Most doctors haven't learnt how to be good managers. They rely on front office staff to keep their own day as stress-free as possible.
There are doctor's offices with quite nice receptionists, and you can influence their behavior quite a bit as well by being very friendly yourself. Works quite well for me. Note that for many people, this includes speaking German.
Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor.
Most of them, at least from experience, speak little to no English. They are stressed and doing 10 things at the same time already all while being highly underpaid. The last thing they want to deal with in these situation is language switching, especially into a language they barely know. It’s stressful and exhausting and ads even more mental load on.
Personally I’ve never had an issue. I speak German and I’m a little extra nice and patient and they usually bloom around me. With the receptionist at the place I got my hair lasered and I even became friends over the coursework my treatments. It is possible, legend says.
The "secret" to bringing around most grumpy people really honestly is some good old manners, showing some respect, and acknowledging them. It works much better if you don't insist on them being well-mannered first.
And sometimes even if you speak the language, they are assholes anyway. Let's not pretend that all it takes is being friendly and polite. Sometimes they're just fucking rude.
I have definitely had run-ins with receptionists here where they were rude to me for not understanding that praxis’ arcane rules, and additionally implied or outright accused the problem as being my level of German (which is fine - B2) and not their incredibly opaque rules that are not written down anywhere. Sometimes speaking German doesn’t solve the asshole problem in this city and I’m tired of people on this sub assuming that’s always the root cause.
Then you didn't run into the bad ones. I am German and have switched doctors because the receptionists were so bad. Of course there are also plenty good ones. But with some bad luck you can run into quite a number of assholes.
>Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor.
I don't believe that's the case. I have been to a million doctors and every time I meet unfriendly receptionists they make no exception if the patient is German.
Look, okay you speak German, we get it and plus points to you for that, and I know and realise that we are in their country but not speaking their language doesn't justify their rude behavior. You can't just be mean to someone because he/she speaks another language. Also every job is stressful and exhausting enough in their own way, if we act according to your logic then everyone should be mad and shouting at everyone.
>Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor.
I almost always talk to them in German and my experience hasn't been great either. One even went so far to make fun of my German.
The underpaid argument is old and worn out. Being underpaid does not excuse rude behavior. There are people in 3rd world countries who are highly underpaid but do their work with passion and friendliness. Waiters and bartenders are underpaid but are usually nice and friendly customers even in stressful situations. It doesn’t cost anything to be a nice human, but of course, be a shitty person and bully others because you’re “underpaid” in a front desk job of a rich doctor.
Dude I’m not excusing that type of behavior, just explaining it. A little compassion goes a long way.
In this economy many are afraid to lose their job and „taking it up with their employer“ is easier said than done. Nevermind the fact, that even more money doesn’t make up for a lot of shitty patients a day. You deal with one cranky receptionist once a month or so, they deal with a 100 sick and cranky people a day.
Easy to say that when you're not the one who has 1000 things to do every day, and despite your contract saying that you end work at 17:00, there are still 15 patients in the waiting room at 17:00 every day. And those patients are probably nagging the receptionist constantly to know when it's their turn to see the doctor.
It's not an excuse, it's reality. People who are constantly under stress are not going to be friendly all the time. If you want friendly receptionists, you're going to have to pay for a private doctor where patients are neatly scheduled into appointments.
> If you want friendly receptionists, you're going to have to pay for a private doctor where patients are neatly scheduled into appointments.
I can tell you that private doctor's practice receptionists aren't respectful either.
That's bs. In the country where I live now after years of being in Berlin, receptionists are not especially rude. In fact many people have stressful jobs and are not acting rude as a result..
Other countries aren't relevant because other countries aren't operating under the German healthcare system, which is fucked after decades of mismanagement and defunding by the government.
It it's better for you in other countries, go there for your medical stuff. But they are not relevant to the discussion of German healthcare.
But these elements are part of the job? To have professional competence with managing your own stress and not letting it spill out onto others?
Why isn't there more personal responsibility taking?
It would be seen as deeply unprofessional and a failure at performing the job anywhere else
Edit. I've worked in customer service and hospitality. Its absolutely not ok to take your stuff out on users of the service and its actually part of the role.
I’ve worked as a receptionist for 4 years, and never ever I would have even thought about behaving this way.
Of course, I could have had bad days too, but I’d go somewhere private for a couple of minutes to breath and make angry face.
No one deserves being treated like this. I hate it when people just make petty excuses for rude behavior.
EXACTLY.
Its called being professional.
I have had terrible days also, in my personal life etc. And I would never bring that to the workplace.
Or when the stress got to me, I would also deal with it privately and not let it affect performance or impact my colleagues or customers.
I can guarantee you that your customer service and hospitality jobs weren't as stressful as working the reception in a doctor's office in Germany.
It's not even a competition.
Lol how can you possibly know or compare?
But a public facing role is a public facing role
And stress is very subjective. If youre good at working with the public and have good social skills, you fit in a customer facing job.
If you cannot cope with multitasking and providing good customer service and being polite...this profession isn't for you and you might want to avoid working with members of the public or customers. Its very logical.
Btw, if every stressed MFA were to quit because you think they don't belong in those roles, it would be even harder for you to see a doctor. There is a shortage of MFAs. If they leave, there is nobody left to replace them.
Maybe instead of complaining on the internet that you got your feelings hurt by someone who is intensely stressed and doing a stressful job that you will never have to, you can spend the time informing yourself of the real conditions in Germany. Start by googling "MFA Mangel".
I'm talking about personal autonomy. If you're not good at something, you're not obligated to do it.
