How to Treat a Receptionist

When a person sees a receptionist the first thoughts that come to their mind is a) they have it easy and b) they have a get-over job. These two thoughts lead to either resentment of the receptionists' seemingly easy job and later anger which is then taken out on the poor receptionist.

Very few people take the time to push this thought process further. The job is more than sitting around all day and talking on the phone. It is a position of customer service. And just like any customer service position part of the job description is dealing with difficult people. By giving a receptionist attitude for whatever reason that a person may deemed fit doesn't hurt him or her but it'll hurt you.

I've seen many incidents where a receptionist was wrongly treated for a person's bad day. Yelling at the front desk person because you don't get cell phone reception in the building. Yelling at them when you've gotten lost finding the hospital. Or being rude when he or she has asked a question.

Sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day is not as fun as one might think it is. In addition to the phone calls, the wrong numbers, the drunken wrong numbers, repeating answers to people who aren't paying attention, and keeping up with the regular phone calls of people looking for their family members there is an added element of angry visitors.

If you enter a hospital angry and rude towards a receptionist chances are they are going to speak to you as little as possible in effort to get you away from them. But if you are kind and polite they will not only tell you where your family member is, but they'll write down the phone number to the room and they'll even tell you where the cafeteria is without you even asking.

Yes, there are times when a receptionist will be rude to you even if you are nice to them, but I'd wager that the person before you was rude to him or her. If you must complain keep in mind that a receptionist is the equivalent of a pawn. They're only there so that the people in administration don't have to talk to you.

It doesn't matter if you yell or if you don't yell the only thing that can be down is to write a note to inform the people who make the decisions or if you scare them, they'll call security to have you escorted out of the building. Either way a receptionist is not the go to person to solve your problems the best that they can do is get you in touch with a person who can solve your problem.

Just remember a little kindness goes a long way.