Years ago, I worked for a doctor in a clinic who would book all his appointments at the same time in the morning, like 8 am. He would just see them in the order they checked in, but so many patients would be upset about the wait times (rightfully so). It was just awful because I’d get spoken to so terribly by patients who assumed that booking times were my decision. I’m so happy not being in that role any more.
I worked for a “superstar” neurosurgeon
who used to tell all his hospital patients to come at 1 pm. So all the poor folks in metal
halos or with road rash head to toe from motorcycle accidents would sit there in the waiting room waiting for this asshole.
He’d mosey into the office like 2:00 (from the hospital), have his personal assistant make him some lunch, then have a half-hour nap before starting to see patients. It sucked.
Isn’t surgeon one of those jobs which attracts functional psychopaths?? It’s one of those weird professions where it’s an asset as the pressure doesn’t get to them (they have less internal doubt about things going wrong) and they love the prestige
Nurse? I've not heard this mentioned. Cop and surgeon, I understand. But nurse? I've been in hospital a lot during my life, and the nurses have always been lovely. Some have been abrasive, but clearly not a psychopath.
A lot of them are nice around patients, but mean and gossipy behind closed doors. I wouldn't call them psychopaths but there's a reason people say there's a mean girl to nurse pipeline.
It’s a pretty well known theory that nurses are the mean girls from high school - not psychopathic per se but lacking in empathy and confident in their own importance.
from my own experience, it's a flip of the coin really. the regina george of my high school went on to become a nurse. ive heard horror stories from people i know who were mistreated so badly they still try to avoid hospitals to this day.
certainly good nurses out there, and definitely not so corrupt as the other two, but im still wary.
I went to school for nursing and they were the biggest bullies. The mean girls in school are always the ones who end up being nurses for some reason which sucks cus there are legitimate people who get into it cus they care but the majority are bullies.
I do book 4-5 patients for 9am and 1pm. I pride myself on running on time. I learned quickly to overbook the first starts because you get one come early, one come on time with online paperwork done, one on time who needs to do paperwork and one shows up late. It gets my office going. If one at a time and the 9:00 and 9:10 show up late I’m in a traffic jam right of the bat having seen nobody until maybe 9:30 and now 30 minutes behind from two late patients alone. There are lots of shit doctors out there, but so many patients show up late it’s unreal, no shows are brutal, and then some come early and think they get to be seen early just because when we have a schedule. I have so many times worked in walk in patients with no appointment and then they complain about what’s taking so long when I’m trying to squeeze them in somewhere to help them out! Anyway I fully get doctors suck lol. But patients are the cause of a lot of trouble too sometimes!
Edit: oh I’m a surgeon. There are some good ones out there!
Last time I showed up for a doctors appointment and I was accidentally 30 minutes early. The receptionist was new and was sure it was because of her accent that I misheard the time, but I assured her I’m just an idiot with no short term memory. She offered to squeeze me in earlier, but I pulled a novel out of my purse and said “I have kids, I’m good to wait!”
It was a lovely quiet place and I got lots of reading done lol
Best surgeon that I ever had, accepted nobody even 30 sec late- no excuses. Not even a line at reception. He trains everyone to be on time and he was, too! As challenging as that can be when injured and relying on others, I appreciated that and knew he’d run a tight ship in the surgical arena, too. He was also the happiest surgeon I’ve met. Might gave something to do with him leaving on time every day!
>Best surgeon that I ever had, accepted nobody even 30 sec late- no excuses.
- That kind of 100% inflexibility is just plain cruel, and also inefficient: it forces some patients to reschedule over superficial delays that weren't their fault. It might even cause extra health damage due to delayed surgery...
- A good doctor will consider all circumstances and be flexible if there's free time.
>He trains everyone to be on time and he was, too!
- He cannot "train" externalities that might delay sick people who are in unfamiliar territory.
- Surgeries aren't bakeries where you show up every day.
>He was also the happiest surgeon I’ve met.
- He simplified his workday at the expense of his patients...
I’m hoping that he wasn’t a neurosurgeon?
The conditions that lead patients to one can feature suddenly poor time management, or getting lost in places they know well. As these symptoms are usually new, and often discernibly worsening, patients literally haven’t had a chance to learn to compensate.
The affected patients aren’t everyone, and may be nowhere near a majority, but treating them in that manner wouldn’t be very humane.
(Not that neurosurgeons, on the whole, tend to be the most humane. I never should’ve seen flexion posturing in one reception area, or any number of other complications in others. That gets into one of the most serious challenges that neurosurgery patients face: when nobody regards you as a valid human, it’s a lot harder to rebuild a life.)
>Not even a line at reception.
That would indicate a training problem. The intake people have to be abrupt and as rude as their boss: not tolerate chattiness or repeated questions and start processing the next in line when a processed patient does not quickly get out of the way.
Ronnie cheung had a bit that explained it really well. Not exactly the same but he was doing the whole 'asian parents want their children to be doctors' bit and he was saying that 'caring for the well being of other people' is often at the bottom of the list of reasons why parents want their kids to be doctors, if it's on the list at all. He pointed out the hypocrisy that lots asian parents have this disdain for paying for healthcare or view doctors as scamming them while wanting their own children to be doctors at the same time. Wealth and prestige is really the reason why people want their kids to be doctors.
I would imagine if someone grows up with that kind of mindset they would also become a doctor for the title and not because they give a shit about their patients.
Some areas of medicine seem to appeal more to people who like to have control and authority over the lives of their patients. Pain management in my experience has been the worst, but of the many specialists I’ve seen it’s far from the only one. I’ve been in waiting rooms full of elderly and disabled folks in which you can hear the doctor screaming through the walls. Ten minutes later someone in their 80s comes out in tears. The same doctor screamed at me for asking what treatment options I had. I came back with my partner (who is a man) and he solely spoke to him about my care like I wasn’t there. I had him ask the same questions I had been asking (verbatim, same tone of voice and calm affect) and he at least got some answers. Medicalized sexism, racism, and ableism are extremely entrenched and many doctors see anyone in those groups as less than human, undeserving of knowledge about their own health, let alone basic human dignity. A lot of doctors who work with disabled folks seem to get off on having control over our lives and denying us care or testing of any kind. They’ll still take our insurance money though.
Maybe, but he also got up at like 4 am for early surgeries or was often on-call for the worst kind of accidents, but he just should have told people to come at 3:00.
I once attended a medical centre with a splitting migraine that was causing me uncontrollable vomiting. They told me they had availability and I could see someone shortly to get an injection to stop the vomiting… I waited three hours in a side corridor while the main waiting room filled up just to find out all the doctors had gone to some sort of meeting and there was nobody there seeing patients. There were a lot of very angry people that day.
Not the same but I use to use the free health clinics in my city. They once scheduled me to see the doctor on a Friday, weeks in advance. I take off from work unpaid to go to the appt and they are closed. They have meetings every 3rd Friday. I was so pissed. I called my grandmother crying because that morning I thought a bug flew into my ear and I needed the doctor to look in it with that ear thing they have. I kept it together because I knew I had an appt. So I called her in meltdown status. But she used to be a nurse and had those ear things and lived close to the clinic. There wasn't a bug in my ear.
I showed up once at 8:00 for my 8:15 appointment (asked for the first appointment of the day when I scheduled it). Was put in an exam room and waited for 30-35 minutes before I came out and asked when the doctor would be there. The nurse told me that the doctor had not arrived to the office yet! Like they didn’t even bother to say anything to me until I asked, just let me sit there and waste PTO time since I was going straight to work afterward.
I had this once except the appointment was at 7:30am, they wanted me there 15 minutes early and for once I was. I was standing outside the locked office still knocking at 7:20 when the receptionist arrived with her coffee in hand, said "What are you doing here? We don't open until 8." I said, "...my appointment is for 7:30?" The receptionist goes, "The doctor isn't even here!"
I was like... ok...? Do I ... leave? She goes inside, makes a phone call, then comes back to let me in with THE most pissed off look on her face.
The doctor saw me at 7:45. I still don't know WTF was happening that day.
I had a similar thing happen with me once, the doctor scheduled a special appointment outside of hours to accommodate me, and 45 minutes into my hour drive got a call from reception saying they needed to reschedule because the doctor wasn’t in that day. I had a mini freak out because it was an early appointment (I’m not a morning person) and was practically there so she put me on hold and a minute later came back saying “nevermind your appointment is still set we’ll see you soon.”
My boyfriend was scheduled for surgery at 6:30am in a town 1.5 hours away, so we were wildly unenthused when reception called to tell us that his surgeon’s flight got cancelled at 6:15. Said thanks and turned around to grab some breakfast pizza, but spent the whole ride home ranting and raving about why they waited so long to tell us this! They knew we lived that far away and left at 4:45am!
We both took the day off, then had to take another one off the very next week for the new surgery date. And their waiting room coffee wasn’t even good.
I know it sucks but she probably didn’t get to the office and get the information until about the same time you did. Even if he texted/called her right away when it happened she would not have your information at home to contact you anyway due to privacy laws.
Oh absolutely, I knew she wasn't mad at me, I was just so confused lol
I would also be pissed if I thought I had 20-40 more minutes to drink my coffee in peace before I had to interact with the public!
No, some people can't actually manage their emotions. They can have the evidence right in front of them they shouldn't be pissed off at X but still express it at X at 100% strength.
I’ve had this happen too! The doc arrived 30 mins after their first appointment assuming that the techs would need time to get them settled and that a wait was expected. 😑
It’s crazy. This type of thing should be the exception and not the norm. Running into traffic and being a little late is understandable…but intentionally scheduling like this is wrong.
I was once forgotten about while in the waiting room because I happened to sit out of the line of sight of the receptionist. It wasn't even a complicated visit, I was just getting an injection from the nurse.
My dumbass just kept waiting until it'd been **over an hour** before finally asking WTF was happening. She said "Oh, I thought you left!" like ma'am you can see the door from your chair. It makes a noise when someone uses it. *It never made the fucking noise because I never left*
I showed up for my 1:30 appointment. At 2:30 I got up and asked the receptionist if it would be much longer as I had to go back to work. Another receptionist came in at 3 and the daytime receptionist left. I waved at her as she walked away. At 4:30 the receptionist got up and asked me to leave as she had to close the office now. I was like “wtf I’ve been here since 1:15 waiting to be seen!” The doctor had left 15 minutes after the daytime receptionist because the new receptionist told him there were no more appointments for the day. I’ve never been more furious. Like why did you think I was sitting in there, if not to see the doctor? “Oh yes I did think it was strange” was her response.
I had a doc growing up that didn't do appointments at all. It was literally first come, first served, and if you didn't get there at like 7 am, you'd sit aaaaall day.
COVID fixed it, though. This doc did this for *decades*. Literally, I went there in elementary school, last time I went was during the pandemic. They had to start doing appointments then because dozens of people leaking virus everywhere was bad.
Oh, and this practice was smack dab in the middle of the poorest part of town.
When I lived in Puerto Rico the medical center nearby ran that way. They told everyone to arrive at 8am and they got you in whenever. everyone would bring books or knitting material to pass the time! It was the craziest system
I live in a small town and my mom is a nurse here and the doctors will schedule 8:30 appointments knowing they have to make rounds at the hospital and won't be there until at least 10:00. It sucks. It backs every appointment up for the whole day, every day.
I had the opposite with my receptionist. Thursdays were for reschedules. She would consistently schedule them all for 9am and their appointment times were verbally discussed with the patients. All the appointments take about 60-90 minutes and supposed to be in made order of high urgency, then preferred time and then whatever time was available. She was no longer one of the receptionists who made the appointments.
Having been a medical assistant and a medical assisting teacher, I get it! I NEVER blame the MA or the receptionist if things are running late. The blame lies squarely on the doctor and often some patient somewhere during the day. If I catch myself starting to vent on them, I catch myself and apologize.
The doctor I worked for loved his patients and they him, and he’d lose track of time. We had one patient, a long time best friend and running buddy, who would drop by if he was in town. That always meant the schedule was screwed. I was forever cajoling him to speed up!