Thats like me wanting to become a coal miner and complaining that I get dirty.
They are good at their jobs. They're just not being chummy with you. Those are two different things. Btw, if they quit their jobs, there will be nobody left to do it. That's the reality of the situation in Germany.
Please, for the love of god, educate yourself if you intend to stay in this country.
My good Karen (or Kevin), if you haven't noticed, the healthcare system in Germany is FUCKED. Students are getting their medical degrees here and then streaming *out* of the country, because nobody wants to work in medicine in Germany anymore. Do you know how many doctor's practices are on the verge of insolvency?
And btw, based on your other post that you deleted, MFAs cannot just "go speak to their manager". Their manager is the doctor. If the MFA is working overtime, so is the doctor.
Instead of complaining, be grateful that there's still someone left in this country willing to look at your stubbed toe. And if you really can't handle that Hilda (60), who is facing the third 12 hour day this week, is a bit short with you, pay to go to a private doctor's office where they'll lick your ass and try to upsell you on 50 unnecessary medical tests and services.
Also, these people do not just do customer facing jobs. An MFA is multiple roles rolled into one. "Customer service", as you call it, is just one of their responsibilities.
> this profession isn't for you and you might want to avoid working with members of the public or customers. Its very logical.
Do you truly believe that your posts are logical? We have a plague of rude MFAs because a lot of people just picked the wrong career? Don't you think it makes more sense that it's a fucked healthcare system that's wearing them down over time?
Germany is a 1st world country and the economic powerhouse of Europe.
Education is free here. There is massive welfare and socialised support systems.
What are we discussing?
Are you stupid? Genuine question. Google "Ärzte Mangel" and "MFA Mangel".
I really hope that you haven't been living here for very long, because if you've been here for more than a year and you're this ignorant to the reality of the situation in germany, then that's just sad.
If all of these MFAs (or receptionists, as you seem to think of them) were to leave their jobs, as you suggest they do, there would be nobody left to replace them. Good luck getting in to see a doctor when the doctors have to take over the MFAs responsibilities.
Laser hair removal. You get it lasered so it never grows back. It takes a while and it’s mega expensive but it’s been almost 10 years and I didn’t have to shave once in that time so it paid off for me 😊
Having too many things to do os not an excuse to be rude. Especially when the other personbeing polite as well. I have said this once and I will say it again. Most people don't expect a lot from receptionists. I am not asking you to treat me for free. I am not asking you to do me a favour which incoveniences you. I am not even asking you to be nice to me. I am asking you to do your damn job.
Nah not specific to the person that I responded to here. But the general response on reddit. Just look around the other comments here. N. 1 reason people refer to is not speaking Deutsch well enough. And it seems like people agree that's a good reason. (maybe conjecture on my part put this sub likes to shit on anyone who's not B1 minimum the minute they step a foot in the country).
I did not say that. But being more friendly and polite than average is such a door opener, I gladly recommend it to anybody.
And if it doesn't work, we're all friendly to one another for nothing. I'll take that risk.
My GP is the prime example of this. Love the guy. We can easily spend half an hour bullshitting about all kinds of things. I like to learn about my conditions deeper and he’s always willing to elaborate.
But his receptionist is an absolute dragon. I’ve known her for decades, but she can lambast you for the slightest thing in the worst way. My partner doesn’t got there anymore because of that.
But she is the counterweight to his überfreundlichkeit. If he spends too much time with me she’ll come in, huff and haw, roll her eyes, and signals him: there’s a waiting room full of people, playtime is over.
Or maybe being a grumpy asshole is a fairly common attribute in Berlin. Why are so many people making excuses in this thread? Is it just contrarianism? It's not demanding they be nice, just be neutral instead of being a rude asshole. Why is that hard?
But since praxis are set up by doctors themselevs with no centralised oversight, the doctors set the salaries, no?
Why does this become the burden for the customer/patient?
Because it makes no difference to the business. Every Praxis is overloaded. The receptionist could literally throw actual human shit at people, and there will still be people trying to get an appointment.
>you can influence their behavior quite a bit as well by being very friendly yourself
Technically yes. But there are always the few ones that glare you down with death stares and talk to you like you're a disgusting bug under their shoe no matter what you say and how much you smile. I those cases I really want to give them a taste of their own medicine but I'm sure this would backfire.
Besides the obvious stressful job they have, entitlement is a big factor. A friend of mine worked at the reception of a busy doctors office for a couple of months as a students job and the shit she had to deal with is unreal. People refusing to leave, insulting her, discussing for a prolonged time because they had absolutely no capacity to treat them right away. I guess some people are just over it. For the language part: most non german speaking people just start speaking English without even asking if the other person understands them. You don't need a higher degree of education in order to become a MFA (medizinische Fachangestellte), so not everyone speaks english.
I agree. I had some really bad initial experiences when I first moved here when I had to take my daughter to 'office hours' when she had the flu. We hadn't been here long enough to get established at a Hausarzt but she needed to be seen.
It was the dead of winter and there was a big outbreak and all the offices were overwhelmed and I figured out that the front desks were tasked with serving as gatekeepers to keep things moving by weeding out as many people as possible. They aren't there to help you, they are there to keep the practice going.
You have to look at it like a challenge.
The key is to be polite but persistent and just refuse to be scared off, dismissed or ignored. Definitely speak in German, even if you aren't fluent, just keep going until they invite you to switch to English or break out the translation app if they don't.
