WFMW-Being Kind

It's WFMW!

This week...

BEING KIND works for me.

As most of you know, I am a dental hygienist. I cross paths with many different types of people, all with different stories. This is what I love about my job-the people and their stories.

Most of the time.

I frequently help out up front, answering phones or returning calls pertaining to hygiene appointments. Yesterday morning our computers were down so we did not have access to ANY patient information OR the schedule. As you can imagine, this puts a pretty big hiccup in the day.

A patient, we'll call her "D," called regarding a hygiene appointment for today. She wasn't sure if it was for her or one of her two daughters, but either way, they would be unable to make it at all this week. She requested some time next week. I explained that since our computer system was down, I would make note to cancel the appointment for tomorrow, but I couldn't reschedule her at the moment and I would call her back when they were working to do so. She was quick to point out the days and times she wanted next week.

Our system was restored shortly thereafter. I pulled up next week's schedule to see if I could meet "D's" appointment needs. We had ONE opening left on a day that worked for her, so I went ahead and put her daughter in that spot (her daughter was the one that had the appointment for tomorrow) and left "D" a message saying she was all taken care of. Several other patients had called wanting appointments for this week, so I filled the slot that "D" had cancelled. (You can see where this is going, right?)

"D" called back, irate. I don't just mean frustrated and busy at work. I mean hateful, yelling, and irrational. She was mad that this was her 4th phone call (understandable) but even more mad that I "gave away" the appointment time she originally had. In keeping with the theory that "the customer is always right," I tried to avoid arguing that she was, in fact, NOT right. She insisted that she said nothing about THAT particular daughter, and that SHE WANTED that appointment for her tomorrow. (She didn't even know WHO had the appointment when she called the first time, she just said it wasn't going to work.) She insisted that she NEVER said to cancel the appointment, and that I was supposed to call her first after checking the schedule. (Why, then, did she say that tomorrow wouldn't work and that she had to have next week?)

When I first got her message that there was a miscommunication/misunderstanding, I thought I would solve the problem by calling the person who I filled the spot with (a dear, sweet elderly man that always brings me poems) and reschedule him in order to accomodate her. But when she started yelling at me and being so incredibly hateful as soon as she answered the phone, I decided that I wasn't going to do that. I apologized for the inconvenience, offered her the time I had thought she wanted next week, and then she hung up on me.

Are you wondering what the lesson here is?

Any time you want something from a doctor's office, dentist office, wherever.... BE NICE and you will usually get what you want, if it is at all possible. We can almost always move things around to meet your needs, IF WE WANT TO. This goes for scheduling, payments, services, a towel for your face, a pillow for your head, a bottle of water, whatever. We will bend over backwards to help patients--unless you are mean, irrational, or hateful...

I suppose this lesson could be applied to anything in life--

"Honey catches more flies than vinegar."