What frustrates me about not being heard is when it results in wasting my time....especially when it is in a dentist's office, which is my least favorite please to be hanging out in the first place. About a week ago, I scheduled a follow-up appointment as I had surgery done for an implant. I explained to the staff, via e-mail, that the best time for the appointment was at 12:00 noon because I have to depend on someone else for transportation and that person is taking time off from their job to accommodate the appointment. I followed up that e-mail with a phone call to BE SURE they received the e-mail and the 12:00 noon appointment was confirmed.
About half an hour after that phone call, the dentist office calls me back to tell me that while they were confirming the 12:00 noon appointment with me, another staff person scheduled another patient for the same appointment! (The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing!) I was then asked, if I could change my appointment for earlier or later in the same day. I explained AGAIN about my transportation situation and WHY it has to be at 12:00 noon because it impacts the person who is providing my transportation, meaning the friend's J-O-B. The response I got was: "Okay, they'll work me in somehow."
Day before yesterday, I get a "reminder" phone call informing me that they re-scheduled my appointment for 1:00 PM in the afternoon!
I explained, AGAIN, WHY that presents a problem for the person providing my transportation because it impacts their JOB! I emphasized, AGAIN, that my appointment has to be at 12:00 noon so it would have minimal impact on my transportation's employment since he has to leave work, come get me, then drive to the dentist's office; plus pick me up after the appointment, take me home, then go back to work! (Am I being CRYSTAL CLEAR YET?!?!?)
Today, I arrive between 11:30 to 11:45 AM expecting a 12:00 noon appointment as I had been explaining for about one week...only to be informed that they KEPT THE APPOINTMENT IN THEIR SCHEDULE AT 1:00 PM! (They had completely IGNORED everything I had been telling them!) I explained AGAIN about my transportation situation!
The response I got was that they would work me in somehow.
From about 11:30 AM until 1:37 PM, I sat and waited....first in the waiting room, then in the dentist's chair. At 1:37 PM, my ride called me to ask if I was ready to go home. By this point, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAD BEEN DONE!!!! The dentist's schedule had been booked so full that he couldn't even get to me to glance at the surgical site! My ride informed me that he had to get back to work so I told him to come on back and get me. That's when I got out of the dentist's chair, took that "bib" off, walked over to the cubicle where the dentist was working on another patient and told him: "I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I have to leave! My ride has to go back to work and he is the only way I can get home! I'm going back to the waiting room to wait for him!" I think the dentist was embarrassed about what had happened which resulted in a patient walking out on an appointment. (I had no choice as there was NO way I was going to be able to walk home and I felt that it wasn't fair for the front office staff to jeopardize my ride's job because THEY WOULD NOT LISTEN TO ME!)
As I headed for the door, the front office staff asked me to schedule another appointment. I told them I would get back to them as soon as I knew my ride's next availability, NO THANKS TO THEM!
WASTED OVER TWO F-ING HOURS OF MY TIME, AND MY RIDE'S TIME AWAY FROM THEIR WORK, FOR NOTHING BECAUSE THEY WOULD NOT HEAR ME AFTER EXPLAINING THE OBVIOUS AT LEAST SIX DIFFERENT F-ING TIMES!!!! F-ING IDIOTS!!!!!!
