Everyone repeat after me, “l-o-y-a-l-t-y.” Should we all say it again? L-O-Y-A-L-T-Y. What if I turn around 6 times, do a jig and throw some glitter in the air while saying it, do you think it would stick? Probably not, it would probably just cause a big mess that inevitably I would have to clean up.
If you knew me in my real world, you would know that I am as loyal a person as Linus is to his blanket. You can guarantee if you are in my circles, that I have your back. However, if you cross that loyalty, I can become a rabid dog. Ladies, it is not pretty. I become slightly crazed and need to spend ample time at the alter (if you know what I mean.)
So this past Friday, I woke up an hour early, dragged my little one out of bed, made an “eat in the car” breakfast for her and headed out to our pediatricians office which is a 45 minute door to door drive from our home. She used to be about 20 minutes away but left to start her own private practice in a more fancy pants part of town. However, I am loyal and I liked her, so we transferred right along with her. So, for the past 2 years, I have to rearrange my life to bring my kids, out of my way, to her office for their appointments.
Don’t get me wrong here, I am not claiming to be some martyr just because I didn’t change pediatricians. I am just saying that I know how hard it is to start a practice/business from scratch, to need those loyal customers to stand by you and to hope that those same people are out promoting and promising good things about you in the community. Which I have done multiple times to multiple people.
I arrive in the office (on time – have you know) and there was no one around. I settle in the play room with Lu. Then all of a sudden I hear my phone beep. I check it. It is an odd number, I listen to the message. It is the pediatricians office (that I am standing in) calling to tell me the NP called off sick and they have to reschedule. Hmmm…
I go peaking around corners, not wanting to give anyone a scare. We had already been there for 10 minutes and they obviously hadn’t noticed. I find their receptionist and she is caught off guard. She starts rattling on about how the NP is sick and how Dr. C has had to take ALL her appointments and how they are going to have me come back another day.
To which I try to explain that A) I was ALREADY there and B) I had rearranged MY schedule to be there and C) it is a 45 minute drive EACH WAY. Not to mention that the only reason I am there is because I have to Lu’s school papers filled out so she can start preschool on January 6th.
Oh and I should also mention that when I made her appointment, I wasn’t told that I was going to be seeing the NP for the well baby visit.
The receptionist flat out refused to let us be seen and was not pleasant in the process. She was not sympathetic to my situation, my time, my LOYALTY to the office. As I tried to wrestle Lu back into her coat, have a conversation about how I don’t understand WHY they won’t see her (since we are already there) have her check to see when her last “well visit” was so maybe just maybe she could fill out the forms (It was Dec 13, 2010 – so no go), I just became more and more upset.
Let’s just put this in perspective. I am your client. I am already standing in your office. I have been your client for FOUR years. I have a child that really needs nothing more than a quick once over so she can get her health forms filled out. I drive far, like really far – which is expensive and time consuming. One appoint can take up to 2.5 hours of my day. I have been LOYAL to you. Why not just ask me if I mind waiting. Have the nurse do all the preliminary stuff, give Lu the once over and ask me if I don’t mind coming back in the new year to finish her visit and pick up her papers.
Did I get any of that? NOPE, NADA, NOTHING and to top it off, I got a call about 2 hours later from the medical assistant telling me that I upset their receptionist AND that I should have been more understanding a feel bad for B (the NP) who was sick two days before Christmas. Quote, “Yes, it is very unfortunate FOR Beth that she is sick two days before Christmas.” and “YOU upset S so badly that she couldn’t get her thoughts together to tell you that she could see you in the afternoon.”
Not that it mattered, I had already scheduled a mammogram for myself that afternoon, so it wasn’t an option for me to come back. And my husband can’t bring them because he is Deaf and she won’t provide an interpreter because of the costs. Which is illegal but have I ever complained? No I haven’t.
Oh and then she said, “well you would have had to wait for 2 hours because she had all HER patients. Ah, yes, her patients. That clearly explains it. We were not HER patients. Her loyalty lies with others, apparently more important others probably from the fancy pants area of town.
Needless to say none of this ended well. I felt, as a loyal customer that I should have received better service and they had no interest in serving me. I received my children’s records in a large envelope in the mail, the next day. No note, no call, nothing. No loyalty.
I find the lack of loyalty in today’s society appalling. It is no wonder that people are not loyal when they are treated like all the other one use items that are so popular in society.
What are you loyal to? Does loyalty matter to you? 
Very frustrating. Awful. I would be fuming at the rudeness and injustice of it all. But…I hate to fume, so maybe it is time you find someone BETTER! Someone who is close to you and that won’t be so incredibly rude. It’s a pain to find a good pediatrician, but someone better is just around the bend. Deep breaths and moving on 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t know what loyalty is. I try very hard to be loyal to others when I think it’s warranted but it’s not always a two way street. 🙁
How frustrating indeed! Finding a good pediatrician AND staff is tough. I respect your loyalty to them. I had an awful situation at my last ped as well. I hope you can find someone better and closer to you.
How you were treated is horrible. And the fact that they made a point of telling you YOU upset ‘S’?! OMG! What about how they upset YOU? I can understand your frustration with the situation. However, I would like to say that I see this issue from both sides.
I work in customer service. I have regular, loyal customers. I have customers that aren’t loyal. When they ask for special treatment, or a discount, I do not have the AUTHORITY to assist them. I do not have the authority to even give them a REFUND if they return something. Many of the tasks that would be associated with ‘taking care’ of a customer have been stripped from me, requiring management approval, which is not even available on the weekend. I am certainly not implying that this was the issue in your case. I would just like to remind folks that, sometimes, it’s not always up to the person that you are dealing with. Sometimes, we are forced to be the bad guys, even when we don’t want to be.