Why are some office assistants at pediatrics offices so petty?

[Anonymous]

I feel like they are so grumpy and obnoxious all the time. They put you on hold and "accidentally" hang up on you. They have a horrible attitude, hate their jobs and take it out on patients and parents. I think this is an issue with many doctor's offices but for some reason pediatric offices seem THE WORST!

[Anonymous]

boredom

[Anonymous]

Our pediatric office is fairly well-run (with a few exceptions over the years). My dental office was so bad that it made me switch practices. I like the dentists but the admin staff was just terrible. I couldn't take it anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our pediatric office is fairly well-run (with a few exceptions over the years). My dental office was so bad that it made me switch practices. I like the dentists but the admin staff was just terrible. I couldn't take it anymore.

I totally get it! I like some of the doctors but the office assistants are horrible, horrible.

[Anonymous]

It's a low paid, low skill job. Take it up with the doctors who employ these people. If Chick-fil-A workers can manage to be pleasant, than these people can too.

[Anonymous]

They have to deal with parents. All day every day.

[Anonymous]

Fairly low paid

Given they are the "lowest rung" in dealing with the public at their workplace, probably put up with a lot of entitled/rude clients

The culture of the office overall (admin and docs included) probably supports it

I did used to go to one office where it was laughably bad, above and beyond anything I's ever experienced. Eventually, there was a major staffing overhaul, where almost all of the front desk and most of the docs were replaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They have to deal with parents. All day every day.

And doctors, who are almost universally bad with people.

[Anonymous]

It's good cop/bad cop, only crappy doctors have assistants that do this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's good cop/bad cop, only crappy doctors have assistants that do this.

What? No.The clinical skills of the physician have zero correlation with the garbage attitude of the front office staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have to deal with parents. All day every day.

And doctors, who are almost universally bad with people.

+1. Admin is a crappy job anywhere, but on top of that you have to deal with arrogant doctors, and often with the stressors of working for a small business managed by non-business people. Also it's not that uncommon that one of them is dating or married to a doctor, which creates messy group dynamics among the assistants.

It doesn't help that every office has its own software and billing systems, so on the one hand they are trying to make your situation fit into their quirky system, and then on the other hand they do tend to get the exasperated attitude of why can't patients intuitively know the way things are done in their quirky system.

[Anonymous]

These forums tend to lean toward "the parent is always right" but as a parent, I see how many parents behave. I imagine they act the way they do because parents call and are rude when they can't get an appointment quickly enough, are rude when they can't get the medicine the googled and think their kid needs, or are rude for some other circumstance. When I go to the doctor with my positive attitude, I don't see the negativity OP sees. There's a reason for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like they are so grumpy and obnoxious all the time. They put you on hold and "accidentally" hang up on you. They have a horrible attitude, hate their jobs and take it out on patients and parents. I think this is an issue with many doctor's offices but for some reason pediatric offices seem THE WORST!

If they don't like their job, they need to move on. This is a job where one needs grace to be comforting to sick children and stressed parents.

[Anonymous]

Low paid, no degree. What do you expect?

[Anonymous]

Never had bad experiences with office assistants at the pediatrician, always very kind.