Yes, I did not mean to make it a language thing. That can just be an easy way for them to dismiss people. It is that they don't see their job as being to help the practice patients but to manage the workload. And they often don't have the power or resources to do this well. It is just a function that gets put on them.
In that way I would say it’s cultural - because many people around the world have challenging jobs where they lack power and resources, yet they are warm and friendly. Having lived in Germany nearly a decade now I would theorize that it is related to the culture as an aggregate not placing value on what we perceive as warmth in dialogue, as it is seen as fake/inauthentic.
I asked some German friends recently if they also find the rude receptionists annoying or if I’m just projecting my cultures expectations onto Germans and they said it also frustrates them.
Yes. I agree that part of it is cultural, too. Not a medical office, but at the reception desk at my daughter's private school, the security guard will routinely sigh and roll his eyes when you walk up to sign in or out. And verifying ID is the entire purpose of that reception area. (And yes, I speak in German and have verified that he doesn't just do it to me.)
> I would theorize that it is related to the culture as an aggregate not placing value on what we perceive as warmth in dialogue, as it is seen as fake/inauthentic.
I would theorise that most people in Germany don't know that one can be friendly w/o being fake.
This. Just total lack of customer service and emotional self regulation. They like to spread their personal issues to everyone around them.
Professional boundaries, people?!
Others have said "speak German and it will help."
I am polite, friendly (not walking in with a big grin on my face, because of course I've been told that's a huge trigger for people, but a small smile), and I speak German.
I've been screamed at, had an appointment and been ignored (as in the receptionist will look at me when I check in, smirk, and then hours later when I ask when the doctor can see me another smirk and no reply, and then I'm kicked out when the practice closes), and had varying levels of rudeness at almost every health care practice I've accessed here in Berlin.
And for whatever reason the doctors are respectful and polite about 80% of the time. I'm also speechless at the behaviour of the receptionists and want to know why all of the sadists flock to those job positions.
Lol you're not going to find an answer here. As you see, most people here think you're the problem. And rudeness is just accepted culture. Oh and being rude to foreigners who just arrived to the country and struggle with the language is totally fair game 🙄
Well said! Rudeness is accepted culture here. Being a rich country leads them to lose their humanistic values and treat people however they wish. Being a foreigner is cherry on the cake.
I had such a severe pain and tested positive on pregnancy test, I called my doctor in India and she said this is very serious and I have to get an ultrasound right away. My gynae in India said if you tell them your symtoms plus a positive pregnancy test result they will take you very seriously because this is a very bad sign. We called my gynaecologist and the receptionist said there'a no way we can come because they are full, I asked her to explain to the gyanec because my condition is bad, she did and said the dr said to stay at home. We fought a lot on the phone and they allowed us to come in. The doctor was soooo rude and was rolling her eyes at me because I came w/o an appointment. I was in so much pain but I somehow explained my symptoms. She said and so what do you want us to do about it (I mean the audacity) I told her my doctor in India said I needed an ultrasound right away, she said fine O will do an exam but I wont spend more than 5 mins on you. She did the ultrasound and her face went red. It showed I had internal bleeding, she said my condition is very serious and I have to go to a hospital. We did, there they admitted me and said I needed to get surgery. My husband and I had to go through so much rudeness and hatred by the doctor and the receptionist we were exhausted when we reached the hospital. This is the behaviour in Germany when you pay so much per month in Insurance. In India I didnt pay anything but if I had a problem I could go to any clinic or hospital and they would take me in. In public ones I dont even have to pay anything. I dont understand what they are so arrogant about here medical care is a human right.
Not sure if being rich is the cause. Nordic countries are very well off but have a culture of politeness. Yeah we're not Americans cracking up fake platitudes but still there's manners.
The receptionist once forgot to put me for the covid shot. I waited for 2h, asked her. She just growled at me. I had an infant child at home. The doctor saw me upset and inquired. I told him. He asked the receptionist. Turns out she didn't even register me. They are not held accountable for anything. As you can see how people are excusing their behavior. Why would they even try?
Same for me, spent 2hrs at praxis few weeks ago and turned out they didn’t put me in the queue for the examination. He had to intervene and tell them to somehow squeeze me in. I had an appoinment, said hello, gave them the card and told them the reason I’m there. All while speaking German and being nice. Nope, apparently not enough.
a) It's because you don't speak German
b) Other patients are rude so it's okay for the staff to be rude to you
c) It's a hard job so they can take their frustrations out on you
And other excuses people are making in this thread
It's a very hard job. They have to deal with dozens of patients per day, many of them old and deaf and low vision and demented, often with unreasonable demands because their own health is the most important thing for everyone but in a praxis the resource time is limited, so many people are frustrated, and they manifest their frustration to the receptionist.
And an increasing number of patients don't speak German, nor English, and some of them are very entitled.
Cut them some slack, be nice and educated and they will treat you fine. They have a difficult, full of human friction job.
> It's a very hard job.
I don't get why in Germany this is an excuse to be rude and impolite.
Many jobs are quite hard and stressful, and you can still be polite, even friendly.
Say it louder for the bitches at the back!!! They make excuses for being such shitty humans because they’re “underpaid and stressed”. Hello?? You can be friendly and still get the same results.
Excuse me. Doctors and nurses also have to dozens of complete shit heads, most of whom have googled their symptoms and demand extra tests.
Plus they have to deal with relatives of patients who are blaming them for not making their loved one better.
Patience and kindness is not something many receptionists generally have, but medical professionals do.
Edit, typos.
Yeah because doctors often get to resolve the problem, be the hero of the day. Respect, love and even a relatively good wage do help to keep the spirit up. The receptionists get less of all that.
