(Lady walks up to the counter, signs in)
Mary: "Um, your appointment was at 9:00, and it's now 9:28. I'm afraid we won't be able to see you."
Mrs. Notontime: "That's ridiculous. I'm here. You have to see me."
Mary: "I'm sorry. Dr. Grumpy tries to run on time, and has already started with his 9:30. Today is packed, but I can get you in on Thursday."
Mrs. Notontime: "This is illegal. You are in violation of state law, which defines being late for an appointment as more than 30 minutes. Therefore, at 28 minutes, I'm not late."
Mary: "Ma'am there is no such state law, and you're not going to be seen."
Mrs. Notontime: "I'm reporting you to the governor!"
(leaves)
Hope you're not in CA. I'd be scared of the Governator!
ReplyDeleteHaha... perhaps, she missed her dose of ...
ReplyDelete"reality" that's it... 500 mg, 3x a day and she missed the first one.
When she got to the parking lot was she yelling into a banana proclaiming said injustices to the governor?
ReplyDeletei've been "reported" to the fbi for refusing to fill percocet 15 days early and that i refused to give them a few loaner pills.
ReplyDeleteyup i'm shaking in my boots....
Grumpy started his 9:30 early, when she had actually had the time from 9:00A to 9:30A blocked out, the fact that she showed at 9:28A means that she was entitled to a 2 minute appt. The ruling is for the plaintiff. grumpy has breached the implied contract to make himself available for her for said period of time. If she had showed at 9:10 and Grumpy had started his 9:30 , would it be any different. Patients of the world unite.
ReplyDeleteSo is she coming on Thursday? LOL! Boy I hope that you are not running late that day (at least for Mary's well being and sanity).
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays!
I have to say I am in awe of people who can whip up this nonsense on a moment's notice.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they should get what they want, but I am in awe of their creativity on the fly.
She was just fashionably late...
ReplyDeleteMy favorite recently:
ReplyDeletePatient calls, "I'm going to be late."
Patient calls again, "I'm only an hour away. Will the doc see me?"
This would have given patient a 10 minute appointment for a half hour procedure.
No dice...I have office staff call them and tell them to come another day.
Wow.
ReplyDeleteI think she's confusing office appointments and pizza deliveries.
ReplyDeleteI hope she had a British accent.
ReplyDeleteAt the hospital today for tests a lady was complaining about how last time she had to wait two hours for her MRI and she did not want to wait that long this time and she was just letting them know. If she had thought of this, I'm thinking she'd have used it, lol. People are crazy.
ReplyDeletehad a patient today who was worried and by her account of events did need to be seen. it was late, but she was added, and proceeded to show up 25 minutes late. i waited and saw her in my coat. she was fine and i was mellow and she was grateful.
ReplyDelete*headdesk* I've been called a lot of names, and been threatened with a great many things, but being reported to the Governor is a new on one me. Even the new patient last month that was 20 minutes late who didn't have his insurance card and wanted our staff to call his employer and get a copy of his card didn't threaten me with that. He just called me an a**ho*e and stomped off after I told him he needed to reschedule.
ReplyDeleteHang in there, Mary. I feel your pain.
Mary deserves a raise for handling that so tactfully.
ReplyDeleteMost of the clinics in my area have signs that say, "If you are more than 10 minutes late for your appointment, you may be asked to reschedule."
ReplyDeleteAnd yet somehow, if Dr Grumpy were running a few minutes late, I suspect she would be the first in line to complain that it's 0902!!
Loaner pills?
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm pretty sure she's trying to invoke the old (mythical) "If the prof shows up more than 30 minutes late we don't have to go to class" Rule. Nice try lady.
ReplyDeleteBut, Swami Dil, fashionably late doesn't work with Dr. Grumpy. We all know he's not fashionable.
ReplyDeleteOur (dental) office policy is 10 minutes late = rescheduling. The problem is the receptionists don't consistently enforce it. I don't know if it's a favoritism thing, or a cowardice, but some people can be 15 minutes late and still be seen. And when your appointment is only 30 minutes long (which was really too short to begin with) it is really frustrating. Stick to your guns, we support you!
ReplyDeletei have a 15 percent no show or call the day of appointment to reschedule the day of appointment rate.