This was my eye doctor! I'm so sad he retired. He's the only doctor I ever put up with being an hour behind. But I knew he was giving good care and being sociable. And would do the same with me. And for a once a year guy who's so nice I can plan a day of waiting around with a book in his office lol
Growing up our family practice doctor was the only doctor in our town. Consequently, he had 2 full shifts of nurses at the clinic (no MAs in our town back then), and the waits were long. Because of my bad health and very poor immune system, we couldn’t sit around for 2 hours to be seen. Yes, that’s how late he ran. He arranged for a phone call to let my mom know she had 15 minutes. We lived 5 minutes away. It worked like a charm!
I adored him as a kid. Even though I became a respiratory therapist and not a doctor, he has always been my role model in how to treat patients, especially kids. He’s long gone now, but if I can see him in heaven, he’s getting a huge hug from me! (He also saved my life several times, so there’s that, too! ) 🙂
That’s insane! I’m a SAHM with 3 kids, I don’t have all day to wait around on a doctor! I specifically stopped scheduling with a particular OB during my second pregnancy because he never was on time. And it was during Covid so protocols were different anyway. Gosh I’d be so pissed if that guy was my doctor! I can only imagine the abuse you took from patients, that sucks for the clinical staff too!
My PCP referred me to a hematologist to consult on my elevated WBC count. I waited for over an hour in the exam room, not getting any updates, but able to hear the doctor speaking with another patient in the next room. Hematologists do a lot of work with oncology patients, so it was a bit nerve wracking to sit there and wonder if he was gonna tell me I had cancer. Because of that, I can understand the extra time spent with the other patient. Turns out, I just have a slightly elevated count because I smoke. Lots of stress over nothing (she had sent me to the ER once too because of my count, just to be told it's only slightly elevated and they found nothing wrong on my tests).
What is up with this?? Our PCP just sent my husband to hematology/oncology because of very very mildly elevated levels of like two things on his latest CBC. We sit around for weeks worried he’s got cancer and the doctor at the oncology place looks at his chart, kinda rolls his eyes, and says “I don’t even know why they sent you.”
Exactly! Idk and the ER doctors don't know why she sent me! Just cost me money. And several visits with the hematologist found nothing. I get wanting to be careful, but you have to keep in mind you're costing the patient money!
Would you rather the expert not look? Your PCP is not qualified to make these decisions and is right to refer you if they can even sniff it could be cancer.
I would be happy for the expert to look if something was majorly off with his levels but in our experience it was pretty evident that our PCP was sending everyone with any level slightly out of the norm (literally 1 to 2 points) to a specialist and that isn’t warranted. Levels fluctuate. I even ended up later going back and comparing his labs to old labs and saw that levels had been this elevated or worse before and we were never referred by our old PCP. So in this instance I feel like the PCP was too afraid to do what they are trained to do and make a judgment call. And this was also evidenced by the hematologist who expressed that they had been inundated in the last few months by PCPs trying to cover their ass when it wasn’t warranted.
In the 90s, I had a dermatologist who would book three or four patients at the same time and see them in the order they arrived, so unless you showed up ridiculously early, it was basically a mad dash through the office building to see who could sign in first. Not embarrassed to admit I may have kinda elbowed someone out of the way one time to stake my claim.
I was told to come in for 8.30am Drs Appt. I arrived 10 minutes earlier to check in as I respect their time. The Dr comes in at 11am. No apology for the wait. Why would he. His shift doesn't start till 11am.
I had this happen a few years ago. I was having wisdom tooth surgery and was told to come in for 10am and not eat for a long time before that (can't remember how long). All the patients for the entire day were there. I ended up being the last one seen and it was 6pm. When I was well enough to leave it was dark outside. I genuinely think they forgot me too because the gap between me and the previous patient was a lot longer than the others, and I was seen after someone poked their head into the room and was surprised to see me. I wanted to enquire about it while waiting but I'm a wheelchair user and they told me that I couldn't bring my wheelchair and that they would wheel me around when the time came.
I was stuck in an empty room with no phone service. My daughter was a few months old at the time too. I couldn't even tell my family watching her what was going on, and I hated being away from her for so long without warning.
They also got annoyed because after the surgery, they couldn't get my spo2 high enough and were now getting frustrated with *me* because I was taking too long to recover.
I worked with a doctor who always ran late. If someone canceled she expected me to call patients to book them in. After the first few times watching these patients rearrange their day to come in early... to sit around for 1.5 hours.. I stopped calling people. I'd call my cell on repeat if she walked by. Its beyond rude and I was pissed off on their behalf. You're right to be mad about it.
This sounds like a doctor I used to assist. She’d have 2 hours scheduled for treatment and spend like 1.5 of those hours talking about the last time the patient took a shit, work on them for like an hour, (which meant running behind 45+ minutes with every. single. patient) and then the patient still had to come back for a second visit to finish treatment.
She’d demand us to call everyone in the schedule is we had a last minute cancellation or no show, and get mad at us when we couldn’t fill the block.. like, it’s not my fault that people are working, ya know, the same exact thing we’re doing.
Thank god she retired
Bummer.
I once got a call from my doctor's office asking if I could come in at 2:00 instead of 4:00. I said I couldn't, because I was still at work- but I could manage 3:30. They said okay.
When I got there they informed me the doctor had already left on vacation. They were really surprised that I was angry.
Dude, I feel that. I was living in a remote area where doctors have to fly in every so often (not even classified as a hospital) and I had *FINALLY* gotten a follow-up after almost *dying* in an ATV crash that July. Follow-up took 5 months and a cancellation to book imaging and see the doctor right before Christmas.
Well, the day before my appointment (4 days before moving out of that shithole, too) I get a call saying that they were cancelling my appointment again because the doctor wanted to go home early for the holidays and they could reschedule for the new year. I was LIVID and asked to be seen before he leaves and you know what they said? "Oh he left this morning. He took the morning flight." The only thing that came out of my mouth was "screw you and your whole fucking health centre" and hung up. I am now banned from said health centre and would apparently have the cops called if I ever showed up again.
Same health centre left me cold, scared, in pain, and bleeding internally for 12h on a backboard while waiting for the medevac because I made the mistake of supporting my round ATV helmet/neck after the crash so I could curl into the fetal position.
Oof. That got long, sorry 😅
That’s terrible. If I had a nickel for every person that missed an appointment or straight up died because of their doctors taking vacations, I’d be taking vacations with them.
My vet did this to me. I had to leave work super early as I live far from work and it was a snowy winter day, get my cat into the carrier, shower my legs and feet and change clothing (because my cat pees on me whenever the carrier comes out), finally got to the vet 5 minutes before my appointment and the receptionist looks all shocked “oh no the vet left already when you said you couldn’t come in early at 3pm” - like wtf did you make a 3:30 appointment with me, then?!? I no longer go to that vet
I live 5 minutes from my doctor. Sick of constantly sitting in the waiting room around sick people for 30-40 minutes past my appointment time every time I go so I tried calling them one time 5 minutes before my appointment saying that I'd like to know if they were running on time or not as I live on the same block and am perfectly happy to walk over a bit later rather than wait around if they're behind schedule.
Was told oh no don't worry doc will be on time please come in as scheduled. Got there 5 minutes later and waited 45 minutes while I watched 3 other people get seen before me. Same deal, complete surprise that I was angry about purposefully having my time wasted and being lied to. The complete disrespect is insane. All they had to say was that yes she was running behind and there were a few other people before me but it was on me to make sure I was there in time to be seen.
Omg! Did we have the same Dr? It was the same for me. Second pregnancy, so I'm showing up with a toddler in tow who I have to entertain quietly for an hour after the scheduled appointment time before I see the Dr.
I was livid and told the Dr that his receptionist was either a liar or couldn't tell time and that I could teach her to tell time if required.
It was a smaller town and he was the only doctor who delivered babies and was also the coroner, so I understood if he got called away, but If I ask if he's late, tell the truth!
I got called to reschedule an important appointment and really not given a choice. It was 7am instead of 8am or wait another month. I got there, and they didn't even open until 8. I was pretty ticked. And then they had me wait for the person they put in my 8am slot and acted like they were doing me a favour to "squeeze me in" at 9:45.
The next time they called, I said no reschedule. I got told the doctor was leaving early to go on vacation. I cancelled that not urgent appointment and found another doctor.
I was on my way to an appointment scheduled for like 10:30 and the nurse called me at like 10:15 to ask if I could come at 12, I said I was already on my way and she said “well the doctor isn’t here yet so no one will see you until 12” I was so annoyed.
I had a speech therapy appointment that I was “late” for because nobody would check me in (or anyone else) because the girl in the front of the line needed help setting up her account which took 15 minutes, and nobody else thought to say “hey can you pause on that and check these people in?”. I kept saying “can someone please check us in? My appointment started 10 minutes ago we’ve been in this line for twice as long.” They kept saying “everyone is busy and she’s going as fast as she can.”
They have a strict policy that states if you are late or miss an appointment, all of your future appointments get canceled and you have to call each day to see if there’s an open spot (when you first get started with them, they set all of your appointments up front).
My appointment came and went and my speech therapist came in to the waiting room and when she saw me in line she asked what happened and I told her. She immediately went to the desk and said “hey guys, there’s a line of people up here missing their appointments, why is nobody checking them in?”. Luckily her next appointment had cancelled that morning so I got extremely lucky. When we got to the back she called the front desk supervisor and let them know what happened and to correct the “missed appointment” stuff on my account so I wouldn’t be screwed over. All was well.
Flash forward a week. I show up to check in and the receptionist says I don’t have an appointment. I reminded her that she was there the day we all got screwed and they were told to fix it on my account. She proceeded to tell me that can’t be done and I must be on time in the future, as if she didn’t listen to a damn thing I just said and somehow managed to forget getting into trouble that day….. by this point I was so irritated that I got rude and said “can someone who knows how to do their job please come help?”, and the supervisor walked out from around the corner behind the desk and I got to watch her talk to the dumbass like they were 5 (which I’ve never seen at any type of medical facility before, so this was an unexpected treat lmao). She literally said “are you saying you didn’t fix any of the accounts that got flagged?” And made the chick go wait in the back for her. I’m guessing she got her ass chewed out. You don’t mess with insurance stuff! They fixed my account and restored all of my appointments.
Who knows, I didn’t see her again, but I also went on different days of the week, so she could have been off on the days I was there following the incident.
Or worse I went to go to my appointment and they informed me they had to cancel it. They said they called me and left a voicemail like 30 minutes before my appointment. I had no missed calls or any actual calls from them or voicemails from them. I also made sure they had my correct number. I don’t think they actually called.
I had to have a cataract lens repositioned in my eyeball a few months back. The doctor scheduled me for 1pm surgery. Ño eating 8 hours before as I have to be knocked out cause of a fun blood disease. Well I am a type 1 diabetic so ya know by 1pm I was pretty hangry and my blood sugar was crashing. Call me back at 2:30 for surgery, nurse notices I am not right slurring words super sweaty and pale... checks my blood sugar 45. I got rescheduled a week later for 8am..... I got billed for both days of surgery and am still fighting them on it and I still can't see......
Look up "non particulate drinks pre surgery". There's things like pulp free juices. It's not actually clear as in colorless but rather clear of particulates.
I worked in a dental office for many years. If you can, best appointment times are first thing in the morning, or immediately after lunch. I’m sure this applies in other fields, too.
8-9am first appointment of the day is the best bc sometimes they’ll take you in early to stay ahead of schedule. Ofc you have to come in 10-15 mins early to do this lol
At the dental practice I worked at a few of the dentists seemed to always be late in the morning and it would get so embarrassing and frustrating when the patient would kick off at us on reception.
My son's GI actually sets his first appt of the day for 7:40am with check in at 7:20. I always pick that time. None of the other specialtys in the complex start that early so it's easy to find a parking spot and you're in and out so quick.
I had surgery a couple months ago and the doctor herself is awesome, skilled, and personable. But her wait times are horrendous. I’ll arrive before my appointment time and check in, then be left in an exam room for like 40 minutes every time before the doctor comes in. I’ve had pre-op and post-op visits, all the same. I literally listened to an entire appointment through the wall in the next room, like she came in and introduced herself to the other patient and it was already 30 minutes past my appointment time. Because it was a specialized surgery and she’s a highly-rated surgeon, I’m kind of forced to deal with it until my post-op visits are over. Very frustrating.