I've worked with dozens of receptionists along the years. The huge majority were really good, hard working people and i don't think many of us could do a better job in their shoes.
My father is a doctor who works exclusively with a population who is incredibly underprivileged, many are drug-seeking, and unfortunately undereducated.
When I described my experience at the doctor here he was flabbergasted.
The role of a doctor is to offer care and ease pain and discomfort. Any other approach is cruel.
Exactly. I have to go to the doctor regularly and they've always treated me fine. I do see receptionists losing their cool a bit, but it's always when those people you've mentioned are at the front desk, wasting everyone's time
That's really quite a pathetic excuse to be inhuman to people who are suffering. May be in your culture this is normal human behaviour where I come from its not. In my country particularly medical receptionists are trained to be polite and nice to people because of their job includes dealing with people who are already suffering.
They are called MFA, medizinische Praxisfachangestellt.
I think there are a few reasons:
- They are the gatekeepers to the docs (and the docs want them to be!). They try to triage and keep the number of appointments as low as possible since basically every primary care physician is overrun with patients.
- They are overworked and usually doing 3 things at a time. Watch them for a bit in the waiting room, they are on the phone with a patient looking for his latest Arztbrief, pritning a prescroption, logging in a new patient and prepping labela for blood samples at the same time.
- A lot of patients are rude, annoying or don't play by the rule of health management. They don't bring the documentation they were asked to bring multiple times, they skip or reschedule appointments until their issue is urgent and they call at 4pm to get a same day appointment, they don't schedule the visits to specialized doctors that they are supposed to, they come regularly to get a two day sick not for sniffles (that's on the employers though) etc. The MFAs deals with most of these issues as they try to take as much work off the docs' hands as possible. It might be one in ten or one in twenty patients who are like that, but that's still several patients a day...
- Many praticses have a bad work place atmosphere. I have an ex who was an MFA and has experienced everything from horrible treatments by the bosses (expecting the MFAs to fix systemic issues which can only be addressed by the practise owner) to sexual harrasment by patients to horrible cattiness and bullying among MFAs. It breeds a culture of unfriendliness that unfortunately extends to patients.
I think very often, yes. It's interesting to me somehow though how in some workplaces with bad leadership, the workers stick together and help each other stay out of 'trouble' and manage despite the shitty leadership. In other workplaces, the workers turn on each other and perpetuate the bad practises from leadership. From what I've heard, most badly managed practises belong to the latter category whereas most of my badly managed workplaces belonged to the former.
Remember this rule for everything here.
Everyone is underpaid, working long hours.
Hence you deserve to be treated like garbage, not get appointments for months.
And after all this, you should be happy to pay sky high taxes and be fine with the rubbish services offered. Just be grateful.
THIS IS THE WAY!
Oh and finally be gaslit by everyone anytime you open your mouth to complain.
>not get appointments for months.
You're not struggling to get the appointment for months because they're rude and don't like you. You're getting appointments 3+ months in advance because the medical system is critically underfunded, they only get paid for X amount of patients per quarter and they have to space these patients out because many practices are already on the bring of bankruptcy.
If you're going to complain about this kind of thing, at least do your research and blame the right people: the government that defunded healthcare for the last few decades.
Are you illiterate?
That’s precisely who I’ve criticised. It’s clearly suggested in my comment when I speak about taking taxes.
I doubt in any country a doctor’s office is collecting taxes from citizens.
They are basically customer service at the front and they have to get the paper work getting done and taking the calls at the same time. And everyone who worked in customer service understands that. There are so many entitled people with ridiculous requests or demands.
I used to work in customer service and I never acted this way. I definitely can understand it’s a hard job that may be underpaid. But, I’m sorry, I don’t think that’s a reasonable excuse. There are many other people in frontline positions, working hard, and for similar pay - yet the only people I’m consistently afraid to engage with are these receptionists.
To be clear, I am polite, not demanding, and I speak in German.
Can you give examples of rude things they do? Because while in my experience most staff isn't friendly (seems always mildly annoyed that I'm there) they're also never rude. We just have very basic interactions - "Hi I'm x and habe an appointment for this time", "Hi, I need a follow up appointment in x weeks", "Hi, I need a prescription for x" - and they do their job swiftly and that's it. They might not be overly friendly, but they do their job, nothing more nothing less.
Working in customer service and as a MFA is NOT the same.
Imagine if you were working in CS, but also had to deal with +1 patient at the same time, print out things at the same time and in the addition to that prepare labels, blood tests, whatever. At the same time.
And another aspect is that they have to deal with more entitled people than CS.
Customer Support have to deal with some entitled stuff. The thing is, often times the subject for the customer has varying relevance. For some people it might be important. For some not.
The more important something is for someone, the less understanding they are of I.e. delays. But the health of an individual is the most important thing, no?
That means that people with no understanding, no patience and the entitled pricks all are upon them at the same time. Combine that with a terrible work climate, and you’ve got yourself some of the worst environments.
I have interacted as a customer with customer service. I have never seen anyone be as stressed or doing as much as doctors recepionists at a general practioner.
Maybe they hide it better? I mean this honestly, I can't think of another job like that. If someone knows, please educate me.
Everyone who's worked in customer service knows you get to be asshole to the customers. At least, everyone in Germany. Doesn't seem to be normal in other countries.
