Nadia had a doctor appointment with an children's orthopedist yesterday. She has been walking on her toes for a few months and her pediatrician referred her just as a precaution. She had already seen a neurologist to rule out possible cerebral palsy. The orthopedist seemed extremely busy/rushed, saw us an hour after our appointment time, and didn't even introduce himself to myself or Nadia. He spoke very gruffly to me and never spoke to Nadia. All in all he acted like I was wasting his time.
I realize that doctors have a lot on their books and tend to have emergencies that force them to run late. I am not one of those people who get angry for waiting five minutes past my appointment. What does anger me is being treated as a burden when I am a paying customer and being forced to wait an extremely long time with no explanation.
I have worked in the retail world before and have seen all kinds of angry customers that my job required me to be polite and smiley to. Why is it that some doctors and other professionals have got out of the habit of providing exceptional customer service? Many people won't return to a store they have had a bad encounter with an employee but are willing to continue to see a healthcare provider who is always late and rude. There are many choices for a doctor, yet some doctors feel they are entitled to be rude.
I expect good customer service from any place I pay for a service. I am more than willing to pay higher prices to receive a good experience. I drive 40 minutes for my children's pediatrician and even further for my veterinarian. This doesn't stop for me with healthcare, I also choose where to grocery shop, clothes shop, pet food shop and home product shop based on the experiences I have had with employees and the reactions and actions of management.
I feel it is time that our society works their way back to good customer service and bedside manner. We all deserve to be treated well and shown our business is appreciated.
Here here. Course it wouldn't hurt if the customers could be a bit more understanding too. I got written up today for someone not believing me when I told them there were fifty crickets in the bag. Even offered to count them again. But they took that as rude and ran to a manager.
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