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This isn’t my story, but a friend’s. He doesn’t have a Reddit account, but he asked me to share.
The scene: my friend worked in a call centre for booking hospital appointments about 15 years ago as a supervisor, and this is one of his favourite stories. The wording may not be exactly right, but they convey the general gist.
Players: Call centre guy (CC), my friend (F), and rude patient (RP)
CC answers the phone. “Hello, this is appointments call centre at Hospital. How can I help?”
RP gave his hospital number, and said whatever his issue is.
CC says “Can you please confirm your name.”
F assumes RP refused as CC then said “I need you need to confirm your name so I can be sure I have accessed the correct patient record.”
F was sitting next to CC and could actually hear RP yelling from the other end of the phone. After 20 or 30 seconds of this, RP apparently confirmed their name.
CC checked the system. “I’m sorry, RP. But I can’t see that appointment.”
The conversation went back and forth for a couple of minutes.
CC repeated “I’m really sorry, RP. But that appointment is not on the system.”
More yelling from RP. CC says to friend “He wants to speak to a supervisor.”
F took a deep breath and CC transferred the telephone call.
“Good afternoon, this is F. I’m one of the supervisors in call centre. How can I help.”
RP says “All I want to do is change my appointment, and the idiot I was talking to has no idea how to do their job.” Rant, rant, rant.
F says “I have checked the system as well, and I also cannot see the appointment you are referring to.”
RP shouts, yells, and screams about incompetence, making a formal complaint, and eventually gets rather personal. RP eventually provides some useful information.
F says “Can you repeat that last statement please.”
RP says “I told you my \[expletive\] appointment at \[expletive\] hospital is on \[expletive\] date. Are you \[expletive\] r-word? I’ve got the appointment letter in front of me.”
F says “Ah, sir. You have phoned a completely different hospital. You need to telephone Correct Hospital to change an appointment at that hospital. The telephone number will be on the letter you have in front of you.”
Cue probably very shocked Pikachu face on RP. And \*\*click\*\*. Without so much as a “Sorry, my bad” from RP.
CC and F both just start laughing.
A plea from F. If you have appointments in multiple hospitals, please ensure you telephone the correct hospital.
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