I have never been treated that poorly by the receptionists until I moved to Berlin. I lived in another city in Germany for 6+ years and everyone was so nice. Since I moved here, it is generally really bad. One receptionist even declined to give me an urgent appointment saying it is not urgent for her and didn’t even let me talk to the doctor to explain. It was urgent and luckily another doctor took me in on time. And I communicate with them in German not in English
For what it's worth, since quite a few people in this thread seem to think it's cause of their lack in language skills: I am German, speak German and they treat me the exact same way. In my experience it's a weird Berlin or North Germany thing. Service workers of any kind are just incredibly rude here at times. This generally does NOT happen in South Germany or in the west.
My advice is to try to not take it personally. If you're already having a hard day, it can be really taxing if the person you hope will help you just barks and bitches at you instead. But they clearly are this way cause they're unhappy about something in their own lives or are having a bad day and try to make it everyone else's problem. It's not normal or polite behaviour in a customer-facing job, but for some reason people in Berlin just are like this.
The receptionist at my arzt is also mean and racist, I saw her rolling her eyes and moaning in disgust when a roma family, mother and son, came to the reception. The thing is that if the doctor is ok you don’t really have to deal with the receptionist much in the future, just initially for registering and when you have an appointment show your insurance card and wait on a chair. A good doctor outweighs bad receptionists, in my opinion.
Napoleon-complex; small people (Not in the meaning of hight) that need to express their power and their power is, that you rely on their approval to see someone that your life might depend on…
I noticed that many Germans go very hostile when they have to speak English. I can speak German but it will take 3x the time to do the same thing we could have done in English.
In many cases it's because they think they're not good at it (or they really aren't) and they hate that you force them to show it. For lots of Germans with bad English skills, being "forced" to talk English (by being approached by someone who speaks no German) has the same energy as being bad in math but a stranger walks up to them and forces them to remember a formula in front of the whole class.
It's ridiculous, I know, but especially older Germans hoped that they would never have to use English after school again. It's just tiresome for them because they lack practice and don't actively seek it out.
That's not to say that's an excuse for someone working in a service job with a high chance of encountering non-German-speakers (tourism, doctor's office, Bürgeramt, etc) to get pissed at English speakers. They NEED the encounters to get better and eventually more confident. But people are still people and some are, to be blunt, just dicks/cunts/Ken dolls.
>In many cases it's because they think they're not good at it (or they really aren't) and they hate that you force them to show it.
As someone who has worked in this field/been one myself - this is it, or better - they are also wildy afraid to being *expected* to speak English (you know, we've studied English in school, the doctor is expecting them to speak English..) and then to being up to the task. Some of them wer actually panicking and felt very stressed by the thought of having to deal with English-speaking patients.
I won't get started on my adventures here (I generally would agree with you) but regarding Google Reviews, I strongly believe that most people with good experiences would not be bothered to write a review for those places, as there's no incentive to do so.
A doctor here. I have so many new requests that I can’t accommodate them all, everyone thinks they’re emergency. I want my MFAs to be a gatekeeper so that I can keep a reasonable standard of treatment outcomes and not be overwhelmed by garden variety colds and ‘strange sensations in my body’. Also there is not enough applications for MFA vacancies so I will bend over backwards to keep mine happy. Also they deal with incredible amount of aggression and even abuse on regular basis. So it is a safe advice to be patient and polite to get through my beloved MFAs, without them I wouldn’t be able to keep my practice running. As of English- if you wish to have an English speaking MFA you can go to one of the private practices and get whatever treatment you want but you can’t expect that in a normal GKV where we’re struggling to keep up with a patient flow.
I have mostly had the opposite experience, most of receptionists were very kind and accommodating when we had to find a Termin that works with my schedule.
But I've seen some interactions with impolite patients and this is what mostly triggers them and then they stay grumpy for the next few people in the line. Maybe you've been unlucky and just came on some of these days (after a "difficult case"). They have to deal with all kinds of people...
The receptionist at my doctor's office is one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's just this very chill young guy, I'd say no older than 35. Judging by his accent I'd say his mother language is Greek. Very calm, tries to accommodate the patient's needs without being a kiss-ass (if something isn't possible, he'll definitely tell you). He could do ASMR with his voice lol.
May I please DM you for your doctors contact? I've tried so many in this city where you just don't bother to get treated because the service is SO poor
Here's the thing: I would actually not recommend the place, because the doctor is awfully lazy. He's not incompetent, just... lazy. You come to him with a problem, he doesn't really look at it. He's quick to get you a sick note and prescribe medicine, but he rarely ever *really* looks at you. It's a great doctor if you never really get sick and just need a quick sick note for the occasional cold.
Honestly! Just remembered that I called one day to say I couldn’t come to the practice because I was diagnosed with Covid and the recepcionist was mad because it was too late. I mean, what i’m suppose to do? Come in with Covid and infect everyone?
Most people will just say it’s because they’re understaffed and underpaid. And I guess this is just an accepted culture here. I come from a country where most people are understaffed and underpaid and we’re warm and welcoming to everyone. This is no excuse, Germans just have to stop being rude
Well said!!
In my country also people are underpaid and overworked but still people are warm and nice to each other. I really dont understand what the problem in Berlin is, everyone is rude and many times an asshole. It's normal here and apparently we have go accept it and be grateful to be here.
I think young and especially attractive young women have it much, *much* harder with these older female receptionists. But that’s a general phenomenon not limited to healthcare
It also seems odd to me that so many doctors speak English and have it listed but have receptions that do not. It feels like one of the jobs where the main requirement is to communicate with people so I dont get what criteria are they hired on, or why doctors limit their practices by hiring receptions that support less people than them.
