Furious and seeing stars!!!!

You know some people, no matter how hard you try to bend over backwards for them, just cannot be pleased. I'm very used to that working with the public, (as a secretary in a doc's office), and I know that I shouldn't let it piss me off...but sometimes, I just can't help it. This is what transpired...

Me: Blah Blah Neurology how can I help you?

Beotch: Yes, I need to make an appt. with Dr. so and so.

Me: Our next availabe is 4 pm next Thursday.

B: Oh, do you have anything for tomorrow or Monday?

Me: Are you having problems, or is this a routine follow-up?

B: (very sarcastically) I need a referral to another physician, my physical therapist says there is nothing more they can do for me.

Me: Ok, well I can take a message for you.

B: (very loudly) I am NOT leaving another message. I've already left 4 of them, and noone has bothered to call me back! And I WILL NOT leave my number again!!!

Me: Ooookkkaaayyy! (I work this front desk 5 days a week and this name is not even familiar to me...I have no idea how she could have left so many messages without me even seeing one of them!)

B: Well, I'll just take that appt. that you offered. (Very snottily) What time was that?

Me: That was 4 pm.

B: Fine! (she slams phone down)

Okey dokey then! I hang up the phone and am somewhat irritated, but whatever. Just another phone call.

Patient then calls back and this is what she says;

B: This is xxxxxx xxxxxx, and I want to cancel that appointment and you need to ask her what other doctor she can refer me to!

Me: Ok, I will do that.
(She hangs up on me...AGAIN! WTF?)

I get off the phone, a little more pissed off this time. The nurse asks me, "what's going on?" I give her the low down. She asks the patient's name, and when I tell her she is like, "no way, I have tried calling her back!" She goes to get the phone message and it says that when she called the patient back, she was told, "this is a big building and we have no idea who that is!" LOL

So, I decide that I will try and call too. I call the number that the patient herself gave the nurse and get, "I've never heard of this person". So, I go into the computer system, look up her work number and find an extension. Only, the extension that is in there gives me someone else's answering machine. Can't leave a message there! Ugh! (Yes, at this point, I'm getting beyond pissed!) I then call the main number there and just ask for the patient...lo and behold, they connect me.

Me: (Patient name), this is Dr. so and so's office, returning your phone call. I wanted to let you know, that after I got off the phone with you, the nurse recognized your name, and said that actually, she had made attempts to contact you about the message you left. Unfortunately, when she tried to contact you by calling the number she had written down, they said 'this is a big building, and we don't know who that is!'

B: Well, I give my work number out each and every day, and I KNOW that I gave her the correct number. So, don't you call here accusing me of giving out the wrong number, because I KNOW my work number! It's her mistake, and she took it down wrong!

Me: The purpose of my call was not to accuse you of anything maam, it was to help you in resolving the situation.

B: No! You WERE just calling to accuse me!

Me: As I said before, I was calling to HELP YOU IN RESOLVING THIS...(patience wearing thin now).

B: No, like I said before, you only called me to accuse me of giving the wrong number.

(Ok, I admit it, PART of the reason that I called her back, was to do just that...it was the only way I could possibly get back at her for treating me like shit! But still...I was going to help her in getting her issue resolved!)

Me: The message I have states that you need a letter to your insurance company. We need to know the details of what this letter needs to say.

B: That's NOT WHAT I NEED NOW!!!! I need to see another physician.

Me: Can you hold a moment please?

(By now, this beotch literally has me shaking...I take my little messages back to the doc and tell her that she HAS to talk to this irate patient, because I can't get anywhere with her! She gives me the type of doc that she was referring the patient to, and says that she will be calling to speak with her about it in a few. I go back to the phone...)

Me: Dr. so and so says that she would like you to see the Physiatrist (not to be confused with a psychiatrist, but MY opinion is that this one needs that too...BIGTIME.), and she will call you shortly to discuss this.

B: (slams phone down)

The doc calls me in her office a few minutes later, (and she was now fuming too). She says that the patient was VERY rude and ended up hanging up on her too! (Now this is highly unusual, patient's hardly ever treat the docs like shit!)

I go about my business and just try to forget about what had just happened....go on with the day. About an hour later, the doc calls me in her office again. She says that she was looking in her past notes about that patient and even noted how incredibly nice she was, and that she now REALLY remembers her and her history. Apparently, at her visits, the doc says that she remembers very clearly thinking that the patient was very nice and compliant for having the injuries that she did and that this was a very significant personality change for her. That's not good, at all. She's now thinking the patient is manic and needs some serious help.

Now, I'm feeling bad and concerned for her. (Funny how that can happen, when an hour earlier, I was ready to reach through the phone and just strangle her!) Anyhow, the doc is trying to get in touch with her primary doc to discuss the case. Don't know what will happen with that. Will try and keep you posted about how that turns out!

Gonna post other stuff in a while! (Feel better getting all that off my chest though...welcome to mine and Peanutt's working world! LOL)

Have a great day all!

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