I think that stupidity has to be my biggest pet peeve. Stupid people in particular. Like the Incredibly Unhelpful Secretary at the Orthopedic Specialist’s office.
Here’s how our first conversation went:
Me: (I introduce myself, tell her about Berry Baby and that the doctor in the Pediatric ER told us to call right away)
Her: “Our next Cast Clinic is on the 23rd”
Me: (being a newbie at the whole “cast” thing) “What is Cast Clinic exactly?”
Her: “I don’t know”
Me: (bewildered at her response) “well, what will they do there"?”
Her: “I don’t know – I’ve never had a cast”
(painful silence, while I try to digest this NON-information. Seriously? Does she not WORK for the ORTHOPEDIC SPECIALIST???)
Me: (testily) “okaaaaay…”
Really, it was stupefying, her lack of helpfulness. So I’m not sure why I thought our second conversation would go any better…maybe I was hoping to get a different secretary…
I had to call again yesterday because Berry Baby has managed to pound the crap out of the foot of his cast. It’s all soft on the bottom now, and he’s starting to limp (worse than normal when you’re walking on a not-a-walking-cast). So I called to find out what I should do between now and the Cast Clinic…
Me: (explaining the situation and asking if the cast should get looked at right away – since our instructions indicated that if there were any deterioration or defect in the cast to have it seen right away)
Her: “Well, our next Cast Clinic is on the 23rd”
Me: (sighing heavily and trying not to beat the phone against the desk) “I know, we’re going to that cast clinic. What I need to know is if it should be seen before then.”
Her: “well, they’ll look at his cast on Monday…or I guess you could take him to your family doctor…”
Okay, now here is my other problem (aside from Incredibly Unhelpful Secretary)…WHY was I even TOLD to call the Orthopedic Specialist when he won’t even be SEEING us??? He won’t even see us at the Cast Clinic. THERE we will see Mark, the Cast Clinic Guy. So WHAT GOOD IS THE SPECIALIST???
*deep breath*
9 comments:
your allot nicer then even I would have been..like reaching through that phone to strangler her.
Or I would have asked do they pay you to do this job?
then do it.
it's a real disease, everywhere.
Stupid people are everywhere! One of our favorite comedians loves to talk about that and he says stupid people should be required to wear a sign identifying them so that the rest of us can just avoid them. Ha!
You handled it a lot nice than I would have. I'm certain my sarcastic side would have surfaced in short order.
Blessings!
okay. here's what you do. You make your mind up that this is some sort of character test... if you make it through without comPLETEly freaking out, you may not have to pass this way again.
Second, you prohibit Bboy from jumping off, say, the back of the rink bleachers and nearly causing me to strangle him at the thought of my dear, precious friend dragging TWO boys in casts around for 6 weeks.
I COULD add my two bits about the peach behind the desk at the pediatric dentist's office, but do we really need another example? I think not.
cringeing over here. stupidity is painful. But then I can be really stupid on the spur of some who-knows-what-kind-of-moment as well, sigh.
I'm with Chris on the character test aspect. It drives P-guy bonkers when I say this, but in a moment like this I turn the mirror totally around and tell myself to view this insanely frustrating moment as a reflection of how spirit filled I a really am (not) and turn my concentration to exercising those fruits and spruicing up my spiritual make-up. It's humbling and it gives me more compassion and grace for the person that is *totally* peeving me off.
That said, I know you were (almost *grin*) totally speaking tongue in cheek here and am not saying in any way that you are ungracious because I think you handled the situation with perfect (exterior *grin*) grace.
yes, well, the only thing that really prevents me from being incredibly snarky is the thousands of possible explanations behind her stupidity. Maybe she's a temp? Maybe she was having two really bad days? Ummm....actually, those are the only ones I can come up with.
Seriously, if you were working for a SPECIALIST, wouldn't you educate yourself JUST A LITTLE? Even if she has no medical background whatsoever, she should AT LEAST be able to tell me the same things that my friends could tell me about Cast Clinic - they'll do xrays, they'll probably remove his cast, they might re-cast it the same way or differently...That's all I wanted to know.
argh.
Wow I would really wanna let her boss know how badly he or she is being represented. That sounds more lazy then stupid!
Doctor stuff is so anoying... why where you told to call? Hope you find some answers soon.
Ask her next time for someone to talk to who does know something?
maybe she's an undercover spy... this would explain EVERYTHING... why she knows nothing about her field, and why she's so vague about specifics... it's what she's being paid to do. Now that I mull it over, I'm positive. She's a secret agent... and now we've ruined her cover. Ha ha!
Maybe she's book smart.
Or maybe not.
I'm on your side. Always.
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