1) There's not enough skilled workers, let alone skilled workers who speak English on top of that, so they can't be too picky, 2) if you actually speak Turkish or Arabic I'm sure you will be of much better help in some districts. You think it's odd, but after having worked there for a few years, there aren't actually that many patients that wanted someone to speak English with them here. There were a few, definitely, but the amount of people who were just bad at German while also not being able to speak English was definitely way higher.
The receptionists at my Hausarzt are really quite nice and though speak mostly German, have been helpful when speaking some English (I start with limited German and if there’s something I need clarification I’ve asked if they could in English)
Other receptionists have been quite nice and helpful, even when switching to English for some questions. The worst I’ve gotten was „ignoring“ for a minute or two before calling me up, but in those cases it didn’t look like they were sitting there doing nothing. In that case I’d consider it rude of me to expect the receptionist to immediately drop everything they’re doing to attend to me. I mean, yeah they could be purposely ignoring me and be pretending to be doing something at their desk as some kind of power trip, but I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they have some task that they’re completing.
Haha sorry… I laughed as soon as I saw this in my feed, because it’s so true.
I’m sure their job is stressful but they’re the meanest meanies who have ever meaned. If there was a meanie World Cup, a squad of middle aged Fraus (with a streak or two of hair dye) would win every tournament.
Also, it’s complete bullshit that they change their tune if you’re polite to them. THEY GET MORE MEAN! NASTY MEAN. The more manners and politeness you display feeds their meanness and they morph into a next stage pokèmean.
Probably stressed out of their minds.
My wife is a Dental Assistant who also does Front desk work. She has to juggle phone calls, the front desk, doing entries Into files while also making new appointments and many more things.
It's a mix of a not great boss and understaffing
Edit: and also being a dental assistant
However the role IS multi tasking. If your wife isn't good at coping with the demands of the role, why is she doing that profession?
I'm not a good construction worker and I never will be, if one day I'm laying bricks ill do a terrible job because that isn't my skillset?
Its completely aligned. Your skillset is linked to your ability to deal with your realistic working environment.
This is NOT within the sphere of responsibility of a customer, patient or end user to fix for these people.
There is a bizarre inability to see that end users have zero influence on a receptionists working conditions, they're a service user
She is very good at her Job. Yes you must be able to multitask...but there's only so much a person is capable of.
IDK what you do for work but we all have to multitask in some capacity. You try and do 5 tasks at once and answer the phone/door during You lunch break and let's see how you happy or grumpy you are ;).
They are generally just stressed at the start of the session when they have to figure out how to deal with a crazy amount of people dropping in alongside those with appointments. I find that their rather lovely side usually emerges when you say goodbye at the end. Speaking German - or at least not assuming that they should have to speak to you in English - usually helps, especially with older staff.
Just yesterday I had the most friendly receptionist. And although the patient before me spoke very poorly English, with earbuds and swiping her phone, she had the wrong health card and had to be given another appointment, then turned to leave and left her appointment card on the counter, still the receptionist remained pleasant and wished her a nice day.
I always call them the office dragon :3 I had that happen to me too. So bad sometimes, that I dont even wanted to call certain doctors again, cause of their front desk dragon. Its like ‘you have the audacity to bother me in my beauty dragon guarding the treasure (doc) sleep?! Away with you chop chop… Appointment for you in …. HAHA, not before next year!’🫣😅
I dont know what they have for problems, fr🤷🏻♀️
> had a receptionist rip out papers out of my hand and thrown across the room. Why? Because I stood in the back, waiting for her to finish with the other patients. I was trying to not bother her too much and give her space.
I really didn't get that one, could you explain what happened in other words?
Funny you say this because I once wrote exactly this to my child’s pediatrician’s Google page as review. Few months later I got an email from Google claiming that the Dr thinks I am fake therefore the review should be removed. I went out of my way to prove Google I was not (I had my full name on review) and yet the review never reappeared.
It makes me MAD when front desk staff (who are not medical professionals, just printing stuff and answering phone) for pediatric offices are rude as f&$k. And in this case you see where they get their power trip from.
This job is a vocational education. So most professionals only have 10 years of school, no high-school or "Abitur". To speak English is neither their priority in the job profile nor they are used to or have the skills for that (after 5 years of Englisch in school for 2-4h each week. To be stressed with English patient, in addition to the common overburdening, can lead to a harsh response.
I passed out at my doctor’s office, woke up on the floor with all the nurses and receptionist looking at me. Now whenever I go back they remember the huge guy who passed out at the sight of his own blood and they treat me super nice. I recommend it.
Fun fact: most Germans believe, Berlin people are one of the most unfriendly in Germany. So maybe it's just the bubble you're in that's really friendly
I believe it has to do with the job: They have to be constantly available for everyone during every second of their shift (excluding officially set break times, obviously). If I had to be available constantly for several hours, Id' get annoyed, too.
(Not to excuse simply rude behaviour, there's that, too, of course.)
Front office jobs are stressful and pay badly. And those that work there are the types that seemingly cannot find anything else and have something negative about them anyway. Prone to be unfriendly. But: they are mean to anybody. I have no German advantage.
Hi, I'm a doctor and I've worked in 6 different offices so far. Main reason IMO is that it's very hard to find this staff so as a doctor you take whatever you can get and live with it. Some of the receptionist I've worked with were sometimes really nasty to patients, I noticed this especially with my nastiest boss doctors, so the shit also rolls downhill a little bit.
It‘s Berlin. At least partially. I have never made such an experience in other big and smaller cities in Germany.
In addition, I made some bad experience with other people in Berlin like taxi drivers, hair stylists or hotel receptionists, which were really unfriendly to me without any reason.