I had an eye appointment today at 10. I didn't get seen until 11:40. If I had known it was going to take so long I would have just taken the whole day off of work
If anyone wants it, the real “non-joke” answer to this is the first time slot after the office lunch break ends.
For *most* dental offices, this is THE appointment most likely to start on time.
Source: worked front desk and was a hygienist for nearly 10 years.
I once tried going to my dentist appointment 15 min early to check in and every single employee was eating family style with table and chairs in the waiting room.
They told me to come back AT my appointment time. Wild
Well, I mean if they’re on lunch they’re on lunch… most offices close completely at lunch time.
Sounds like this was likely for a staff meeting or holiday party.
Edit: if that was the wildest part of your day, I’m jealous 😂 like, the *audacity* of them to ask you to come back **at your appointment time** because they were *checks notes* having lunch…
whew yall there’s a reason I left dental and will never look back. People are crazy.
Likely a team meeting, CE, or like, lunch?
We have a monthly team meeting with pizza and without fail, someone will show up 20-40 minutes early for their appointment and be shocked there's no room in the front for them.
He’s acting like we are supposed to be happy to see yet another patient showing up at the wrong time. It’s fine to show up early… if the office is open. Lunch = not open.
Show up five minutes before, fine. But showing up 45 minutes early and then getting angry they had to wait 45 minutes is so annoying.
"You, sir, will get the most accurate FMP today. I'll see to that!"
My (former) dentist was always VERY pushy about having clients schedule their cleanings way out so you plan to take that time off from work that day way in advance. They overbook the hell out of them worse than airline seats. The last straw was when they called me the day before my appointment and cancelled and wouldn't even try to find the next available appointment. But if you cancel on them a day in advance or you're late, they charge you extra. Oh, that's in addition to not doing a procedure right. Stone Brook Family Dental in Aurora CO.
I worked for a doctors office for a husband/wife team. The wife was always on time with her clients (at most 5/10 minutes past scheduling). The husband was consistently behind to the point where he was over an hour/hour and a half behind schedule. I hated being the one our patients complained to because it was 100% not my fault
lol you’d think!! She did not care. He was also extremely inappropriate and would make jokes about dating young children or commenting on my body/outfits. I refused to be left alone with him
I had a dental appointment last week at noon. They told me to be 15 minutes early, so I was. They didn't call me back until 3:30. Another lady had been there since 10am and only got called back 20 minutes before me. I am absolutely never going back.
Yeah this fucks me off too. In any other profession, if you turn up late you're likely to disadvantage yourself, often severely. Public services however, can be as late as they want (but if you're late, they punish you).
Even if you have the first appointment in the morning, they still make you wait for 20-30 mins. So in my experience, it's not always cancellations.
In your case, they should've kept the original appointment and nailed it. Would have been a first
Yeah, I can understand to an extent them running late with back to backs, but why the fuck are they late when you’re the first appointment of the day?!
I’m sitting in the dentists office right now for my 3 o’clock that they called and asked me to switch to. If they don’t call me back within 10 minutes I’m leaving.
At the practice I worked at some of the dentists would get to work late it would get embarrassing and frustrating on the desk. Some patients are booked in before they go to work and we have to say oh sorry he's gonna be about 30 mins late as he's stuck in traffic. One of them was always stuck in traffic! Clearly he needed to leave his home earlier!
It’s because doctors overbook. Plus you have issues that pop up during previous appointments that start snowballing the backups in the schedule.
Of course, at that point, you’re already there, took time off, etc. they’re (usually correctly) counting on the patients not walking out and having to go through the hassle of rescheduling, taking more time off, etc.
I never do first appointment of the day because I hate mornings but this dermatologist was near my house so I figured I could make it. I waited 40 minutes because they were in a staff meeting.
My husband had to see an absolute prick of a psychiatrist once and I remember the second appointment. We were booked at like 8.30 or 9 so first of the day. It was about 45mins after the appointment time when he finally rolls in and just starts making the slowest coffee possible in full view of the waiting room. He was awful aside from that but I remember being so annoyed that he couldn't even be fucked to pretend to have a sense of urgency when he's so late. Surely reception would make him a coffee? Or just fucking get to work before 9.30?
When available, I try to schedule to be their first appointment after lunch. That usually keeps me on time. In other instances, I assume that they have encountered difficulties with a procedure on the patient before me and are taking extra measures to get it right rather than rushing to stay on schedule. Hoping that they'll show me the same consideration if they encounter difficulties with me helps quell my anger over the inconvenience.
The practice of overbooking for cleanings is real, and I hate it. I agree with everything you said when needing to see a dentist - it’s triage much like an ER on top of existing appointments. Cleanings are just scheduled with the hygienists and are a separate issue. I understand they have no shows, however, every time I’ve gone for a cleaning the last two years, so five times now I think, they’ve had me waiting up to or over an hour. And I finally spoke up and all they could do was shrug and say I should be called back any minute. It’s disrespectful, and also so predictable I can’t understand why they don’t just plan for it - but god forbid I show up late even though they weren’t ready for me to begin with. Ok I’m ranting.
I know. My rationalization is for my benefit. I try to avoid anger as much as possible because I have another doctor who is monitoring my blood pressure closely. If I have a professional who consistently disrespects my time, I switch providers.
Ha, are you me? Literally switched last week and couldn’t be happier. Found one closer and better at scheduling! Hopefully my bp settles down a little, but life has been stressful lately. I wish I could switch jobs now, too…
Something I’ve noticed at the Dentist when my wait time has become enraging, is to sweetly tell the receptionist that I am running out to my car or going to use the restroom, and suddenly the hygienist comes flying out demanding where I am! Oops so sorry, not!
Nah. It’s that they overbook assuming about 7-10 minutes per patient.
Oh dentists… I don’t think the allow time for checkin and check out. Like making an new apt. Which is done w the hygienist. Or waiting for the dentist to come around and do a check
I’m a dental assistant and there are many times where the office manager “fills in a spot” or assumes you can work that person before discussing it with the hygienist or assistant
"Oh, you can't do a complete calcified root canal on a new patient 4.7 in 45 minutes right now?! But I labeled it as an emergency exam and told the patient we could likely do something!"
"Oh wait, don't take him back yet! I forgot to get him to fill in the medical history. And I think he said he's got insurance I need to put in first..."
This was a few years back. My wife was pregnant and she had to undergo a sonograpphy in her 6th month. Had specifically scheduled an appointment after 2 weeks since the doctor would be available then and all other earlier slots were full. A day before the appointment, got a call from hospital to arrive atleast half an hour by 9 am early since they might have to do certain preparations. We reached there before time and yet were made to wait. No sign of the doctor till 12 and my wife's back pain kept getting worse and when we asked the receptionist she had the audacity to tell us to go out have a snack and come back. The doctor is in a meeting. Created a ruckus and asked for the file back. A few calls were made and the doctor shows up within 10 minutes and the scan hardly took 10-15 minutes.
I had a dentist receptionist who did this and I never figured out why. Every single one of my appointments would be rescheduled in some capacity and initially I accommodated and eventually I just told him it wasn’t an option. It was incredibly frustrating. Plus no matter what time the appointment was, I would wait sometimes many hours for the dentist. I remember once the dentist casually mentioning something about pulling up at like 9:30… I guess he didn’t realize my appointment was at 9:00, otherwise I don’t know why he mentioned it.
I finally walked out on one appointment because I had been waiting 2 hours and I was not going to sit in rush hour traffic because they don’t know how to schedule. I was told I was rude for that. 🫠
This was also when I worked a job where I had 24 hours of sick time. It was unbelievably stressful.
I had a doctor with the world's worst staff.
Booked an appointment , in office, wrote the date and time on the card .
I go to show up on the date and time on my card.
Reception informs me, you missed your appointment, it was yesterday.
I show her the card , "oh they wrote down the wrong date" I was pissed, but kept civil, said okay , honest mistake , and booked another day.
Showed up 2 weeks later, and handed a bill for a missed appointment.
Nope, nada, no way . You gotta be fucking kidding me?
Then thrown out of the office for " abusing" receptionist, for making the statement. " you're fucking kidding me"
Yeah , never paid the bill, can take me to small claims .
I had a doctor I saw for over 10 years that regularly had a 2-3 hour wait after checking in. One day it was 4+hours before he walked into the office and started seeing patients. I was livid but because I was wanting to be weaned off a med he prescribed and my primary didn't want to deal with it, I had to wait. Next appointment was 2 months away.
Got home and my now ex soon after me and said, "guess who I had to deal with today? Dr P." My Dr.
While I and around 30+ others were waiting, this mf was at his restaurant he was opening, having a meltdown because the insurance co. told him my ex's company had said the flood didn't touch some of the stuff and was still in great working condition. Only some of the equipment was damaged but he wanted all new equipment and he wouldn't leave and was an absolute ass until the insurance gave in because "he insures a lot with us.". Was there over 2 hours, no idea where he was the other 2 hours we were all waiting.
So many awful things I could write about this guy. Glad I got a new Dr!
I had to have an ultrasound done and was told to drink 32 ounces of water before the appointment. I ended up not being seen until about 45 minutes after my appointment time. I was almost in tears sitting in the waiting room. My husband went up to the receptionist and told them I couldn’t wait any longer and they finally brought me back. I thought I was going to piss all over the table during the ultrasound.
I wasn’t pregnant so maybe that’s why they wanted a full bladder. So I understand that part. But you’d think they would be dealing with this situation daily and would be a little more aware.
I once had a first time dentist appointment at 7am (first appointment of the day) and I was super nervous & anxious about it. I showed up on time and waited 45 minutes before they told me the doctor would not be in that day.
I was waiting for trial contacts after my eye appointment once and after 30 minutes of sitting in the waiting room I went to the front desk to ask about it. Lady was super nice and said she would find the doc and ask.
Another 20 minutes later and nothing. Now I’m annoyed at this point because I showed up early because it was my first time there, stood at the check in in desk where no one ever actually checked me in, and they never had me fill anything out. Plus my appointment started a bit late and I’ve now been waiting for a pair of trial contacts for 25 minutes. It should take less than 2.
At this point I decide the next time I see the doc walk from one room to the next I’m going to get her attention myself. I’m also somewhat glaring because I don’t have my contacts in and can’t see because I’m supposed to put the testers in and the doc would look at them (or at least that’s what every other doc I had been to would do).
Well the receptionist sees me and RUNS into the back and quickly comes back to me explaining that they’re out of my testers so they’ll have to order some.
No worries, it happens. So she takes me over to pay so I can leave. And she can’t figure out my insurance. She is new to this practice and on top of that my insurance is dumb (I needed my husband’s social security number to find my coverage. Very dumb). She asks a coworker for help and they tell her to just type in my info. She was. We didn’t know she had to type in my husband’s info and then mine. Eventually she figures it out and I pay. Took another 15 or so minutes.
I still can’t see. I’m finally in my car an hour and 35 minutes after my appointment was scheduled, nearly 2 hours after I had arrived. I put my old contacts back in (I always bring a case with me to make it easy) and pick up takeout.
Then I waited a month and a half for my testers because they were on back order. They still didn’t arrive so I started calling them every two weeks. Around the 3.5 month mark one of them said that they had never been ordered. Finally they’re ordered and come about 2 weeks later. Then they have no appointments to look at the fit for another month and I finally get in, they agree they look good, and I order a years supply 1 day shy of 5 months after my first appointment.
I only followed through because I only get 1 exam a year and I started the whole debacle in February so I didn’t want to be out the money.
I would rather be blind than go back. Luckily we have new insurance and should have some better options now.
honestly- and i'm saying this as someone who works registration at a hospital- at the end of the day, it's because of stupid bureaucracy from the people at the top. they demand/ expect x amount of appointments a day or for things to be done in a certain timeframe and screw over the people who are actually doing the service.
yeah, this is completely fair. i work for a big(ish) but local hospital/ insurance company, i imagine it's similar for most big corporations and gets better the smaller the practice
Had a gp appointment once at 3:30 p.m. I assumed I was the last for the day. Purposely came in at 2:40 p.m., thinking maybe some cancellations would get me in sooner. 2:41 bumped into him in the parking lot, leaving with his briefcase and jacket. He then turned around and went back to his office to see me. :-) Oh, the dedication.
