We need to realize that not all bullies are people who are our coworkers, more times than not bullies are people who come from the outside, like customers. 99.9% of the time we have great patients who love coming to our practice, but every once in a while we get one of those, well the nicest word I can come up with is a bully. For one reason or another this type of person feels that they need to push others around and get things done their way. I always wonder when we encounter one of these types of people, “who is their mother and how did she raise them?”. Because for the life of me I cannot understand how people can be so pushy and nasty in public. Recently our office had the honor of dealing with one of these bully types of patients. Our office door flew open and in walked this man who came straight to the front counter and let our assistant know that he did not think that his wife should be charged for today’s visit because, it was just a follow-up to a problem that she saw him for over a month ago. Our assistant who is well trained in handling these types of situations kindly explained to the man why there would be a charge and what our policies were. Of course this did not settle well with him, because he wanted things his way and he told the assistant that he thought it was bad business to charge them for seeing the doctor. Again, out assistant explained in the kindest, simplest, way what the office policies were and why there was a charge for the visit. This man was so loud, I think every patient and doctor in the office heard him. Why did he feel that this was necessary? Because he wanted everything to go his way. The assistant stuck to his guns and again gave him an explanation, but this time also asked if they wanted to keep the appointment because there would be charges involved. When this man saw that he could not force his way on the assistant he said they wanted to be seen and quieted down. It was amazing how loud and obnoxious this man was and for what? Apparently he really did not understand how medical offices ran and because we have our policies written in stone and our assistant knew that he would be backed by the physicians he was able to feel confident when handling this person. It is very important that your office or place of business have policies that everyone can count on being concrete so there is no wavering and they can be confident no matter what they will be backed up when upholding them. Sometimes there are just those people that will try to push the line to get things their way and it is sad to say more times than not they win. Having policies set will help tremendously the next time your office encounters a bully, make sure you get them in writing and everyone knows what they are and you will do great.
4/2015
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