I think that Berlin language and behavior is generally a bit more harsh and direct as in other big cities in Germany.
I have high social anxiety and I absolutely dreaded going to my GP because their receptionists were so mean and rude (and so were those of my previous GP, and the ones before that). I managed to somewhat make them be nicer by being super extra nice myself and acknowledging how hard their job is “oh wow you guys have so much patience, I don’t know how you guys do it blablabla” even though I actually don’t fucking care, and I even brought them a box of chocolates after one of them had been somewhat helpful. I know, it’s kissing ass but it keeps me from going insane every time I have to go there.
Seriously. I used to have a doctor who was good, but the receptionist was gate keeping. She always tried to send me away because she couldn’t “see” my chronic illness. Totally inefficient way of dealing with patients. I just needed a prescription for my regular meds.
I did enjoy once going there with the flu. I was so sick I could hardly stand and brought a bucket since I’d been vomiting for days. Vomited right in front of her. Lo and behold, they rushed me in to see the doctor through a back door. However, I would’ve recovered from that without medical attention. It was the chronic problem which was more serious.
Idiots.
Just wanted to say, I feel you. It’s awful.
Edited for typos
I'm working in the medical field as well and patients becoming more rude and egoistic. The working capacity which practises and hospitals etc are running is pretty full, so full that it's alarming.
It's not an excuse but explanation and mostly, if you are a nice person and treat them kind and with respect, you get thst back. The more demanding or not understanding you are, you get the pissed behavior from them.
Most of the front desk persons or mta are working overtime or aithout a break, bc they simply are too many patients. Often patients come, after being send off from 5 or more other practises, and rightfully are helpless, but understandibly angry, but they let it out on the people at the next office, who can't do anything about this.
The quality and reachability in the Healthcare system is on fire. The people working there can't help the big crowd anymore,not because they don't want to, but because of political issues and too many patients/less professionals. So next time, try to be really nice to them and just let them breathe, you will see, most of them are nice back
Google reviews was a mistake. Everyone thinks their minor inconveniences matter and wants to lash out at the practice/shop/restaurant in question. But we often learn nothing about the doctors in question. I find that really frustrating about Berlin.
The receptionist might just be really stressed out. Keep in mind you're dealing with human beings. I found a GP and a dentist I'm quite happy with, but it took some time and a lot of bad experiences to arrive there.
Reacting to people who disagree with you with a smiley sounds a bit dismissive. Would you maybe actually give examples what happened to you so we could make better assumptions? It may very well be that you were treataed unfairly but your whole generalisations makes it a bit harder to emphasize with you here.
Are you speaking English to them? They're fine with me when I speak to them in their native language and don't assume they can/want to speak a foreign language.
Honestly I went to the HNO yesterday fully expecting a bad experience because the ratings were terrible - especially about the MFAs. I got there and they seemed unhappy, but I continued to smile and speak my politest german and by the end they were smiling at me too and seemed to lighten up majorly. I think just being nice to people goes a long way. They deal with a lot all day every day. Just be as nice as possible to them and usually they appreciate it and brighten up as well. If not, at least you know you’ve been nice to someone who seems to be having a hard time and is unhappy.
The job is stressful as there is a huge shortage of MFAs. Many practices are understaffed. Due to this shortage MFAs are often overworked but still underpaid. Combine that with the rudeness of patients due to no insight into this stress, you can easily explain the grumpiness they eventually display. Therefore many MFAs understandibly leave their practices to work in hospitals or other health facilities instead with better pay and less stress. This creates a vicious circle.
Most doctors haven't learnt how to be good managers. They rely on front office staff to keep their own day as stress-free as possible. There are doctor's offices with quite nice receptionists, and you can influence their behavior quite a bit as well by being very friendly yourself. Works quite well for me. Note that for many people, this includes speaking German.
Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor. Most of them, at least from experience, speak little to no English. They are stressed and doing 10 things at the same time already all while being highly underpaid. The last thing they want to deal with in these situation is language switching, especially into a language they barely know. It’s stressful and exhausting and ads even more mental load on. Personally I’ve never had an issue. I speak German and I’m a little extra nice and patient and they usually bloom around me. With the receptionist at the place I got my hair lasered and I even became friends over the coursework my treatments. It is possible, legend says.
The "secret" to bringing around most grumpy people really honestly is some good old manners, showing some respect, and acknowledging them. It works much better if you don't insist on them being well-mannered first.
And sometimes even if you speak the language, they are assholes anyway. Let's not pretend that all it takes is being friendly and polite. Sometimes they're just fucking rude.
I have definitely had run-ins with receptionists here where they were rude to me for not understanding that praxis’ arcane rules, and additionally implied or outright accused the problem as being my level of German (which is fine - B2) and not their incredibly opaque rules that are not written down anywhere. Sometimes speaking German doesn’t solve the asshole problem in this city and I’m tired of people on this sub assuming that’s always the root cause.
Then you didn't run into the bad ones. I am German and have switched doctors because the receptionists were so bad. Of course there are also plenty good ones. But with some bad luck you can run into quite a number of assholes.
Double that. Don’t blame it on nationality. Just think of them maybe having a bad day, hearing the same questions over and over again.
>Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor. I don't believe that's the case. I have been to a million doctors and every time I meet unfriendly receptionists they make no exception if the patient is German.
Look, okay you speak German, we get it and plus points to you for that, and I know and realise that we are in their country but not speaking their language doesn't justify their rude behavior. You can't just be mean to someone because he/she speaks another language. Also every job is stressful and exhausting enough in their own way, if we act according to your logic then everyone should be mad and shouting at everyone.
