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poltr1This afternoon, I made calls to several doctor's offices that I, R, or M have been to last year. Since I didn't have their business cards handy, I looked their numbers up in the phone book. I called each office and asked them for annual summaries of treatments, payments, and co-pays for my tax records. Three of them will either mail me the summaries, or have them available for pickup tomorrow. The rest didn't understand what I was asking for, and called me back for clarification. Since I wasn't around the phone when they called back, they left me voice mail messages. I will call these offices back tomorrow.
One of the calls didn't go well. The first call I made to them, I got a man -- I'm guessing an older man -- saying "Hello" rather gruffly, instead of hearing the practice's name. I asked, "Is this [the name of the office]?", and I got the response, "We're not taking any patients", followed by a hangup. That's a hell of a way to treat patients, I thought.
I called again, and asked for the doctor my name. The response I got was, "I don't want to talk to anybody", and a hangup. I was ready to submit a BBB complaint at this point.
I called a third time, and got an answering machine. I left him a message asking why he was so rude to me over the phone.
About a half hour later, after finishing the rest of the calls, I called a fourth time. The man picked up, and I asked him the same thing I said in the phone message: "Why are you being so rude to me?" What followed was an angry tirade (but no expletives) about getting 10-15 calls a day from people like me thinking his number was a doctor's office, when it's actually a private residence. When I told him that the number I dialed was what I saw in the phone book, he continued his diatribe, that the doctor's office refuses to fix the problem, that I should be more careful dialing, etc. etc. He hung up on me again. My hands were shaking for about a minute after I got off the phone with him.
I looked up the number of the doctor's office in another phone book, and lo and behold, I had a digit wrong. Realizing my mistake, I also went online to a reverse telephone directory lookup site to find out the name of the man who was getting all these wrong numbers. I called the man again, and said "Mr. [name], I called to apologize....You were right about the number...". He said nothing and hung up. So much for my random act of kindness.
Part of me wants to show up on his doorstep with an apology card and $5 for his troubles. Another part of me says I should just leave him alone and not make him think I'm stalking him.
I can understand why he's angry and frustrated with all these callers who are trying to reach the doctor's office. If I were in that situation, I'd be tired of having to repeat myself to 15 people every day. But I'd make an effort to redirect those calls to where they should go. I'd either leave the correct number on the answering machine, or give it to callers. I also realize that if I continue to isolate myself and push other people away, I'll turn out like the angry and bitter old man I reached this afternoon, wanting to be left alone and chewing out everyone who dares to contact me.
One of the calls didn't go well. The first call I made to them, I got a man -- I'm guessing an older man -- saying "Hello" rather gruffly, instead of hearing the practice's name. I asked, "Is this [the name of the office]?", and I got the response, "We're not taking any patients", followed by a hangup. That's a hell of a way to treat patients, I thought.
I called again, and asked for the doctor my name. The response I got was, "I don't want to talk to anybody", and a hangup. I was ready to submit a BBB complaint at this point.
I called a third time, and got an answering machine. I left him a message asking why he was so rude to me over the phone.
About a half hour later, after finishing the rest of the calls, I called a fourth time. The man picked up, and I asked him the same thing I said in the phone message: "Why are you being so rude to me?" What followed was an angry tirade (but no expletives) about getting 10-15 calls a day from people like me thinking his number was a doctor's office, when it's actually a private residence. When I told him that the number I dialed was what I saw in the phone book, he continued his diatribe, that the doctor's office refuses to fix the problem, that I should be more careful dialing, etc. etc. He hung up on me again. My hands were shaking for about a minute after I got off the phone with him.
I looked up the number of the doctor's office in another phone book, and lo and behold, I had a digit wrong. Realizing my mistake, I also went online to a reverse telephone directory lookup site to find out the name of the man who was getting all these wrong numbers. I called the man again, and said "Mr. [name], I called to apologize....You were right about the number...". He said nothing and hung up. So much for my random act of kindness.
Part of me wants to show up on his doorstep with an apology card and $5 for his troubles. Another part of me says I should just leave him alone and not make him think I'm stalking him.
I can understand why he's angry and frustrated with all these callers who are trying to reach the doctor's office. If I were in that situation, I'd be tired of having to repeat myself to 15 people every day. But I'd make an effort to redirect those calls to where they should go. I'd either leave the correct number on the answering machine, or give it to callers. I also realize that if I continue to isolate myself and push other people away, I'll turn out like the angry and bitter old man I reached this afternoon, wanting to be left alone and chewing out everyone who dares to contact me.
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Date: 2004-03-23 07:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-27 08:50 am (UTC)I've done that -- more times than I care to remember. That's what I get for listening to the voice inside that tells me "You are always right". Where that voice comes from I don't know. It's probably trying to drown out the voice that says "You are always wrong."