The person standing in front of you or the person on the phone?
Background: went in for my annual eye exam yesterday (all is well, no Rx change). Checked in at the desk, and as I was doing so, half way through the check-in, the phone rings. Gal holds up her hand to me, answers the phone, and proceeds to set up an appointment for the person.
What ever happened to the Hold Button? "Hi, thanks for calling Dr. XYZ, I'm currently helping someone else, can you hold for a moment?"
I asked the OD about this and he was a tad surprised by my question. He asked the Office Manager and reported back that "in our office, phone calls are given precedence over people in the office." No explanation, just a statement of fact.
It's not really a big deal to me, but I thought it a bit, I don't know, unprofessional? Is it because the person in the office is essentially trapped there and the person on the phone is more potential revenue? This seems to happen more often at medical offices than other professions I've had occasion to visit.
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