ReplyDeleteIf you and Mary are lucky, she will never come back. However, since she is shameless enough to tell whoppers, she may be shameless enough to come back.
ReplyDelete"I think she's confusing office appointments and pizza deliveries."
ReplyDeleteSo she thinks she'll get in free? :P
i swear to god are you in arizona? I have seen all of your patients here. do you think they fly around to all 50 states? lol.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like some of the tricks my 7-year-old tries to play on me.
ReplyDeletePt of mine was going to report me to pharmacy board for refusing to give them their rx early. MD wrote it, so it's the LAW I have to fill it. No........
ReplyDeleteremember, the governor can call out the national guard.
ReplyDelete@Jen. WTF!?!
ReplyDeleteA doctor that runs on time.
ReplyDeleteI'm more amazed by that.
A doctor who runs on time is a doctor that I want to have, as I'm one of those people who is pretty much always 15 minutes early for everything.
ReplyDeleteI once drove an hour for an appointment for my son, to be seen by a doctor who was running 3 hours late, then saw my son for a total of 10 minutes. That was the same doctor who's staff called me the day before an appointment to confirm it and then, when I got there, told me the doctor was on vacation.
A doctor who runs on time is a rarity indeed around these parts.
ReplyDeleteI once made an appointment in June for a visit with an ENT. The next available appointment time was in August. (He came highly recommended.)
The appointed date came and I showed up about a half hour early. When I arrived, the waiting room was packed - standing room only. The receptionist had me fill out the usual forms, which I did and then handed back. She put them in a folder with my name on it that went into a stack of similar folders.
The half hour and my appointed time came and went. Then an hour went by. Then another. All that time people came and went from that waiting room. Finally, a full two hours after my appointed time, I went up to the receptionist and asked what was up. She told me the doctor was running behind. (Two hours?!?) Okay, I then asked how long it would it actually be before I got in to see the doctor. She asked me my name and when I told her she started counting through the stack of folders. I watched and she counted fourteen before she got to mine. "It'll be about 45 minutes." She said.
Now think about that. Either she pulled that time out of her butt, or the doctor was going to spend less than 5 minutes with each patient - including me.
Nope, not going to happen. He might be good, but he's not that good.
I asked for my completed forms back, tucked them into my pocket and left, never to return. (I found another ENT who took care of my sinus problem.)
My point? Well, this late business works both ways, and my experience has been that if I get in to see the doctor - any doctor - within a half hour of my appointed time, I consider it a very good day.
I think part of the problem is that most doctors offices won't do what Mary did. Instead they "squeeze in" the late arrivals which pushes the entire schedule further and further down.
Did she come back? I applaud your adherence to this rule - too many MD's offices don't
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I wish I had some backbone. Case in point, last week I was running on schedule and all my notes were also done until one patient called and told my staff that she was running late. She called 10 minutes after her appointment and she was still 15 to 20 minutes away and I told her "no" but she came in anyway and told the staff that she would wait. I should have just stuck to my guns and told her to reschedule but I took her in against my better judgment. She essentially ruined the rest of my afternoon session (and yes, I am one of those physicians who actually stays on schedule) and I ran completely behind with many unfinished notes. The worst thing is that she was a total pain in the ass and one of those entitled people and I had to drag her out of the office. You would think I would learn my lesson.
ReplyDelete@Roy: I think we may have gone to the same ENT. I had a 6:30PM appointment, but I knew this doc had a reputation for running late, so when I got off work at 6, I called them to ask whether I should go straight in, or if I had time to go home and eat first. She says "Well, the 6:30 appointments are running about 10:15-10:30 right now, so you might as well go home and have dinner. We'll let you when to come in."
ReplyDeleteI wound up getting to the waiting room at 11:40 PM, more or less, and got to finally see the doctor sometime after 1 AM. This for a 6:30 appointment. Supposedly this guy did surgery all day and saw patients in his office all night; I have no idea when he slept, if ever. (Of course this was over 20 years ago, so he might have slowed down a bit by now.)
@Shalom: Six and a half hours behind? There's no way I would have waited that out. Again, the doctor might be good, but nobody is that good.
ReplyDeleteAnd there is no excuse for it either. My time might not be worth as much as a specialist like an ENT, but it's certainly worth more than that.
It's disrespectful to treat people - especially your customers - like that.