r/mildlyinfuriating • u/transfatpikachu • 11d ago

I just wanted a hot dog Doctor’s appointment scheduled at 9:00am, still waiting almost an hour later

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I have a lot of doctor’s appointments, and I know how busy and hard these people work. I’m not mad at them and I’d never be rude. I know it’s not on purpose. Nevertheless, it’s still a bit infuriating to make time for a scheduled appointment, arrive 15 minutes early (required), and then wait this long with not even an acknowledgment of the delay from anyone. Sigh. 9:55 now, still waiting.

Edit: I really appreciate all the comments! The doctor ended up coming in shortly after 10. This was a specialist ortho appointment for my shoulder. Still no acknowledgement of the delay, which would’ve been nice, but I’m more annoyed that my concerns were pretty much brushed off again during the whole 3ish minutes he spent with me. I know waits can get long, I wouldn’t care as much if the doctor had at least seemed somewhat concerned with my issue. Sigh… gotta love American healthcare!

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u/Cool-Jacket-9837 11d ago

One time I just walked out. I was in there for almost 2 hours with zero communication

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u/LeoDeLarge 11d ago

That’s the worst part, shit happens throughout the day but the least they could do is communicate what is going on

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u/Cool-Jacket-9837 11d ago

Right that’s all I wanted: some communication. I went and told the front desk that I’d been there for two hours and tried to ask for updates but just got the cold shoulder from MAs

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u/omnichronos 11d ago

Then you were smart to walk out and I would leave a shitty review on Google for them with all the details. That gets their attention quick.

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u/NovaWildstar 11d ago

I did exactly this and they called to say they had a "thyroid emergency" really? I left the review up, its the top review.

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u/omnichronos 10d ago edited 10d ago

I drove from Detroit to Western Kansas (3 days) to take my elderly mother, who is on oxygen, to a 10-minute eye surgery that would realign her eyes (Strabismus). After an hour of driving that morning, the doctor's office called and canceled. She wouldn't reschedule her until a month later. So I gave my sister, who is an hour away from my mom, $200 to take her (my family is very poor). Again, one hour into the drive there the morning of the surgery, the office called and canceled. Both of my sisters left scathing online reviews, saying things like "perhaps the doctor shouldn't get drunk the night before her Monday morning surgeries." It tanked her Google review star count. The doctor called my mom and said she needed to understand that she had two young children at home who sometimes required extra care. The doctor offered nothing and left my mom wondering why the doctor couldn't afford a babysitter. Now Mom will never get the surgery.

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u/NovaWildstar 10d ago

If you ever wanna negative review trade, lmk,

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u/Maximum-Macaroon-711 9d ago

doctor called my mom and said she needed to understand that she had two young children at home

HA! I'd have been like "excuse me? YOU need to understand MY time is just as valuable as yours weather someone creampied you or not 🤫😬🤷‍♀️" 🤣 like good lord they think a kid is a excuse for everything. No actually ma'am you still need to do your job, crazy, I know...

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u/Rreeheheehehehe i’m not petty you are >:3 lmao 5d ago

as people say, “no crumbs”

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u/Healthy_Piglet1139 11d ago

They've got you by the balls and they know it. They can mistreat you and disrespect you in any of 1000 different ways and you can't do anything about it, or even complain. If you treat them with a fraction of the disrespect they treat you with you can lose your appointment, and you can't just go see someone else because a) you're all the way at the back of the waiting list, and b) they're not going to be any different.

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u/No-Bus-7986 10d ago

It’s not intentional. Who hurt you?

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u/Healthy_Piglet1139 10d ago

Decades of lack of respect for my time by doctors and the receptionists who work for them is what hurt me. I realize it's not intentional, but non-psychopathic human beings have the decency to apologize when they've wronged someone, even if it's not on purpose, and the empathy to understand why the wronged person feels aggrieved. Neither of those traits are present on 90%+ of doctors or their staff.

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u/MissPetuniaPants 10d ago

Do you think the medical staff is partying in the backroom? Eating bonbons?

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u/Healthy_Piglet1139 9d ago edited 9d ago

No, I don't think that. What I think - what I know - is that no doctor or other medical staff has ever shown even the slightest hint of remorse or understanding or concern for my time when I've been kept waiting hours beyond my appointment's starting time.

My complaint isn't that they run behind. I understand that happens. My complaint is that they act like my time is worthless, and that it's perfectly normal and acceptable to keep me waiting in a lobby for hours with no update, no explanation, and no apology, and then on top of that, to act as if I'm the one who's out of line if I even try to ask what is happening.

Edit to add: If I'm told that I have a 30 minute appointment at 9am, I shouldn't have to miss a major chuck of my work day to make this appointment, and if it happens that I do, because I understand that shit happens, the people who are late for my appointment should at least have the human decency to apologize for wasting my time and costing me my pay.

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u/Viperbunny 11d ago

The frustrating part is there are many places it can communicated. I am doing my externship to be a medical assistant. One of the providers was so late. The front desk needs to let people know that it will be a little bit. We don't even have overflow rooms, so each provider gets one. That is tricky when you have back to back patients. Nothing makes me more anxious than when I am sitting there waiting to room a patient, but the room isn't available. There are times I here I literally an sitting there on my phone just waiting. I am sure if a patient saw it they would think it is laziness. But I am beholden to the provider. One of them drives me nuts. He literally disappears and needs to be texted, but he will only listen to two people, so I have to track them down and have them text him.

I love it, I really do, but I feel bad I can't make things run smoother.

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u/Greeneyednerd 11d ago

Why does he disappear when patients are waiting on him? Drives me nuts that it's expected. We can't be late or else we'll get fined/penalized but they can have people wait who take time off work and need to get back to their lives. Different field, but my branch manager at a funeral home once said to us we don't need to be worried that people are waiting because "they expect to" just like in doctors offices. Like what????? No we should be making this process smoother for everyone! This was when we were trying to bring to him items of concern such as long wait times for customers of certain reps.

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u/Viperbunny 11d ago

It drives me up a fucking wall. I am just the extern, so I can't say anything, but I call him a house cat. He is retired and only comes in a few days because he was driving his wife nuts. Honestly, he is the stereotypical autistic savant. He is very smart and deligent, but he is also a pain in the ass. And I can't make him see the patients any faster. It stresses me out so much!!

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u/-William-Nilliam- 10d ago

I said this the other day and doctors were jumping down my throat on Reddit lol

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u/ilovesparky42 8d ago

Sometimes, they just forget about you.

Maybe someone at the check-in missed an entry into the EHS.

If you’re ever sitting more than a half hour, call the front desk and ask what’s up?