Am I crazy? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
Tell me what date and time are written on this card.
Wednesday, August 29, 1pm. Right? RIGHT?!
And that is not my writing. It was written by the receptionist at the OB-GYN’s office.
The same receptionist who informed me yesterday – Wednesday, August 29, at 12:55pm when I entered the office – that I did NOT have an appointment.
And who, while neither accusatory nor unpleasant, was certainly not effusive in her apologies or particularly concerned about finding room for me in the schedule.
Even though I had a fucking appointment. And an appointment card on which she had written the date and time of said appointment.
Who brings the appointment card with them as proof? Who calls beforehand just to make sure their appointment hasn’t mysteriously disappeared from the system? I sure don’t. But maybe I should.
My old practice in New York ran way behind schedule. For each appointment, no matter how brief it would be, I blocked three hours on my Outlook calendar (which included travel time across town). I didn’t like it, but I could predict it.
But the maternal fetal medicine practice did not run behind schedule. Each time I made my way to that decrepit old part of New York Hospital, I was seen exactly on time. And never did I arrive for an appointment – certainly not an appointment as significant as an amnio – only to discover that my appointment was apparently a figment of my imagination (or so the receptionist would have me believe).
Yesterday’s mix-up wasted my time and Kyle’s time. But even worse, it made me question whether I had my act together. And the longer I sat in that waiting room, the angrier I got.
People already look at pregnant women as being flaky, off in la-la-land, daydreaming of booties. I’ve worked full-time through two pregnancies already, and both times I remember being treated differently even though I was behaving the same. By the time I hit 40 weeks, I was ready to smack everyone with the kid gloves they’d been using on me and shout, “HEY! I’m the same person I was before, just fatter!”
If I really had been wrong about the appointment, I would have called the office as soon as I got home to apologize. Even if I’d been the least bit uncertain about the day and time, I would have given the receptionist the benefit of the doubt. But it’s written on my calendar. My husband showed up. And I have the fucking appointment card with the day and time written on it by the receptionist.
I am NOT crazy. I am, in fact, so sane that she has just blown her mind.
And with any luck, she’ll be out sick next week when I return for my amnio. But I’m still going to call beforehand, just to be safe.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:27 am
Hate stuff like this. It is like they are implying that you are either out of your mind or lying.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:22 am
Oh, I would have been livid. absolutely livid. I’m mad enough that I have to retake my glucola test next week because the steroids in my system caused my numbers to be completely out of whack (can you say 228) and no one thought about the effect of the steroids until AFTERWARDS. Ya know, after I chugged the nastiness? And so apparently yesterday was annoying prenatal appt day. Boo.
August 30th, 2007 at 6:26 am
i would be very angry, as well. You will be taking the card to show her, yes?
August 30th, 2007 at 7:45 am
How aggravating! I can’t believe they didn’t at least apologize. “Sorries” go a long way.
Hope next week’s appt goes well. I’ve been learning a bit about the amnio test also, as I would need one for number two. Kinda weird to think of oneself as “advanced in age.”
August 30th, 2007 at 7:56 am
No WAY. That sucks. And aren’t THEY supposed to call YOU to confirm?
August 30th, 2007 at 8:06 am
That sucks! If I would have gotten myself up for something as big as an amnio appointment I would have been pissed.
August 30th, 2007 at 8:17 am
That’s so obnoxious! I’d've been so pissed. You were all psyched up for that!
I’d so be showing up today with the card, saying, “How are you going to fix this?”
Although one time I tried to call a doctor on crap and they said I could go elsewhere if I was unhappy.
Dude. That made it even worse.
Whatever happened to “My bad! Sorry!”
I’ll say it to you…sorry.
Julie
Ravin’ Picture Maven
August 30th, 2007 at 10:34 am
Yeah, like the amnio appt was no big deal! ARGH!
August 30th, 2007 at 10:36 am
I would have thrown a fit. I used to work reception at a hospital and one of the woman at the desk transposed numbers ALL THE F’ING TIME! Patients would show up, after driving 8 plus hours and she would try turning them away. I always found a way to accommodate them – for pete’s sake, it’s not their fault.
Bring the card next week and give ‘em hell (politely).
August 30th, 2007 at 10:54 am
That looks like Aug. 89 to me. See, you got it totally wrong.
August 30th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I’d have been livid-especially when they didn’t fit you in.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I do not suffer the disorganized well.
I am so anal.
I might have beat that woman down.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
With hormones raging in me… I would have knocked the woman out, cried or just would have eaten 10 Snickers!
That sucks. That happened with us with the pediatrician here… and I stood there actually “arguing” with the woman that I knew it was correct b/c it was the only time off I had! Crazy!
I moved to RI from NYC… where, like you, an appt with my first 2 pregnancies would be 2 hours long. He was always running 30-45 minutes behind. Always. Here, it’s way better in terms of making an appt at 2pm, I’m usually seen by 2:30pm.
