I have a rant that I need to get it off my chest.
People. Are. So. Damn. Rude.
I spend a lot of my days on the phone with a variety of different people. I would say that literally 75% of the people I talk with on the phone each day will hang up the phone call without saying good bye or even indicating that either they or I am done talking. I find this to be incredibly rude and I have no idea why someone thinks they are so damn important that the little person they are talking to (me) is not even worthy of a “Have nice day, goodbye.” There’s not even a pattern in the type of people who do it. I’ve had everyone from insurance representatives to patients to other healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, receptionists, etc.) not hang up without ending the conversation.
Yesterday, I spoke with someone who we are doing a professional courtesy for. Rather than say “thank you, goodbye” to me, she found out that she’d have to come into our office for just one instead of the normal two visits and got snappish with me, before just hanging up the phone with no termination indication other than the click. This morning, I was talking to a receptionist at another office who I have been waiting for a fax from since September 22. I’ve asked 4 times via fax and called 3 times. When I called this morning to find out the status, she said, “I already sent it” and promptly hung up the phone as I was in the middle of asking her if she wouldn’t mind sending it again [Editor’s Note: Bullsh*t she sent it to me…liar]. Sometimes, I even finish saying goodbye once they’ve hung up on me just so I can feel like I’ve had a complete conversation.
It actually goes beyond the telephone. I decided to go to the Chick-Fil-A for lunch today, as I do every couple of weeks when I get tired of my usual lunch of peanut butter on apples and egg whites. A CFA employee held the door open for me as I walked in. I said, “Thank you!” As I opened the second door (there’s a little vestibule in between the door to the outside and the door to the actual joint), I held it open for a woman who merely looked at me. She said nothing, did not smile, and did not even nod in gratitude. I was so irritated that I turned around and loudly said, “You’re welcome!” to her.
I could tell you stories about rude patients that we have in here, but I need my job and would like to keep it for a little while longer. Frustration, being busy, or just plain being an ungrateful ass is no excuse for rudeness. I spend a lot of time interacting with people who I’d like to reach out and slap, but I don’t. I say, “Have a great afternoon!” or “Thank you so much, good bye!” or “See you on Friday, bye!”
There are some fine, dandy people out there, though. My co-worker and I were discussing this topic this afternoon with a patient who used to work for a doctor’s office and she told us a story about John Edwards being such a pompous jackass when he visited the office she worked at that I feel personally offended for her. Anyway, at the start of the conversation, I had told her about how it irritated me when people just hung up the phone without saying goodbye.
When she left a few minutes later, she turned around at the door and cheerfully yet pointedly called out, “Goodbye, Colleen!”
That made me laugh.