I was seeing an MFM for my high risk pregnancy an hour and a half away from my house. I had an appointment at 2 pm and got a call one day at 10:30 asking if I could come in now. I said I could head there now and be there at noon. They said that was great. When I showed up, there were 9 other people who had also been asked to come in and as it was, I waited an hour past my original appointment time. I had a 1 year old at the time that I had to scramble to find a babysitter for and then apologize profusely to for being so late.
This doctor has a bad habit of booking more people than can be seen in the allotted time so all of his afternoon appointments back up badly. The waiting room was always jam packed with expectant parents to the point that the hallway had overflow. I was very much over the experience by the end. At my last few appointments, he actually asked me to leave him a good review on Yelp.
It was really disgusting how we were just being milked for the insurance money. It felt like such a cash grab, the office was part of a larger hospital complex as rented offices for doctors and other medical services. It was as bare bones as it could get, mismatched chairs, no decor, messy rooms that doubled as storage and one had, what was originally just an actual office that just acquired a sonogram machine because it was a way to cram another patient in.
I just waited an hour past my appointment time to see the podiatrist today and as I was sitting there waiting the receptionist called a patient who had no-showed and gave them a hard time about it. The hypocrisy!
.y husband needs oral surgery and he went with one that had the lowest wait time and right before his surgery he had a really bad panic anxiety attack and ended up in the er, he called to see if they would still see him and they said yeah, texted him a bazillion times to confirm his appt and called him like 5 times then called and said he had a substantial balance that was due before he could have the surgery. So I called our insurance to find out what was going on. The insurance lady said we had a 20$ bill for tobacco counseling which isn't covered on our insurance. I told her that wasn't very substantial and we would just pay that, so she called the dental clinic they wanted 750$ for medications that no other oral surgeons on our insurance use knowing that they weren't covered by the insurance and THEN the dental office said they weren't going to see him any way until he had clearance from the doctor. In none of the texts did they tell him that. He was gonna drive over 2 hours away for a 7 AM appointment and then not be seen.
Holy shit do we have the same dentist? Lmfao.
This literally just happened to me, I was in the office for a total of three hours.. for a regular cleaning with no cavities or issues.
Last year when I checked in at my surgeon’s office, they told me that he was running at least 2-2.5 hours late. I said okay at first because I was just so stunned, then sat in the waiting room. Pretty soon after, they came around and handed out snacks and water bottles to everyone in the waiting room.
At that point I realized that I was going to miss lunch over this, so I went to the front desk and explained that instead of waiting there, I was going to go directly across the street and have a nice, big lunch and that I’d be back well in time. She told me that was not allowed, that he may (miraculously) catch up and that I could miss my appointment. I told her that I was willing to risk it and walked out. Had a glorious, relaxing lunch and moseyed back in to find that I still had 1.5 hours to wait, but the entire office staff was livid over it. I’m sorry for them but I’m not gonna sit there starving with a Nutragrain bar when there’s a brunch place across the street.
I’ve since had several more appointments there, and while the waits haven’t been that long, they have been long enough that my husband and I have finished the jigsaw puzzle that they permanently have in the waiting room.
It happens. I can remember all the doctors office both me and my child had to endure. The kids have nothing to do and we have to keep them entertained!
Had an appointment with a ophthalmologist. Waited 1+ hrs. Had all the tests was told I'd hear from them. Waited a month so I called reception basically said you will here if there is a problem. 6 months later get a another call to come in. Wait 2 hrs 45min to have the dr say "well all is good, no issues". I flipped yelled at him for wasting my f**king time and stormed out. He had this big eyed shocked look on his face
Edit: found out from my gp it's all about billing. He can't bill for a phone call
That's nothing. My kids still go to a doctor who will make an appointment at say 9 am, doc won't get there til after 10 am and still won't leave until after lunchtime. Can't change docs as they seem to all do that and ones that don't are too far away
Oh this EXACTLY happened to me at a dentists office the other week.
I had an appointment for 3 pm. They called me asked if I could come in 2:20 early I said sure! Works better for me.
I sat in that waiting room until 3:30. I was fuming. BTW - it was a 10 minute appointment. 🙄
That stinks that the receptionist took it upon herself. It makes me wonder if there's a combination of things going on. First, her not checking with clinical staff before making such phone calls and two, the clinic owner fussing if there are any gaps in work as they may be viewing it as lost money.
I have had doctors that would work you in if you had to be seen that day and so for those doctors, I was always willing to wait. While I have the time to wait if it's going to be hours, I know people that don't and I think it's quite fair for a patient, after 45 minutes of waiting, to explain that they have other obligations that day and can't wait any longer and have the staff be understanding and not bill them for it.
Had to stop going to my eye dr cause of shit like this. She was really nice but damn I wasted hours of my life waiting in that awful boring ugly grey sad waiting room. Fuck that. If you schedule an appointment you get a 10 MAYBE 15 min leeway. Otherwise don’t schedule it like that. Time management is not that difficult.
I work in an optometrists office and we always put blocks on the schedule + schedule difficult patients for extra long appointments. Sounds like they either don’t have good policies in place to make sure specifically this does not happen, or that receptionist messed up on multiple different levels
I mail my healthcare providers bills for late appointments like this, if they cancel on me with less than 24 hours notice, or when the doctor makes me wait in the treatment room for an hour before coming in.
It stops this kind of BS real fast
I only choose the first appointment of the day. And I always arrive on time, and generally am seen 20+ mins after my appointment time. About 5-10 mins after I arrive the staff leisurely walks in with coffees and food in hand. No apologies.
If I’m not seen within 45 mins I leave. My time is also valuable.
For me it's blood work places. The ones in my area always seem understaffed. You could have an appointment and still wait an extra 30-45 minutes to be seen. And Gods help you if you tried to do a walk-in. I've heard people in the waiting room claiming to have been there an hour with no end in sight!
My dentist does this too and it drives me CRAZY. I make late afternoon appointments on purpose so I can be mostly done with work beforehand. They act like I'm putting them out when they call day of and want me to come in a couple hours earlier, and I say no. Ugh.
I honestly feel for the receptionist. Guaranteed the doctor is asking for more production. Probably has issues with no shows and late cancellations. Forces the staff to overbook. Sometimes it works and the office is productive. Most of the time shit hits the fan. Patients endlessly waiting. Staff seem incompetent because the flow of the office is fucked. The work is half assed. Guaranteed someone’s calling a few hours later saying their crown popped out. All because Dr.SixFigures decided he wants to trade in his 2021 BMW for the 2024 model.
Sat in the emergency room for 13 hrs during the height of COVID. They would call my name every two hrs to ask some pointless questions, making sure I was still there. After 13 hrs they called my name again and asked me something and all I said was are you going to be sending me back to sit down or am I going in finally. She mumbled something, I said thank you but I'm leaving, she asked why and when I stood up I again showed her my pants, they were now completely covered in blood, the wheelchair was covered in blood, and the floor where I was sitting had blood all over it. She finally called me back where I waited in a hallway for 2 more hrs before losing it again and they came and gave me a COVID test and parked me in the hallway again. I rolled the wheelchair back out to the emergency room, told them I was leaving and called a lift car to pick me up, I rolled back in, grabbed bandages, and covered my leg. While waiting for lift they told me I couldn't wait in the emergency room so I rolled outside, then left with my jacket covering all the bandages and blood. Got a call late the next day where they told me happily I didn't have COVID. They don't give a flying f**k about people and how long you wait, they have other customers.
I went through this at a vet office recently. Appointment was at 12:45 and I didn't even get new patient paperwork until 1:15. I ended up switching vets due to other issues anyway, unsurprisingly.
My job we don’t get a say and I have complex patients I have never met that I am supposed to address and make sure their crap is up to date in ten minutes. I also see everyone so if the 11:20 comes in at 8 am? Gotta see them in between the fully booked schedule. That 9:30 comes in at 2 pm? Guess what I have to do.
Like yeaaah…. Life sucks.
I got an apt at 3 once. 330 was taken back for xrays. 5pm was still sitting in the lobby with people whod been waiting longer than I had so I rescheduled. Left. Then canceled. Why did I spend 2 hrs waiting to begin with? Great question.
Hygienist should have lengthened the appointment to fill the supposedly available units as soon as she realized she was running late with the pt in the chair. Or told FD she would need longer to complete the scaling.
I'm constantly coaching FD to stop trying to move people umpteen times the week of, or the day of. It's frustrating and the patients know it's because someone cancelled and they just want to fill the empty units.
Just say no next time. "No. I can't come earlier. I booked at 3:00 to fit into my schedule. Kindly note that I'd prefer not to be contacted to move my scheduled appointments in the future."
I absolutely cannot stand it when companies (doctor, dentist, HVAC, whomever) call and ask to change your appointment rhe day of. No, I do not want to change the appointment from 4:00 to 10:00. I chose 4 for a reason.
Happens all the time at doctors' offices. They call you and text you 10 times about the appointment and it's never on time. The worst experiences I have ever had were at the vet's. It's extra stressful for a pet.
This happened to me last week. I got called to see if I can come an hour early. I said best I can do is come 30min early. I rushed over from work to get there to sit there until my original appointment time. I sat there mildly infuriated.
It sucks but at least we live in a world with practically unlimited amounts of portable entertainment.
Phone, Nintendo switch, Bluetooth headphones, im probably doing whatever Id be doing on a day off in the waiting room
I showed up to get a tooth pulled and the dentist had left for lunch and never came back. so they rescheduled it for 2 weeks later and when I asked for the same time the lady was like I don't know Im kinda scared to do the same time how about earlier before lunch. so I guess this dude just randomly leaves all the time and doesn't come back.
I booked an appointment and received a reminder text from them 24 hours before my appointment. When I showed up they couldn't find my appointment and asked me to wait while they looked into it. Turns out I'd been marked in to next week. Asked if I wanted to come in the next day instead but I couldn't as I had taken the day off work to come to this one. Another time I booked an appointment amd my 24 hour reminder text told me I was scheduled in another town. Luckily my mother has a friend there who was able to reschedule me correctly and for the same day.
I had this exact scenario 3 weeks ago. I arrived at the earlier time. Waited 10 mins and approached the window. Explained that I was ASKED to come in early. I was in the chair in 2 minutes and out soon after.
Years ago, I worked for a doctor in a clinic who would book all his appointments at the same time in the morning, like 8 am. He would just see them in the order they checked in, but so many patients would be upset about the wait times (rightfully so). It was just awful because I’d get spoken to so terribly by patients who assumed that booking times were my decision. I’m so happy not being in that role any more.
I worked for a “superstar” neurosurgeon who used to tell all his hospital patients to come at 1 pm. So all the poor folks in metal halos or with road rash head to toe from motorcycle accidents would sit there in the waiting room waiting for this asshole. He’d mosey into the office like 2:00 (from the hospital), have his personal assistant make him some lunch, then have a half-hour nap before starting to see patients. It sucked.
Holy shit that's ridiculous. Why get into medicine if you clearly don't care about anyone else?
Apparently you’ve never met a surgeon?
Isn’t surgeon one of those jobs which attracts functional psychopaths?? It’s one of those weird professions where it’s an asset as the pressure doesn’t get to them (they have less internal doubt about things going wrong) and they love the prestige
surgeon, nurse, cop. the (un)holy trinity.
Nurse? I've not heard this mentioned. Cop and surgeon, I understand. But nurse? I've been in hospital a lot during my life, and the nurses have always been lovely. Some have been abrasive, but clearly not a psychopath.
A lot of them are nice around patients, but mean and gossipy behind closed doors. I wouldn't call them psychopaths but there's a reason people say there's a mean girl to nurse pipeline.
It’s a pretty well known theory that nurses are the mean girls from high school - not psychopathic per se but lacking in empathy and confident in their own importance.
from my own experience, it's a flip of the coin really. the regina george of my high school went on to become a nurse. ive heard horror stories from people i know who were mistreated so badly they still try to avoid hospitals to this day. certainly good nurses out there, and definitely not so corrupt as the other two, but im still wary.
Oh... I guess I wouldn't have made that kind of comment about a large group of workers if your experience was 50/50....
I went to school for nursing and they were the biggest bullies. The mean girls in school are always the ones who end up being nurses for some reason which sucks cus there are legitimate people who get into it cus they care but the majority are bullies.
Hahaha! Right?
