Story! Come Water, Be One of Us
Dec. 23rd, 2020 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
soniaCome Water, Be One of Us by Olivia Cade via asakiyume, who posted some quotes. An angry, triumphant story about one way things could come right. Mind the warnings at the beginning.
A side rant. Not directly related, but I think indirectly it is. I see a naturopath out of an alternative health clinic. This past year, of course, I see her online, but they're seeing a lot of patients in their (windowless!) office suite.
A couple of weeks ago I went to pick up some supplements. I ordered and paid over the phone, and said I would bike right over to pick them up (in the pouring rain). I wanted to be in and out of there as quickly as possible.
There weren't any clients in the waiting area. There were two people behind the desk, in close proximity, apparently doing training on a computer program. I stood well back in my dripping hi-viz yellow bike jacket, and waited. And waited. No acknowledgement of my obvious presence. I finally said, "I'm here for a quick pickup. I just called." No apology, no nothing, just a surly handing over of my supplements.
I didn't know if it was because of the wet bike gear or what, but I felt like they weren't acknowledging me as a person. Next time I will certainly do mail order!
My naturopath recommended I try PT through this office for my hip pain. I said only if they're doing tele-health! Eventually I heard back, that yes, he does tele-health. $150 for the first 1-hour appointment, $90 for 1-hour followups. "That's weird," I said. (Insurance malarky, I guess?)
While I was getting info on PT, I brought up to the person on the phone that I had had a bad experience picking up supplements. She was surly and rude through the whole conversation. No, my bike clothes couldn't have had anything to do with it. Well, that was a guess, I said. I remained polite and firm (which I'm proud of).
From the slowness of all the communication and the fact that the (electronic) paperwork was all about hands-on work, I concluded that the PT had set up tele-health for the first time to work with me. A nice thought, but I'm sure I can find a PT who isn't just now figuring out how to work remotely 9 months into the pandemic. Probably for less than $150. And also, I'm not interested in paying part of that desk person's salary by booking at that clinic any more than I need to.
Health care starts with care, with treating people like their existence matters. I don't know why this clinic employs someone who clearly doesn't understand customer service at its most basic level, but I do notice that they always have appointments available a day or two out from when I call. Convenient for me, but can't be great for the practitioners. I do wonder if they would be doing better if their front desk people treated people better.
asakiyume, who posted some quotes. An angry, triumphant story about one way things could come right. Mind the warnings at the beginning.A side rant. Not directly related, but I think indirectly it is. I see a naturopath out of an alternative health clinic. This past year, of course, I see her online, but they're seeing a lot of patients in their (windowless!) office suite.
A couple of weeks ago I went to pick up some supplements. I ordered and paid over the phone, and said I would bike right over to pick them up (in the pouring rain). I wanted to be in and out of there as quickly as possible.
There weren't any clients in the waiting area. There were two people behind the desk, in close proximity, apparently doing training on a computer program. I stood well back in my dripping hi-viz yellow bike jacket, and waited. And waited. No acknowledgement of my obvious presence. I finally said, "I'm here for a quick pickup. I just called." No apology, no nothing, just a surly handing over of my supplements.
I didn't know if it was because of the wet bike gear or what, but I felt like they weren't acknowledging me as a person. Next time I will certainly do mail order!
My naturopath recommended I try PT through this office for my hip pain. I said only if they're doing tele-health! Eventually I heard back, that yes, he does tele-health. $150 for the first 1-hour appointment, $90 for 1-hour followups. "That's weird," I said. (Insurance malarky, I guess?)
While I was getting info on PT, I brought up to the person on the phone that I had had a bad experience picking up supplements. She was surly and rude through the whole conversation. No, my bike clothes couldn't have had anything to do with it. Well, that was a guess, I said. I remained polite and firm (which I'm proud of).
From the slowness of all the communication and the fact that the (electronic) paperwork was all about hands-on work, I concluded that the PT had set up tele-health for the first time to work with me. A nice thought, but I'm sure I can find a PT who isn't just now figuring out how to work remotely 9 months into the pandemic. Probably for less than $150. And also, I'm not interested in paying part of that desk person's salary by booking at that clinic any more than I need to.
Health care starts with care, with treating people like their existence matters. I don't know why this clinic employs someone who clearly doesn't understand customer service at its most basic level, but I do notice that they always have appointments available a day or two out from when I call. Convenient for me, but can't be great for the practitioners. I do wonder if they would be doing better if their front desk people treated people better.
no subject
Date: 2020-12-24 09:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-24 09:26 pm (UTC)I do try to give people slack for being stressed during the pandemic, but most people I've encountered in customer service positions are being more kind, not less. As a person in health care who does her own front desk work, I give that performance a big NOPE!
no subject
Date: 2020-12-25 09:40 pm (UTC)Yikes, those customer service people were rude.
Looking forward to listening to this story for tomorrow's beading!
no subject
Date: 2020-12-26 12:28 am (UTC)