OverRated: Dragon Receptionists

My friend, Fluffy, called me recently to tell me about her tooth.

She'd been eating some particularly chewy toffee and a filling had become totally dislodged. With the offending amalgam in her palm, she called her usual dentist, only to be told that he was out of town for a week.

In order to ascertain whether her appointment was truly an emergency that would necessitate a visit to an alternative dentist, the lady on the desk grilled her with a series of pertinent questions:

'Does it hurt?' she interrogated.

And in response to Fluffy's affirmative: 'Are you sure?'

Doh!!!

Fluffy has started to call them Appointment Nazis since she also suffers similar problems at her local doctor's surgery and I have to admit to finding it most irritating that I have to explain to my own doctor's receptionist the nature of my ailment, however personal, in an attempt to get the most proximate appointment.

By the same token, I can understand why some practise receptionists become so protective of their emergency slots. I know of one couple of hypochondriacs who were forever in the surgery and, of course, the one time that the lady was really ill, they had to stand there arguing the toss with the person behind the counter and were sent away with a flea in their ear to remain in pain until an appointment two days later. They had cried wolf too many times before to be taken seriously when they really were in need.

However, the majority of patients just want to see their doctor of choice either that day or the next so they don't have to be in discomfort or anxiety any more.

We are all guilty of putting it off until it's excruciating so perhaps we do have to shoulder at least some of the blame for not being able to get immediate appointments.

Picture courtesy of http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/jdi/lowres/jdin31l.jpg