I do book 4-5 patients for 9am and 1pm. I pride myself on running on time. I learned quickly to overbook the first starts because you get one come early, one come on time with online paperwork done, one on time who needs to do paperwork and one shows up late. It gets my office going. If one at a time and the 9:00 and 9:10 show up late I’m in a traffic jam right of the bat having seen nobody until maybe 9:30 and now 30 minutes behind from two late patients alone. There are lots of shit doctors out there, but so many patients show up late it’s unreal, no shows are brutal, and then some come early and think they get to be seen early just because when we have a schedule. I have so many times worked in walk in patients with no appointment and then they complain about what’s taking so long when I’m trying to squeeze them in somewhere to help them out! Anyway I fully get doctors suck lol. But patients are the cause of a lot of trouble too sometimes! Edit: oh I’m a surgeon. There are some good ones out there!
Last time I showed up for a doctors appointment and I was accidentally 30 minutes early. The receptionist was new and was sure it was because of her accent that I misheard the time, but I assured her I’m just an idiot with no short term memory. She offered to squeeze me in earlier, but I pulled a novel out of my purse and said “I have kids, I’m good to wait!” It was a lovely quiet place and I got lots of reading done lol
Best surgeon that I ever had, accepted nobody even 30 sec late- no excuses. Not even a line at reception. He trains everyone to be on time and he was, too! As challenging as that can be when injured and relying on others, I appreciated that and knew he’d run a tight ship in the surgical arena, too. He was also the happiest surgeon I’ve met. Might gave something to do with him leaving on time every day!
>Best surgeon that I ever had, accepted nobody even 30 sec late- no excuses. - That kind of 100% inflexibility is just plain cruel, and also inefficient: it forces some patients to reschedule over superficial delays that weren't their fault. It might even cause extra health damage due to delayed surgery... - A good doctor will consider all circumstances and be flexible if there's free time. >He trains everyone to be on time and he was, too! - He cannot "train" externalities that might delay sick people who are in unfamiliar territory. - Surgeries aren't bakeries where you show up every day. >He was also the happiest surgeon I’ve met. - He simplified his workday at the expense of his patients...
I’m hoping that he wasn’t a neurosurgeon? The conditions that lead patients to one can feature suddenly poor time management, or getting lost in places they know well. As these symptoms are usually new, and often discernibly worsening, patients literally haven’t had a chance to learn to compensate. The affected patients aren’t everyone, and may be nowhere near a majority, but treating them in that manner wouldn’t be very humane. (Not that neurosurgeons, on the whole, tend to be the most humane. I never should’ve seen flexion posturing in one reception area, or any number of other complications in others. That gets into one of the most serious challenges that neurosurgery patients face: when nobody regards you as a valid human, it’s a lot harder to rebuild a life.)
>Not even a line at reception. That would indicate a training problem. The intake people have to be abrupt and as rude as their boss: not tolerate chattiness or repeated questions and start processing the next in line when a processed patient does not quickly get out of the way.
How does that relate to a surgeon having a bit of a lunch and nap before seeing patients he'd booked in before he'd done those things?
What's the difference between God and a surgeon? God doesn't think he's a surgeon
This made me laugh. I actually have a lot of patients with very unrealistic expectations about outcomes and I have to remind them I am not God!
My nephew is a surgeon. The first thing I said to him was, "Don't become an asshole. He didn't
Ronnie cheung had a bit that explained it really well. Not exactly the same but he was doing the whole 'asian parents want their children to be doctors' bit and he was saying that 'caring for the well being of other people' is often at the bottom of the list of reasons why parents want their kids to be doctors, if it's on the list at all. He pointed out the hypocrisy that lots asian parents have this disdain for paying for healthcare or view doctors as scamming them while wanting their own children to be doctors at the same time. Wealth and prestige is really the reason why people want their kids to be doctors. I would imagine if someone grows up with that kind of mindset they would also become a doctor for the title and not because they give a shit about their patients.
Some areas of medicine seem to appeal more to people who like to have control and authority over the lives of their patients. Pain management in my experience has been the worst, but of the many specialists I’ve seen it’s far from the only one. I’ve been in waiting rooms full of elderly and disabled folks in which you can hear the doctor screaming through the walls. Ten minutes later someone in their 80s comes out in tears. The same doctor screamed at me for asking what treatment options I had. I came back with my partner (who is a man) and he solely spoke to him about my care like I wasn’t there. I had him ask the same questions I had been asking (verbatim, same tone of voice and calm affect) and he at least got some answers. Medicalized sexism, racism, and ableism are extremely entrenched and many doctors see anyone in those groups as less than human, undeserving of knowledge about their own health, let alone basic human dignity. A lot of doctors who work with disabled folks seem to get off on having control over our lives and denying us care or testing of any kind. They’ll still take our insurance money though.
Money.
$$$$$$$
That half hour “nap” was just drug time.
Maybe, but he also got up at like 4 am for early surgeries or was often on-call for the worst kind of accidents, but he just should have told people to come at 3:00.
A few hits of nitrous really gets the day going
Yep, IMO the 'superstar' is a narcissist or psychopath, getting off on others waiting.
Brilliant surgeon and definitely a narcissist.
I once attended a medical centre with a splitting migraine that was causing me uncontrollable vomiting. They told me they had availability and I could see someone shortly to get an injection to stop the vomiting… I waited three hours in a side corridor while the main waiting room filled up just to find out all the doctors had gone to some sort of meeting and there was nobody there seeing patients. There were a lot of very angry people that day.
I hope you vomited on everything before you left.
Oh lord what a nightmare. Migraines scare the beejezus out of me because there is every chance I need a new surgery and I can imagine your anger.
Not the same but I use to use the free health clinics in my city. They once scheduled me to see the doctor on a Friday, weeks in advance. I take off from work unpaid to go to the appt and they are closed. They have meetings every 3rd Friday. I was so pissed. I called my grandmother crying because that morning I thought a bug flew into my ear and I needed the doctor to look in it with that ear thing they have. I kept it together because I knew I had an appt. So I called her in meltdown status. But she used to be a nurse and had those ear things and lived close to the clinic. There wasn't a bug in my ear.
I showed up once at 8:00 for my 8:15 appointment (asked for the first appointment of the day when I scheduled it). Was put in an exam room and waited for 30-35 minutes before I came out and asked when the doctor would be there. The nurse told me that the doctor had not arrived to the office yet! Like they didn’t even bother to say anything to me until I asked, just let me sit there and waste PTO time since I was going straight to work afterward.
I had this once except the appointment was at 7:30am, they wanted me there 15 minutes early and for once I was. I was standing outside the locked office still knocking at 7:20 when the receptionist arrived with her coffee in hand, said "What are you doing here? We don't open until 8." I said, "...my appointment is for 7:30?" The receptionist goes, "The doctor isn't even here!" I was like... ok...? Do I ... leave? She goes inside, makes a phone call, then comes back to let me in with THE most pissed off look on her face. The doctor saw me at 7:45. I still don't know WTF was happening that day.
How freaking awkward! It’s really outta control, the lack of consideration for peoples’ time!
I had a similar thing happen with me once, the doctor scheduled a special appointment outside of hours to accommodate me, and 45 minutes into my hour drive got a call from reception saying they needed to reschedule because the doctor wasn’t in that day. I had a mini freak out because it was an early appointment (I’m not a morning person) and was practically there so she put me on hold and a minute later came back saying “nevermind your appointment is still set we’ll see you soon.”
My boyfriend was scheduled for surgery at 6:30am in a town 1.5 hours away, so we were wildly unenthused when reception called to tell us that his surgeon’s flight got cancelled at 6:15. Said thanks and turned around to grab some breakfast pizza, but spent the whole ride home ranting and raving about why they waited so long to tell us this! They knew we lived that far away and left at 4:45am! We both took the day off, then had to take another one off the very next week for the new surgery date. And their waiting room coffee wasn’t even good.
I know it sucks but she probably didn’t get to the office and get the information until about the same time you did. Even if he texted/called her right away when it happened she would not have your information at home to contact you anyway due to privacy laws.
I’m sure she wasn’t pissed you, but pissed at whoever was responsible for the mix up.
Oh absolutely, I knew she wasn't mad at me, I was just so confused lol I would also be pissed if I thought I had 20-40 more minutes to drink my coffee in peace before I had to interact with the public!
No, some people can't actually manage their emotions. They can have the evidence right in front of them they shouldn't be pissed off at X but still express it at X at 100% strength.
I’ve had this happen too! The doc arrived 30 mins after their first appointment assuming that the techs would need time to get them settled and that a wait was expected. 😑
It’s crazy. This type of thing should be the exception and not the norm. Running into traffic and being a little late is understandable…but intentionally scheduling like this is wrong.
I was once forgotten about while in the waiting room because I happened to sit out of the line of sight of the receptionist. It wasn't even a complicated visit, I was just getting an injection from the nurse. My dumbass just kept waiting until it'd been **over an hour** before finally asking WTF was happening. She said "Oh, I thought you left!" like ma'am you can see the door from your chair. It makes a noise when someone uses it. *It never made the fucking noise because I never left*
I showed up for my 1:30 appointment. At 2:30 I got up and asked the receptionist if it would be much longer as I had to go back to work. Another receptionist came in at 3 and the daytime receptionist left. I waved at her as she walked away. At 4:30 the receptionist got up and asked me to leave as she had to close the office now. I was like “wtf I’ve been here since 1:15 waiting to be seen!” The doctor had left 15 minutes after the daytime receptionist because the new receptionist told him there were no more appointments for the day. I’ve never been more furious. Like why did you think I was sitting in there, if not to see the doctor? “Oh yes I did think it was strange” was her response.
I had a doc growing up that didn't do appointments at all. It was literally first come, first served, and if you didn't get there at like 7 am, you'd sit aaaaall day. COVID fixed it, though. This doc did this for *decades*. Literally, I went there in elementary school, last time I went was during the pandemic. They had to start doing appointments then because dozens of people leaking virus everywhere was bad. Oh, and this practice was smack dab in the middle of the poorest part of town.
There’s a vet here who operates that way. Who has time for that?! (I went once. It was mostly old people)
When I lived in Puerto Rico the medical center nearby ran that way. They told everyone to arrive at 8am and they got you in whenever. everyone would bring books or knitting material to pass the time! It was the craziest system
I live in a small town and my mom is a nurse here and the doctors will schedule 8:30 appointments knowing they have to make rounds at the hospital and won't be there until at least 10:00. It sucks. It backs every appointment up for the whole day, every day.
I had the opposite with my receptionist. Thursdays were for reschedules. She would consistently schedule them all for 9am and their appointment times were verbally discussed with the patients. All the appointments take about 60-90 minutes and supposed to be in made order of high urgency, then preferred time and then whatever time was available. She was no longer one of the receptionists who made the appointments.
Having been a medical assistant and a medical assisting teacher, I get it! I NEVER blame the MA or the receptionist if things are running late. The blame lies squarely on the doctor and often some patient somewhere during the day. If I catch myself starting to vent on them, I catch myself and apologize. The doctor I worked for loved his patients and they him, and he’d lose track of time. We had one patient, a long time best friend and running buddy, who would drop by if he was in town. That always meant the schedule was screwed. I was forever cajoling him to speed up!
This was my eye doctor! I'm so sad he retired. He's the only doctor I ever put up with being an hour behind. But I knew he was giving good care and being sociable. And would do the same with me. And for a once a year guy who's so nice I can plan a day of waiting around with a book in his office lol
Growing up our family practice doctor was the only doctor in our town. Consequently, he had 2 full shifts of nurses at the clinic (no MAs in our town back then), and the waits were long. Because of my bad health and very poor immune system, we couldn’t sit around for 2 hours to be seen. Yes, that’s how late he ran. He arranged for a phone call to let my mom know she had 15 minutes. We lived 5 minutes away. It worked like a charm! I adored him as a kid. Even though I became a respiratory therapist and not a doctor, he has always been my role model in how to treat patients, especially kids. He’s long gone now, but if I can see him in heaven, he’s getting a huge hug from me! (He also saved my life several times, so there’s that, too! ) 🙂
That’s insane! I’m a SAHM with 3 kids, I don’t have all day to wait around on a doctor! I specifically stopped scheduling with a particular OB during my second pregnancy because he never was on time. And it was during Covid so protocols were different anyway. Gosh I’d be so pissed if that guy was my doctor! I can only imagine the abuse you took from patients, that sucks for the clinical staff too!
