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Thu 9 Sep, 2004 02:33 am
Yesterday I got stung by a bee.
I calmly took out the sting, and went to the medical center of my office to see a nurse. This female at the reception looks up and the conversation goes like this...
Me : I need to see the nurse, I just got stung by a bee
Her: Sorry, I am no appointments before 1500 (and the time was 1100)
Me : Hey, by that time, either I will be fine or I will drop dead if I am allergic
Her: If you are so concerned abt it, then I suggest you go to the A&E center of the nearest hospital
Me : Look, all I want the nurse to do is to apply some cream
(by this time, my hand had swollen, angry red and was hurting like hell)
Her: Okay, take a seat and I will see if the nurse can see you between appointments
(So I sit down and try not to wince as waves of pain hit me. After abt 20 mins...)
Her: Have you been to the mdeical center before ?
Me : No
Her: So while you are sitting there twiddling yr thumbs, fill up these forms
(the forms goes on and on abt my medical history, the medical history of my parents, siblings....The nurse finally saw me after 1 hour and told me that she had told the receptionist the name of the cream which I could have got from the pharmacy abt 5 ins walk from my office, which she never told me)
Now, I am not a person who gets irrirated easily but this attidue of the receptionist had me seething.
Nor am I the kind of person who pulls rank, but to treat a company VP in such a way is totally uncalled for.
I know that one email from me to HR describing the events above will be enough to get that female fired.
Should I do it ?
Gautam, that is really quite an experience. I suggest to inform HR about this. They need to know of problems with employees. You don't have to ask them to fire her right away. But they should definitely look into her working style.
I'm in HR myself...
Firing is certainly tempting.
I agree with urs--something must be done. This is not a woman you want to be controlling access to medical treatment. Do you think any of her Glorious Official Attitude was because you're Indian? Can you pass a word through the chain of command about her attitude?
I think you should stay away from bees, Gautam. And if you ever get stung again...I would suggest Scotch Whiskey. Drink it...don't put it on the sting.
Can you prove that she deliberately did not pass on the info from the nurse? She might try to argue that she 'was busy' and it slipped her mind. However, she is obviously one (or more) of:
1) Incompetant
2) Forgetful
3) Malicious
Any of which should be be reason enough for a warning on her file at least, if not the sack.
I agree that this incident needs to be reported. You could have gone into anaphylactic shock and died. She was totally incompetent.
Yes. If there were some middle road between reporting and ignoring, I might say to go that route.
Wonder how she treats the rest of the personnel.
Actually, Gautam,
YOU could have talked to her.
Not about your rank.
But about she deals with emergency cases - in general and in this specific case.
And then, I would have asked her, if she didn't like the there, wanted to change the employer.
(Well, when coming to this point of the talk,
would have shown her my nameplate with the rank - or even earlier, if she wasn't listening :wink: )
It was not the question of the rank actually (and I feel so stupid even mentioning this) It was just her genral attitude towards someone who is obviously in distress and wants some urgent medical attention. As a receptionist on a medical center, I expect her to show some sympathy towards the client, bad enuff to be in pain - and then you have to deal with this !
I am going to report this to HR, with a recommendation for moving her from frontline duties, she can do filing and stuff.
Frank, good to see ya !! Welcome back !!
GD, she was not busy at all, she was sitting on her computer playing games !
msolga wrote:Nice to see you, Frank!
Good to see you too. Good to see all these good people again. I missed all this. Abuzz is a different world.
Gautam wrote:GD, she was not busy at all, she was sitting on her computer playing games !
Shocking! I can't imagine what sort of person uses their employer's time and computer resources for anything other than work! :wink:
Seriously though, it needs sorting. Is she young, old, middle? Not that it makes much difference to her attitude. If she'd been 16 I might have given here the benefit of the doubt, once.
We have the legal 'punishment' in German labour/working law, called 'warning notice' (Abmahnung), which is rather effective ...
(Although urs might have a different opinion :wink: )
msolga wrote:Nice to see you, Frank!
Hey !! I am the victim here !!
I agree with Walter. The greatest responsibility of rank is knowiung how not to flaunt it.
Give her your card and say that you were not impressed with her service
You will keep checking your employees to see that they are not similarly treated
Remind her of the possible allergic reactions and thjat, no matter what appointments she has, she is guided by company policy which is, Its fairly standard, ALL EMERGENCIES COME TO THE TOP OF THE PILE
HEY Frank!! lONG TIME , ya out of jail?
Walter Hinteler wrote:We have the legal 'punishment' in German labour/working law, called 'warning notice' (Abmahnung), which is rather effective ...
(Although urs might have a different opinion :wink: )
Walter, I agree! And in Germany, I think she should get an 'Abmahnung'!
I would definitely report her. She could be very dangerous. Maybe she would be better suited to something like medical records.
BTW, how's your hand, Gautam?
I've never been stung by anything (knock on wood) but I imagine it does hurt. I saw something on Animal Planet or Discovery about not pulling the stinger out. Anyone know what one is to do? It was one of those late nights, can't sleep, sick of politics and hurricanes kinda nights and I drifted off without remembering the correct procedure.
Here are some first aid tips for bee stings.
http://www.umm.edu/non_trauma/bee.htm
A paste made of meat tenderizer and water on a clean bandage dressing also helps break down the venom.
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