And I have to say.. I cannot believe they didn’t fit you in! UGH!
LOVE your blog
- Audrey
Pinks & Blues
August 30th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Oh no! That is irrefutable proof.
I had written it down wrong for one appointment because I had scheduled it, but while I was returning to work, the office had called me on my cell phone to reschedule. I had remembered the wrong date by one day, but the correct time. Somehow, they fit me in and seemed to remember when they had called me to reschedule, thereby taking some responsibility for the mix-up.
August 30th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
It’s happened to me both ways. I have messed up the date and or time, and or they have. They last time they did it – I recorded the receptionists message on my answering machine leaving me the WRONG time – with my cell phone and played it for my doc.
Yes, they DO make mistakes! It’s always nice to be able to prove it too!
August 30th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Ya know, I’d be just so tempted to send a bill for my time. You know how medical practices always want you to pay up even if you miss an appointment because you’re in the freaking HOSPITAL? And you get the snippy bill and you say, “Oh, gosh, I would have come to therapy but I was having my spleen removed” and they say, “I’m sorry but you had your spleen removed with less than 24-hours notice to us. So sorry.”?
I say send them a bill for your time, for the babysitter, and for your husband’s time. Tell them you’re not adding in ‘pain and suffering’ because you know that they really did MEAN to apologize. Being as how they were so totally IN THE WRONG. Smile. Kiss, kiss.
(I’m sorry. I’ve have too much caffeine and this really made me mad on your behalf. Going back to lurkdom.)
Barb
August 30th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
You better bring that card with you and demand an apology!! You deserve it!!
I hate people who f*ck up and make you feel like it’s your fault!!
August 30th, 2007 at 4:05 pm
Something very similar happened to me a few months ago– I was a week overdue and showed up for an ultrasound, husband in tow. I was informed that my appointment time had been moved and that I’d missed my appointment. I couldn’t contain myself — I was in tears (thank you, hormones!), explaining that I HAD TO HAVE THE ULTRASOUND NOW and that no, I would not come back in the afternoon because I wanted my husband with me and he wouldn’t be there in the afternoon. If they had asked me to change the time of my appointment to earlier, I would have gladly agreed — it’s not like I was sleeping anyways! They claimed they called and spoke with me, and when I showed them my cell log, they wouldn’t even apologize, just told me that they would see what they could do. They did manage to squeeze me in, and all that I wanted was an apology, but I never got one, except from my midwife, who said “oh, the front desk will never admit to their wrongs.” Great, thanks…
August 31st, 2007 at 8:44 am
That stinks! I would be so irritated about that!
August 31st, 2007 at 10:18 am
That’s SO annoying.
I hate it when you’re right and people try to convince you that you’re wrong! Throw in being pregnant, and it’s totally crazy-making!
Good luck next week.
August 31st, 2007 at 12:58 pm
I’d be pissed. And when I was pregnant, I was a force to be reckoned with when angry.
I hope you force an apology out of them.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
I’d be inclined to make sure that the doctor knew what had happened.
I need b/w done. I showed up at the lab which is in the same building as AND affiliated with my doctor’s office at 7:15 this morning, only to discover that my doctor had failed to check off the box on the lab slip indicating just what they were to stick me for…so I had to turn around and go home. At least the nurse I spoke to was helpful and apologetic.
Good luck with the amnio.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:21 pm
I am sorry, that really blows. As if you didn’t have any stress about it in the first place. I know that people make mistakes and computers fail and doctors are overbooked…but she should have fessed up about it, chances are she hasn’t been pregnant before. What a drag.
September 1st, 2007 at 6:13 am
Maybe it’s been said. By you or someone in your comments. But I’m too tired and lazy to look:
Here’s what I would do: go to every appointment and then show up in between grocery store runs and karate lessons for the kidlets and sit there and talk REALLY LOUDLY on your cell phone that you are again at the doctor’s office BECAUSE THE IUD THEY PUT IN FAILED.
That would be funny. Completely funny. I crack me up. You could sooooo do that with your cute, Poker face.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:23 pm
You would think that people who work in an OB’s office would know better than to mess with a pregnant woman. A regular check-up? No sweat. But an amnio? Heads should roll.
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
That has happened to me too!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:41 pm
This JUST happened to me last week. Only I DID have my card in my purse. Since I’m the one with the placenta http://ourfamilyisgreat.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-is-what-placenta-will-get-you.html I assumed that I was reading it wrong. Even looking at her own hand writing the receptionist was hesitant to admit it was hers. She eventually had to cop to her mistake and they fit me in quickly.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:54 am
About the appointment. Once I showed up for a dentist apt. I had the card the right day and date. The problem was it was a old card I still had. It was the wrong year lol. So now I always request the day,date and year..too funny
September 5th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
How nasty of her to imply that you were the one in error! Whatever happend to customer service? Grrrr.