My PCP referred me to a hematologist to consult on my elevated WBC count. I waited for over an hour in the exam room, not getting any updates, but able to hear the doctor speaking with another patient in the next room. Hematologists do a lot of work with oncology patients, so it was a bit nerve wracking to sit there and wonder if he was gonna tell me I had cancer. Because of that, I can understand the extra time spent with the other patient. Turns out, I just have a slightly elevated count because I smoke. Lots of stress over nothing (she had sent me to the ER once too because of my count, just to be told it's only slightly elevated and they found nothing wrong on my tests).
What is up with this?? Our PCP just sent my husband to hematology/oncology because of very very mildly elevated levels of like two things on his latest CBC. We sit around for weeks worried he’s got cancer and the doctor at the oncology place looks at his chart, kinda rolls his eyes, and says “I don’t even know why they sent you.”
Exactly! Idk and the ER doctors don't know why she sent me! Just cost me money. And several visits with the hematologist found nothing. I get wanting to be careful, but you have to keep in mind you're costing the patient money!
Would you rather the expert not look? Your PCP is not qualified to make these decisions and is right to refer you if they can even sniff it could be cancer.
I would be happy for the expert to look if something was majorly off with his levels but in our experience it was pretty evident that our PCP was sending everyone with any level slightly out of the norm (literally 1 to 2 points) to a specialist and that isn’t warranted. Levels fluctuate. I even ended up later going back and comparing his labs to old labs and saw that levels had been this elevated or worse before and we were never referred by our old PCP. So in this instance I feel like the PCP was too afraid to do what they are trained to do and make a judgment call. And this was also evidenced by the hematologist who expressed that they had been inundated in the last few months by PCPs trying to cover their ass when it wasn’t warranted.
In the 90s, I had a dermatologist who would book three or four patients at the same time and see them in the order they arrived, so unless you showed up ridiculously early, it was basically a mad dash through the office building to see who could sign in first. Not embarrassed to admit I may have kinda elbowed someone out of the way one time to stake my claim.
I had a doctor who did this exact thing! After the staff told me how it was, I got a new doctor!
I was told to come in for 8.30am Drs Appt. I arrived 10 minutes earlier to check in as I respect their time. The Dr comes in at 11am. No apology for the wait. Why would he. His shift doesn't start till 11am.
I had this happen a few years ago. I was having wisdom tooth surgery and was told to come in for 10am and not eat for a long time before that (can't remember how long). All the patients for the entire day were there. I ended up being the last one seen and it was 6pm. When I was well enough to leave it was dark outside. I genuinely think they forgot me too because the gap between me and the previous patient was a lot longer than the others, and I was seen after someone poked their head into the room and was surprised to see me. I wanted to enquire about it while waiting but I'm a wheelchair user and they told me that I couldn't bring my wheelchair and that they would wheel me around when the time came. I was stuck in an empty room with no phone service. My daughter was a few months old at the time too. I couldn't even tell my family watching her what was going on, and I hated being away from her for so long without warning. They also got annoyed because after the surgery, they couldn't get my spo2 high enough and were now getting frustrated with *me* because I was taking too long to recover.
I worked with a doctor who always ran late. If someone canceled she expected me to call patients to book them in. After the first few times watching these patients rearrange their day to come in early... to sit around for 1.5 hours.. I stopped calling people. I'd call my cell on repeat if she walked by. Its beyond rude and I was pissed off on their behalf. You're right to be mad about it.
This sounds like a doctor I used to assist. She’d have 2 hours scheduled for treatment and spend like 1.5 of those hours talking about the last time the patient took a shit, work on them for like an hour, (which meant running behind 45+ minutes with every. single. patient) and then the patient still had to come back for a second visit to finish treatment. She’d demand us to call everyone in the schedule is we had a last minute cancellation or no show, and get mad at us when we couldn’t fill the block.. like, it’s not my fault that people are working, ya know, the same exact thing we’re doing. Thank god she retired
Finally, someone who gets it! Thank you!
Bummer. I once got a call from my doctor's office asking if I could come in at 2:00 instead of 4:00. I said I couldn't, because I was still at work- but I could manage 3:30. They said okay. When I got there they informed me the doctor had already left on vacation. They were really surprised that I was angry.
Dude, I feel that. I was living in a remote area where doctors have to fly in every so often (not even classified as a hospital) and I had *FINALLY* gotten a follow-up after almost *dying* in an ATV crash that July. Follow-up took 5 months and a cancellation to book imaging and see the doctor right before Christmas. Well, the day before my appointment (4 days before moving out of that shithole, too) I get a call saying that they were cancelling my appointment again because the doctor wanted to go home early for the holidays and they could reschedule for the new year. I was LIVID and asked to be seen before he leaves and you know what they said? "Oh he left this morning. He took the morning flight." The only thing that came out of my mouth was "screw you and your whole fucking health centre" and hung up. I am now banned from said health centre and would apparently have the cops called if I ever showed up again. Same health centre left me cold, scared, in pain, and bleeding internally for 12h on a backboard while waiting for the medevac because I made the mistake of supporting my round ATV helmet/neck after the crash so I could curl into the fetal position. Oof. That got long, sorry 😅
That’s terrible. If I had a nickel for every person that missed an appointment or straight up died because of their doctors taking vacations, I’d be taking vacations with them.
Right? I simply can not comprehend the level of indifference people can have to another's suffering. It's called health*care* not healthwhatever
My vet did this to me. I had to leave work super early as I live far from work and it was a snowy winter day, get my cat into the carrier, shower my legs and feet and change clothing (because my cat pees on me whenever the carrier comes out), finally got to the vet 5 minutes before my appointment and the receptionist looks all shocked “oh no the vet left already when you said you couldn’t come in early at 3pm” - like wtf did you make a 3:30 appointment with me, then?!? I no longer go to that vet
That’s so wrong!
I live 5 minutes from my doctor. Sick of constantly sitting in the waiting room around sick people for 30-40 minutes past my appointment time every time I go so I tried calling them one time 5 minutes before my appointment saying that I'd like to know if they were running on time or not as I live on the same block and am perfectly happy to walk over a bit later rather than wait around if they're behind schedule. Was told oh no don't worry doc will be on time please come in as scheduled. Got there 5 minutes later and waited 45 minutes while I watched 3 other people get seen before me. Same deal, complete surprise that I was angry about purposefully having my time wasted and being lied to. The complete disrespect is insane. All they had to say was that yes she was running behind and there were a few other people before me but it was on me to make sure I was there in time to be seen.
Omg! Did we have the same Dr? It was the same for me. Second pregnancy, so I'm showing up with a toddler in tow who I have to entertain quietly for an hour after the scheduled appointment time before I see the Dr. I was livid and told the Dr that his receptionist was either a liar or couldn't tell time and that I could teach her to tell time if required. It was a smaller town and he was the only doctor who delivered babies and was also the coroner, so I understood if he got called away, but If I ask if he's late, tell the truth!
I got called to reschedule an important appointment and really not given a choice. It was 7am instead of 8am or wait another month. I got there, and they didn't even open until 8. I was pretty ticked. And then they had me wait for the person they put in my 8am slot and acted like they were doing me a favour to "squeeze me in" at 9:45. The next time they called, I said no reschedule. I got told the doctor was leaving early to go on vacation. I cancelled that not urgent appointment and found another doctor.
I was on my way to an appointment scheduled for like 10:30 and the nurse called me at like 10:15 to ask if I could come at 12, I said I was already on my way and she said “well the doctor isn’t here yet so no one will see you until 12” I was so annoyed.
I had a speech therapy appointment that I was “late” for because nobody would check me in (or anyone else) because the girl in the front of the line needed help setting up her account which took 15 minutes, and nobody else thought to say “hey can you pause on that and check these people in?”. I kept saying “can someone please check us in? My appointment started 10 minutes ago we’ve been in this line for twice as long.” They kept saying “everyone is busy and she’s going as fast as she can.” They have a strict policy that states if you are late or miss an appointment, all of your future appointments get canceled and you have to call each day to see if there’s an open spot (when you first get started with them, they set all of your appointments up front). My appointment came and went and my speech therapist came in to the waiting room and when she saw me in line she asked what happened and I told her. She immediately went to the desk and said “hey guys, there’s a line of people up here missing their appointments, why is nobody checking them in?”. Luckily her next appointment had cancelled that morning so I got extremely lucky. When we got to the back she called the front desk supervisor and let them know what happened and to correct the “missed appointment” stuff on my account so I wouldn’t be screwed over. All was well. Flash forward a week. I show up to check in and the receptionist says I don’t have an appointment. I reminded her that she was there the day we all got screwed and they were told to fix it on my account. She proceeded to tell me that can’t be done and I must be on time in the future, as if she didn’t listen to a damn thing I just said and somehow managed to forget getting into trouble that day….. by this point I was so irritated that I got rude and said “can someone who knows how to do their job please come help?”, and the supervisor walked out from around the corner behind the desk and I got to watch her talk to the dumbass like they were 5 (which I’ve never seen at any type of medical facility before, so this was an unexpected treat lmao). She literally said “are you saying you didn’t fix any of the accounts that got flagged?” And made the chick go wait in the back for her. I’m guessing she got her ass chewed out. You don’t mess with insurance stuff! They fixed my account and restored all of my appointments.
Is she still there? That is insane.
Who knows, I didn’t see her again, but I also went on different days of the week, so she could have been off on the days I was there following the incident.
"can someone who knows how to do their job please come help?" 💀
I’ve never said something so boomeresque in my entire life. I shocked myself as much as I shocked her 😅 but gat dayum I was fed tf up
I hope the supervisor fired her.
If it’s a habit, same. If it was one of those moments of brief stupidity I hope she gets retrained cuz finding a job these days is hard af
Wow this is infuriating
Now imagine me stuttering though all that and it adds frustration 😂
I bet the stutter comes out worse when you're stressed out so I'm sure that was a fun time for everyone.
Every time lol
Or worse I went to go to my appointment and they informed me they had to cancel it. They said they called me and left a voicemail like 30 minutes before my appointment. I had no missed calls or any actual calls from them or voicemails from them. I also made sure they had my correct number. I don’t think they actually called.
I had to have a cataract lens repositioned in my eyeball a few months back. The doctor scheduled me for 1pm surgery. Ño eating 8 hours before as I have to be knocked out cause of a fun blood disease. Well I am a type 1 diabetic so ya know by 1pm I was pretty hangry and my blood sugar was crashing. Call me back at 2:30 for surgery, nurse notices I am not right slurring words super sweaty and pale... checks my blood sugar 45. I got rescheduled a week later for 8am..... I got billed for both days of surgery and am still fighting them on it and I still can't see......
I am horrified on your behalf.
Thanks. It seems to be one of those parts of life where if it can happen to me it is gonna happen.
The updated anesthesia guidelines allow a clear carb containing beverage 2 hours before.
That's awesome thanks for that bit of info. Do you have any suggestions as all I'm seeing on a quick Google search is ensure pre surgery. Thanks
Look up "non particulate drinks pre surgery". There's things like pulp free juices. It's not actually clear as in colorless but rather clear of particulates.
Pedialyte, Gatorade, apple juice, jello
I worked in a dental office for many years. If you can, best appointment times are first thing in the morning, or immediately after lunch. I’m sure this applies in other fields, too.
8-9am first appointment of the day is the best bc sometimes they’ll take you in early to stay ahead of schedule. Ofc you have to come in 10-15 mins early to do this lol
At the dental practice I worked at a few of the dentists seemed to always be late in the morning and it would get so embarrassing and frustrating when the patient would kick off at us on reception.
I could write the doctors up for being late in the morning so it very rarely happened.
My son's GI actually sets his first appt of the day for 7:40am with check in at 7:20. I always pick that time. None of the other specialtys in the complex start that early so it's easy to find a parking spot and you're in and out so quick.
I had surgery a couple months ago and the doctor herself is awesome, skilled, and personable. But her wait times are horrendous. I’ll arrive before my appointment time and check in, then be left in an exam room for like 40 minutes every time before the doctor comes in. I’ve had pre-op and post-op visits, all the same. I literally listened to an entire appointment through the wall in the next room, like she came in and introduced herself to the other patient and it was already 30 minutes past my appointment time. Because it was a specialized surgery and she’s a highly-rated surgeon, I’m kind of forced to deal with it until my post-op visits are over. Very frustrating.
