protected information and play it for you guys because it was totally unreal.

It just slays me that someone could act like that when they are asking for a favor.


Anyway.  Neither of us are very interested in helping this guy out.  Unfortunately, that's what they pay us for, so we're going to have to.

Janine just called him and got his voice mail and left a message asking for a pharmacy phone number with emphasis on the fact that we would be more than happy to help him if he provided us with the information we need.  Haha that was awesome.

I feel better now that I vented.

I wonder what adventures we'll have tomorrow!  :)