A lesson in patience

I received a voicemail today informing me that my doctor’s appointment this afternoon needed to be cancelled due to an emergency, and asked if I could please call back to reschedule.

 

First of all, let me just say that voicemails and I do not mix. We are not friends. I hurriedly memorized the number they gave me to call, deleted the message and called them back.

 

Me: “Hi, I received a voicemail from your office asking me to call back and reschedule my appointment from this afternoon?”

 

Receptionist: “Oh, I wasn’t the one who called you, do you know who left the message?”

 

Me: Shoot. “No I don’t remember… sorry.”

 

Receptionist: “That’s ok, what’s your doctor’s name?”

 

Let me explain. My primary doc isn’t at the clinic anymore so they scheduled me with a different one. Did I write the name down? No.

 

Me: “Actually, no… my primary doctor left the clinic so I was scheduled with a different one but I don’t remember her name… sorry.”

 

Then Ms. Receptionist got huffy.

 

Receptionist: “Well I’m going to have to ask you to go back and listen to that voicemail and call back when you have more information.”

 

Me: Um, rude much? “Well, my appointment was supposed to be at 4:40 today, is there no other way to look it up?” You called ME, people!

 

The story ends with them figuring it out and rescheduling me. But then I started thinking about all the times people call into my office saying they saw one of our real estate signs in Auburn, or wait maybe it was Kent? I guess it could’ve been Auburn though? Then we go through the rigmarole of me asking them if they saw an agent name on the sign (“There was no name!”) or a more precise location (“Well how many signs do you have??”), to which my responses would be that I MAKE these signs so I know they all have agent names on them, and that we have over a hundred properties which makes the sign count at least 200.

 

… ok, so I don’t really respond that way. But I think it. Anywho, I just wanted to say that I identify with today’s receptionist and can sympathize with how annoying it must be to deal with people who can’t hang onto the simplest of information, myself included.

 

To which I respond, maybe next time they could just send me an e-mail? Then we could all have the information in front of us? Send voicemails to the grave, I say!