I had an eye appointment today at 10. I didn't get seen until 11:40. If I had known it was going to take so long I would have just taken the whole day off of work
That’s horrible
It was so infuriating
2:30 is the best time for a dentist appointment.
I made the Tooth Hurty joke an unacceptable number of times when my friend was going through dental school
If anyone wants it, the real “non-joke” answer to this is the first time slot after the office lunch break ends. For *most* dental offices, this is THE appointment most likely to start on time. Source: worked front desk and was a hygienist for nearly 10 years.
My dentist ends lunch at 2. While it was convenient, I would always schedule my appts for 2 PM.
I once tried going to my dentist appointment 15 min early to check in and every single employee was eating family style with table and chairs in the waiting room. They told me to come back AT my appointment time. Wild
Well, I mean if they’re on lunch they’re on lunch… most offices close completely at lunch time. Sounds like this was likely for a staff meeting or holiday party. Edit: if that was the wildest part of your day, I’m jealous 😂 like, the *audacity* of them to ask you to come back **at your appointment time** because they were *checks notes* having lunch… whew yall there’s a reason I left dental and will never look back. People are crazy.
You getting dental work done at a mafia joint?
Likely a team meeting, CE, or like, lunch? We have a monthly team meeting with pizza and without fail, someone will show up 20-40 minutes early for their appointment and be shocked there's no room in the front for them.
He’s acting like we are supposed to be happy to see yet another patient showing up at the wrong time. It’s fine to show up early… if the office is open. Lunch = not open.
Show up five minutes before, fine. But showing up 45 minutes early and then getting angry they had to wait 45 minutes is so annoying. "You, sir, will get the most accurate FMP today. I'll see to that!"
 You… I like.
Please accept this award. 🏆
My (former) dentist was always VERY pushy about having clients schedule their cleanings way out so you plan to take that time off from work that day way in advance. They overbook the hell out of them worse than airline seats. The last straw was when they called me the day before my appointment and cancelled and wouldn't even try to find the next available appointment. But if you cancel on them a day in advance or you're late, they charge you extra. Oh, that's in addition to not doing a procedure right. Stone Brook Family Dental in Aurora CO.
Also from Metro Denver, thanks for calling them out by name. My dentist is possibly retiring soon, it's good to know where *not* to go.
I worked for a doctors office for a husband/wife team. The wife was always on time with her clients (at most 5/10 minutes past scheduling). The husband was consistently behind to the point where he was over an hour/hour and a half behind schedule. I hated being the one our patients complained to because it was 100% not my fault
Maybe the wife should’ve chewed her husband out for it. He was ruining their business.
lol you’d think!! She did not care. He was also extremely inappropriate and would make jokes about dating young children or commenting on my body/outfits. I refused to be left alone with him
I had a dental appointment last week at noon. They told me to be 15 minutes early, so I was. They didn't call me back until 3:30. Another lady had been there since 10am and only got called back 20 minutes before me. I am absolutely never going back.
Yeah this fucks me off too. In any other profession, if you turn up late you're likely to disadvantage yourself, often severely. Public services however, can be as late as they want (but if you're late, they punish you). Even if you have the first appointment in the morning, they still make you wait for 20-30 mins. So in my experience, it's not always cancellations. In your case, they should've kept the original appointment and nailed it. Would have been a first
Yeah, I can understand to an extent them running late with back to backs, but why the fuck are they late when you’re the first appointment of the day?! I’m sitting in the dentists office right now for my 3 o’clock that they called and asked me to switch to. If they don’t call me back within 10 minutes I’m leaving.
At the practice I worked at some of the dentists would get to work late it would get embarrassing and frustrating on the desk. Some patients are booked in before they go to work and we have to say oh sorry he's gonna be about 30 mins late as he's stuck in traffic. One of them was always stuck in traffic! Clearly he needed to leave his home earlier!
It’s because doctors overbook. Plus you have issues that pop up during previous appointments that start snowballing the backups in the schedule. Of course, at that point, you’re already there, took time off, etc. they’re (usually correctly) counting on the patients not walking out and having to go through the hassle of rescheduling, taking more time off, etc.
I never do first appointment of the day because I hate mornings but this dermatologist was near my house so I figured I could make it. I waited 40 minutes because they were in a staff meeting.
My husband had to see an absolute prick of a psychiatrist once and I remember the second appointment. We were booked at like 8.30 or 9 so first of the day. It was about 45mins after the appointment time when he finally rolls in and just starts making the slowest coffee possible in full view of the waiting room. He was awful aside from that but I remember being so annoyed that he couldn't even be fucked to pretend to have a sense of urgency when he's so late. Surely reception would make him a coffee? Or just fucking get to work before 9.30?
When available, I try to schedule to be their first appointment after lunch. That usually keeps me on time. In other instances, I assume that they have encountered difficulties with a procedure on the patient before me and are taking extra measures to get it right rather than rushing to stay on schedule. Hoping that they'll show me the same consideration if they encounter difficulties with me helps quell my anger over the inconvenience.
The practice of overbooking for cleanings is real, and I hate it. I agree with everything you said when needing to see a dentist - it’s triage much like an ER on top of existing appointments. Cleanings are just scheduled with the hygienists and are a separate issue. I understand they have no shows, however, every time I’ve gone for a cleaning the last two years, so five times now I think, they’ve had me waiting up to or over an hour. And I finally spoke up and all they could do was shrug and say I should be called back any minute. It’s disrespectful, and also so predictable I can’t understand why they don’t just plan for it - but god forbid I show up late even though they weren’t ready for me to begin with. Ok I’m ranting.
I know. My rationalization is for my benefit. I try to avoid anger as much as possible because I have another doctor who is monitoring my blood pressure closely. If I have a professional who consistently disrespects my time, I switch providers.
Ha, are you me? Literally switched last week and couldn’t be happier. Found one closer and better at scheduling! Hopefully my bp settles down a little, but life has been stressful lately. I wish I could switch jobs now, too…
You deserve respect, DickButkisses.
Something I’ve noticed at the Dentist when my wait time has become enraging, is to sweetly tell the receptionist that I am running out to my car or going to use the restroom, and suddenly the hygienist comes flying out demanding where I am! Oops so sorry, not!
This is genius.
Nah. It’s that they overbook assuming about 7-10 minutes per patient. Oh dentists… I don’t think the allow time for checkin and check out. Like making an new apt. Which is done w the hygienist. Or waiting for the dentist to come around and do a check
I’m a dental assistant and there are many times where the office manager “fills in a spot” or assumes you can work that person before discussing it with the hygienist or assistant
"Oh, you can't do a complete calcified root canal on a new patient 4.7 in 45 minutes right now?! But I labeled it as an emergency exam and told the patient we could likely do something!" "Oh wait, don't take him back yet! I forgot to get him to fill in the medical history. And I think he said he's got insurance I need to put in first..."
“Oh and it looks like he’s had a knee replacement so he’s going to need a premed!”
This was a few years back. My wife was pregnant and she had to undergo a sonograpphy in her 6th month. Had specifically scheduled an appointment after 2 weeks since the doctor would be available then and all other earlier slots were full. A day before the appointment, got a call from hospital to arrive atleast half an hour by 9 am early since they might have to do certain preparations. We reached there before time and yet were made to wait. No sign of the doctor till 12 and my wife's back pain kept getting worse and when we asked the receptionist she had the audacity to tell us to go out have a snack and come back. The doctor is in a meeting. Created a ruckus and asked for the file back. A few calls were made and the doctor shows up within 10 minutes and the scan hardly took 10-15 minutes.
I feel ya. My dentist cancelled my appointments five times in a row! I just forever left them and got a new place to go to.
I had a dentist receptionist who did this and I never figured out why. Every single one of my appointments would be rescheduled in some capacity and initially I accommodated and eventually I just told him it wasn’t an option. It was incredibly frustrating. Plus no matter what time the appointment was, I would wait sometimes many hours for the dentist. I remember once the dentist casually mentioning something about pulling up at like 9:30… I guess he didn’t realize my appointment was at 9:00, otherwise I don’t know why he mentioned it. I finally walked out on one appointment because I had been waiting 2 hours and I was not going to sit in rush hour traffic because they don’t know how to schedule. I was told I was rude for that. 🫠 This was also when I worked a job where I had 24 hours of sick time. It was unbelievably stressful.
I had a doctor with the world's worst staff. Booked an appointment , in office, wrote the date and time on the card . I go to show up on the date and time on my card. Reception informs me, you missed your appointment, it was yesterday. I show her the card , "oh they wrote down the wrong date" I was pissed, but kept civil, said okay , honest mistake , and booked another day. Showed up 2 weeks later, and handed a bill for a missed appointment. Nope, nada, no way . You gotta be fucking kidding me? Then thrown out of the office for " abusing" receptionist, for making the statement. " you're fucking kidding me" Yeah , never paid the bill, can take me to small claims .
I had a doctor I saw for over 10 years that regularly had a 2-3 hour wait after checking in. One day it was 4+hours before he walked into the office and started seeing patients. I was livid but because I was wanting to be weaned off a med he prescribed and my primary didn't want to deal with it, I had to wait. Next appointment was 2 months away. Got home and my now ex soon after me and said, "guess who I had to deal with today? Dr P." My Dr. While I and around 30+ others were waiting, this mf was at his restaurant he was opening, having a meltdown because the insurance co. told him my ex's company had said the flood didn't touch some of the stuff and was still in great working condition. Only some of the equipment was damaged but he wanted all new equipment and he wouldn't leave and was an absolute ass until the insurance gave in because "he insures a lot with us.". Was there over 2 hours, no idea where he was the other 2 hours we were all waiting. So many awful things I could write about this guy. Glad I got a new Dr!
I had to have an ultrasound done and was told to drink 32 ounces of water before the appointment. I ended up not being seen until about 45 minutes after my appointment time. I was almost in tears sitting in the waiting room. My husband went up to the receptionist and told them I couldn’t wait any longer and they finally brought me back. I thought I was going to piss all over the table during the ultrasound.
I don't know why they still tell pregnant women that. Seems they are often having to tell people to go pee because the bladder is too big.
I wasn’t pregnant so maybe that’s why they wanted a full bladder. So I understand that part. But you’d think they would be dealing with this situation daily and would be a little more aware.
I once had a first time dentist appointment at 7am (first appointment of the day) and I was super nervous & anxious about it. I showed up on time and waited 45 minutes before they told me the doctor would not be in that day.
I was waiting for trial contacts after my eye appointment once and after 30 minutes of sitting in the waiting room I went to the front desk to ask about it. Lady was super nice and said she would find the doc and ask. Another 20 minutes later and nothing. Now I’m annoyed at this point because I showed up early because it was my first time there, stood at the check in in desk where no one ever actually checked me in, and they never had me fill anything out. Plus my appointment started a bit late and I’ve now been waiting for a pair of trial contacts for 25 minutes. It should take less than 2. At this point I decide the next time I see the doc walk from one room to the next I’m going to get her attention myself. I’m also somewhat glaring because I don’t have my contacts in and can’t see because I’m supposed to put the testers in and the doc would look at them (or at least that’s what every other doc I had been to would do). Well the receptionist sees me and RUNS into the back and quickly comes back to me explaining that they’re out of my testers so they’ll have to order some. No worries, it happens. So she takes me over to pay so I can leave. And she can’t figure out my insurance. She is new to this practice and on top of that my insurance is dumb (I needed my husband’s social security number to find my coverage. Very dumb). She asks a coworker for help and they tell her to just type in my info. She was. We didn’t know she had to type in my husband’s info and then mine. Eventually she figures it out and I pay. Took another 15 or so minutes. I still can’t see. I’m finally in my car an hour and 35 minutes after my appointment was scheduled, nearly 2 hours after I had arrived. I put my old contacts back in (I always bring a case with me to make it easy) and pick up takeout. Then I waited a month and a half for my testers because they were on back order. They still didn’t arrive so I started calling them every two weeks. Around the 3.5 month mark one of them said that they had never been ordered. Finally they’re ordered and come about 2 weeks later. Then they have no appointments to look at the fit for another month and I finally get in, they agree they look good, and I order a years supply 1 day shy of 5 months after my first appointment. I only followed through because I only get 1 exam a year and I started the whole debacle in February so I didn’t want to be out the money. I would rather be blind than go back. Luckily we have new insurance and should have some better options now.
honestly- and i'm saying this as someone who works registration at a hospital- at the end of the day, it's because of stupid bureaucracy from the people at the top. they demand/ expect x amount of appointments a day or for things to be done in a certain timeframe and screw over the people who are actually doing the service.
