Hours of Operation

I called my local medical laboratory last night - after closing - to find out when they might be open in the morning, as I have to do my regular 24-hour pee collection for my upcoming appointment with my kidney specialist.

The company's voice message said, "Thank you for calling XXX Medical Laboratories on XXX Street. Our office has closed for the day. Our office hours are, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5:00. If you know the extension of the person you are trying to reach, you may enter it now. Or, if you'd like to use our company directory ... "

Straight forward message. I listened all the way until the BEEP sounded so you could leave a general message.

Since I start work at 7 a.m., I knew I'd be late and figured if I arrive at 8:20, I could be first in the doors and that'll get me out on the road all that quicker.

I arrived, in fact, at 8:15 and found the doors open and the waiting area filled to capacity. Needless-to-say I was a little confused. Thankfully, I was just there to get a collection container, so all I had to do was present myself to the counter.

I got in line behind 3 people. The line moved quickly and I was at the counter in under 4 minutes. Once there, I asked the lady, "I thought you open at 8:30?"

She replied, "No, we open at 7 a.m." Again confused, I told her what I had heard on their voice message last night.

She looked at me as if I was retarded. "That's our office hours, not the Lab's."

My blood was slowly starting to boil ... which is rare because I'm not one to quickly get mad. So, I asked the next logical question, "Does your lab have a different telephone number than that listed in the Yellow Pages?"

"No. It's the same one." Frustration on her part. But why?

"Then, why doesn't the message that plays after hours say what time the Lab opens? It only says the office hours.", I asked in a somewhat sarcastic voice.

"I'm sure it does. Did you listen long enough?" Her voice was condescending and her eyes said "Fucking Idiot!" in no uncertain terms. I mean, how could I have been so stupid as to not realize that I had to listen to ALL of the message in order to find out when the Lab is open!?

Now most people wouldn't want to make a scene, but having run into bad service with the Doctor's receptionist/nurse, I wasn't going to take it. "If you even THINK about insinuating that I'm that stupid then we've got a few things to talk about with your Supervisor. Now, don't you think you might want to check with someone in the office first before you insult a customer?"

This time her eyes popped wide open in surprise. She quickly became contrite and embarrassed ... which was exactly what I was striving for. I must admit my head was a little light and my hands were shaking. I wasn't sure whether that was because I was so mad, so quickly.

"Ummm. I'll definitely check with our Office Manager to ensure that both the office and lab hours are mentioned in the message. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, Sir."

(Damn right!)

"That's fine. I'm sure more than just myself would appreciate having your voice message updated." She couldn't have helped me more quickly after that point.

I haven't a clue why people are so quick to try to make you feel inferior when you ask a question that is "below" them or are just try to get something accomplished in a simple straight forward manner that they deem isn't worth their time. Customer service is paramount to a company's success.

I'd be interested in seeing what would happen if I decide to put what transpired in writing. A well run company proud of their service would quickly apologize and seek to rectify the deficiency.

But, I just don't care at this point. I just might call after hours in a couple of days to see if the message has changed though! LOL.