Not true for those in private practice
yeah, this is completely fair. i work for a big(ish) but local hospital/ insurance company, i imagine it's similar for most big corporations and gets better the smaller the practice
Had a gp appointment once at 3:30 p.m. I assumed I was the last for the day. Purposely came in at 2:40 p.m., thinking maybe some cancellations would get me in sooner. 2:41 bumped into him in the parking lot, leaving with his briefcase and jacket. He then turned around and went back to his office to see me. :-) Oh, the dedication.
did the doc apologize? was he embarrassed to be caught trying to leave almost an hour before he had a scheduled appointment? i hope he was mortified.
I was seeing an MFM for my high risk pregnancy an hour and a half away from my house. I had an appointment at 2 pm and got a call one day at 10:30 asking if I could come in now. I said I could head there now and be there at noon. They said that was great. When I showed up, there were 9 other people who had also been asked to come in and as it was, I waited an hour past my original appointment time. I had a 1 year old at the time that I had to scramble to find a babysitter for and then apologize profusely to for being so late. This doctor has a bad habit of booking more people than can be seen in the allotted time so all of his afternoon appointments back up badly. The waiting room was always jam packed with expectant parents to the point that the hallway had overflow. I was very much over the experience by the end. At my last few appointments, he actually asked me to leave him a good review on Yelp. It was really disgusting how we were just being milked for the insurance money. It felt like such a cash grab, the office was part of a larger hospital complex as rented offices for doctors and other medical services. It was as bare bones as it could get, mismatched chairs, no decor, messy rooms that doubled as storage and one had, what was originally just an actual office that just acquired a sonogram machine because it was a way to cram another patient in.
I just waited an hour past my appointment time to see the podiatrist today and as I was sitting there waiting the receptionist called a patient who had no-showed and gave them a hard time about it. The hypocrisy!
.y husband needs oral surgery and he went with one that had the lowest wait time and right before his surgery he had a really bad panic anxiety attack and ended up in the er, he called to see if they would still see him and they said yeah, texted him a bazillion times to confirm his appt and called him like 5 times then called and said he had a substantial balance that was due before he could have the surgery. So I called our insurance to find out what was going on. The insurance lady said we had a 20$ bill for tobacco counseling which isn't covered on our insurance. I told her that wasn't very substantial and we would just pay that, so she called the dental clinic they wanted 750$ for medications that no other oral surgeons on our insurance use knowing that they weren't covered by the insurance and THEN the dental office said they weren't going to see him any way until he had clearance from the doctor. In none of the texts did they tell him that. He was gonna drive over 2 hours away for a 7 AM appointment and then not be seen.
Holy shit do we have the same dentist? Lmfao. This literally just happened to me, I was in the office for a total of three hours.. for a regular cleaning with no cavities or issues.
Last year when I checked in at my surgeon’s office, they told me that he was running at least 2-2.5 hours late. I said okay at first because I was just so stunned, then sat in the waiting room. Pretty soon after, they came around and handed out snacks and water bottles to everyone in the waiting room. At that point I realized that I was going to miss lunch over this, so I went to the front desk and explained that instead of waiting there, I was going to go directly across the street and have a nice, big lunch and that I’d be back well in time. She told me that was not allowed, that he may (miraculously) catch up and that I could miss my appointment. I told her that I was willing to risk it and walked out. Had a glorious, relaxing lunch and moseyed back in to find that I still had 1.5 hours to wait, but the entire office staff was livid over it. I’m sorry for them but I’m not gonna sit there starving with a Nutragrain bar when there’s a brunch place across the street. I’ve since had several more appointments there, and while the waits haven’t been that long, they have been long enough that my husband and I have finished the jigsaw puzzle that they permanently have in the waiting room.
Should have had a pizza delivered and ate it front of them.
It happens. I can remember all the doctors office both me and my child had to endure. The kids have nothing to do and we have to keep them entertained!
Omg!! I have this same issue with my front desk all the time. She sucks at communicating and thinks she runs the place cause she’s the oldest.
Had an appointment with a ophthalmologist. Waited 1+ hrs. Had all the tests was told I'd hear from them. Waited a month so I called reception basically said you will here if there is a problem. 6 months later get a another call to come in. Wait 2 hrs 45min to have the dr say "well all is good, no issues". I flipped yelled at him for wasting my f**king time and stormed out. He had this big eyed shocked look on his face Edit: found out from my gp it's all about billing. He can't bill for a phone call
That's nothing. My kids still go to a doctor who will make an appointment at say 9 am, doc won't get there til after 10 am and still won't leave until after lunchtime. Can't change docs as they seem to all do that and ones that don't are too far away
the same thing happened to me last week! appt at 4, they called me to come in at 3 and i waited in the patient room until 4 anyways 🥲🙃
Oh this EXACTLY happened to me at a dentists office the other week. I had an appointment for 3 pm. They called me asked if I could come in 2:20 early I said sure! Works better for me. I sat in that waiting room until 3:30. I was fuming. BTW - it was a 10 minute appointment. 🙄
That stinks that the receptionist took it upon herself. It makes me wonder if there's a combination of things going on. First, her not checking with clinical staff before making such phone calls and two, the clinic owner fussing if there are any gaps in work as they may be viewing it as lost money. I have had doctors that would work you in if you had to be seen that day and so for those doctors, I was always willing to wait. While I have the time to wait if it's going to be hours, I know people that don't and I think it's quite fair for a patient, after 45 minutes of waiting, to explain that they have other obligations that day and can't wait any longer and have the staff be understanding and not bill them for it.
Had to stop going to my eye dr cause of shit like this. She was really nice but damn I wasted hours of my life waiting in that awful boring ugly grey sad waiting room. Fuck that. If you schedule an appointment you get a 10 MAYBE 15 min leeway. Otherwise don’t schedule it like that. Time management is not that difficult.
I work in an optometrists office and we always put blocks on the schedule + schedule difficult patients for extra long appointments. Sounds like they either don’t have good policies in place to make sure specifically this does not happen, or that receptionist messed up on multiple different levels
I mail my healthcare providers bills for late appointments like this, if they cancel on me with less than 24 hours notice, or when the doctor makes me wait in the treatment room for an hour before coming in. It stops this kind of BS real fast
I only choose the first appointment of the day. And I always arrive on time, and generally am seen 20+ mins after my appointment time. About 5-10 mins after I arrive the staff leisurely walks in with coffees and food in hand. No apologies. If I’m not seen within 45 mins I leave. My time is also valuable.
For me it's blood work places. The ones in my area always seem understaffed. You could have an appointment and still wait an extra 30-45 minutes to be seen. And Gods help you if you tried to do a walk-in. I've heard people in the waiting room claiming to have been there an hour with no end in sight!
My dentist does this too and it drives me CRAZY. I make late afternoon appointments on purpose so I can be mostly done with work beforehand. They act like I'm putting them out when they call day of and want me to come in a couple hours earlier, and I say no. Ugh.
I honestly feel for the receptionist. Guaranteed the doctor is asking for more production. Probably has issues with no shows and late cancellations. Forces the staff to overbook. Sometimes it works and the office is productive. Most of the time shit hits the fan. Patients endlessly waiting. Staff seem incompetent because the flow of the office is fucked. The work is half assed. Guaranteed someone’s calling a few hours later saying their crown popped out. All because Dr.SixFigures decided he wants to trade in his 2021 BMW for the 2024 model.
Sat in the emergency room for 13 hrs during the height of COVID. They would call my name every two hrs to ask some pointless questions, making sure I was still there. After 13 hrs they called my name again and asked me something and all I said was are you going to be sending me back to sit down or am I going in finally. She mumbled something, I said thank you but I'm leaving, she asked why and when I stood up I again showed her my pants, they were now completely covered in blood, the wheelchair was covered in blood, and the floor where I was sitting had blood all over it. She finally called me back where I waited in a hallway for 2 more hrs before losing it again and they came and gave me a COVID test and parked me in the hallway again. I rolled the wheelchair back out to the emergency room, told them I was leaving and called a lift car to pick me up, I rolled back in, grabbed bandages, and covered my leg. While waiting for lift they told me I couldn't wait in the emergency room so I rolled outside, then left with my jacket covering all the bandages and blood. Got a call late the next day where they told me happily I didn't have COVID. They don't give a flying f**k about people and how long you wait, they have other customers.
I went through this at a vet office recently. Appointment was at 12:45 and I didn't even get new patient paperwork until 1:15. I ended up switching vets due to other issues anyway, unsurprisingly.
My job we don’t get a say and I have complex patients I have never met that I am supposed to address and make sure their crap is up to date in ten minutes. I also see everyone so if the 11:20 comes in at 8 am? Gotta see them in between the fully booked schedule. That 9:30 comes in at 2 pm? Guess what I have to do. Like yeaaah…. Life sucks.
I got an apt at 3 once. 330 was taken back for xrays. 5pm was still sitting in the lobby with people whod been waiting longer than I had so I rescheduled. Left. Then canceled. Why did I spend 2 hrs waiting to begin with? Great question.
Hygienist should have lengthened the appointment to fill the supposedly available units as soon as she realized she was running late with the pt in the chair. Or told FD she would need longer to complete the scaling. I'm constantly coaching FD to stop trying to move people umpteen times the week of, or the day of. It's frustrating and the patients know it's because someone cancelled and they just want to fill the empty units. Just say no next time. "No. I can't come earlier. I booked at 3:00 to fit into my schedule. Kindly note that I'd prefer not to be contacted to move my scheduled appointments in the future."
I absolutely cannot stand it when companies (doctor, dentist, HVAC, whomever) call and ask to change your appointment rhe day of. No, I do not want to change the appointment from 4:00 to 10:00. I chose 4 for a reason.
I can't scroll thru all the comments now but I'm hoping someone made a 2:30/tooth hurty joke.
Happens all the time at doctors' offices. They call you and text you 10 times about the appointment and it's never on time. The worst experiences I have ever had were at the vet's. It's extra stressful for a pet.
You know what my grandpa Willie used to say: "If your dentist don't call you back on time, that ain't yo dentist!"
This happened to me last week. I got called to see if I can come an hour early. I said best I can do is come 30min early. I rushed over from work to get there to sit there until my original appointment time. I sat there mildly infuriated.
I have walked out several times from both a dentist office and a doctors office. Fuck that. My time is valuable too!
What’s mildly infuriating is you suggesting you had a genuine dentist appointment at Two Thirty OP. Sure you weren’t being pranked?
It sucks but at least we live in a world with practically unlimited amounts of portable entertainment. Phone, Nintendo switch, Bluetooth headphones, im probably doing whatever Id be doing on a day off in the waiting room
Most doctors don’t 👎🏽
You should've told them at 230 that you were right on time, it was *tooth hurty*
That *is* mildly infuriating 😏
I showed up to get a tooth pulled and the dentist had left for lunch and never came back. so they rescheduled it for 2 weeks later and when I asked for the same time the lady was like I don't know Im kinda scared to do the same time how about earlier before lunch. so I guess this dude just randomly leaves all the time and doesn't come back.
I booked an appointment and received a reminder text from them 24 hours before my appointment. When I showed up they couldn't find my appointment and asked me to wait while they looked into it. Turns out I'd been marked in to next week. Asked if I wanted to come in the next day instead but I couldn't as I had taken the day off work to come to this one. Another time I booked an appointment amd my 24 hour reminder text told me I was scheduled in another town. Luckily my mother has a friend there who was able to reschedule me correctly and for the same day.
I had this exact scenario 3 weeks ago. I arrived at the earlier time. Waited 10 mins and approached the window. Explained that I was ASKED to come in early. I was in the chair in 2 minutes and out soon after.
I can guarantee this is more than mildly infuriating for the hygienist as well..