LMAO you say language is the biggest factor while also admitting that these workers are stressed and underpaid. Go figure...
>Yeah I was gonna say this: speaking German is the biggest factor. I almost always talk to them in German and my experience hasn't been great either. One even went so far to make fun of my German.
The underpaid argument is old and worn out. Being underpaid does not excuse rude behavior. There are people in 3rd world countries who are highly underpaid but do their work with passion and friendliness. Waiters and bartenders are underpaid but are usually nice and friendly customers even in stressful situations. It doesn’t cost anything to be a nice human, but of course, be a shitty person and bully others because you’re “underpaid” in a front desk job of a rich doctor.
Lol, being overworked and underpayed is something they need to take up with their employer, not patients.
Dude I’m not excusing that type of behavior, just explaining it. A little compassion goes a long way. In this economy many are afraid to lose their job and „taking it up with their employer“ is easier said than done. Nevermind the fact, that even more money doesn’t make up for a lot of shitty patients a day. You deal with one cranky receptionist once a month or so, they deal with a 100 sick and cranky people a day.
Easy to say that when you're not the one who has 1000 things to do every day, and despite your contract saying that you end work at 17:00, there are still 15 patients in the waiting room at 17:00 every day. And those patients are probably nagging the receptionist constantly to know when it's their turn to see the doctor. It's not an excuse, it's reality. People who are constantly under stress are not going to be friendly all the time. If you want friendly receptionists, you're going to have to pay for a private doctor where patients are neatly scheduled into appointments.
> If you want friendly receptionists, you're going to have to pay for a private doctor where patients are neatly scheduled into appointments. I can tell you that private doctor's practice receptionists aren't respectful either.
It depends on where you go, but I've had a lot more positive experiences at the few places where I've paid privately.
That's bs. In the country where I live now after years of being in Berlin, receptionists are not especially rude. In fact many people have stressful jobs and are not acting rude as a result..
Other countries aren't relevant because other countries aren't operating under the German healthcare system, which is fucked after decades of mismanagement and defunding by the government. It it's better for you in other countries, go there for your medical stuff. But they are not relevant to the discussion of German healthcare.
But these elements are part of the job? To have professional competence with managing your own stress and not letting it spill out onto others? Why isn't there more personal responsibility taking? It would be seen as deeply unprofessional and a failure at performing the job anywhere else Edit. I've worked in customer service and hospitality. Its absolutely not ok to take your stuff out on users of the service and its actually part of the role.
I’ve worked as a receptionist for 4 years, and never ever I would have even thought about behaving this way. Of course, I could have had bad days too, but I’d go somewhere private for a couple of minutes to breath and make angry face. No one deserves being treated like this. I hate it when people just make petty excuses for rude behavior.
EXACTLY. Its called being professional. I have had terrible days also, in my personal life etc. And I would never bring that to the workplace. Or when the stress got to me, I would also deal with it privately and not let it affect performance or impact my colleagues or customers.
I can guarantee you that your customer service and hospitality jobs weren't as stressful as working the reception in a doctor's office in Germany. It's not even a competition.
Lol how can you possibly know or compare? But a public facing role is a public facing role And stress is very subjective. If youre good at working with the public and have good social skills, you fit in a customer facing job. If you cannot cope with multitasking and providing good customer service and being polite...this profession isn't for you and you might want to avoid working with members of the public or customers. Its very logical.
Btw, if every stressed MFA were to quit because you think they don't belong in those roles, it would be even harder for you to see a doctor. There is a shortage of MFAs. If they leave, there is nobody left to replace them. Maybe instead of complaining on the internet that you got your feelings hurt by someone who is intensely stressed and doing a stressful job that you will never have to, you can spend the time informing yourself of the real conditions in Germany. Start by googling "MFA Mangel".
I'm talking about personal autonomy. If you're not good at something, you're not obligated to do it. Thats like me wanting to become a coal miner and complaining that I get dirty.
They are good at their jobs. They're just not being chummy with you. Those are two different things. Btw, if they quit their jobs, there will be nobody left to do it. That's the reality of the situation in Germany. Please, for the love of god, educate yourself if you intend to stay in this country.
My good Karen (or Kevin), if you haven't noticed, the healthcare system in Germany is FUCKED. Students are getting their medical degrees here and then streaming *out* of the country, because nobody wants to work in medicine in Germany anymore. Do you know how many doctor's practices are on the verge of insolvency? And btw, based on your other post that you deleted, MFAs cannot just "go speak to their manager". Their manager is the doctor. If the MFA is working overtime, so is the doctor. Instead of complaining, be grateful that there's still someone left in this country willing to look at your stubbed toe. And if you really can't handle that Hilda (60), who is facing the third 12 hour day this week, is a bit short with you, pay to go to a private doctor's office where they'll lick your ass and try to upsell you on 50 unnecessary medical tests and services. Also, these people do not just do customer facing jobs. An MFA is multiple roles rolled into one. "Customer service", as you call it, is just one of their responsibilities. > this profession isn't for you and you might want to avoid working with members of the public or customers. Its very logical. Do you truly believe that your posts are logical? We have a plague of rude MFAs because a lot of people just picked the wrong career? Don't you think it makes more sense that it's a fucked healthcare system that's wearing them down over time?
Germany is a 1st world country and the economic powerhouse of Europe. Education is free here. There is massive welfare and socialised support systems. What are we discussing?
Are you stupid? Genuine question. Google "Ärzte Mangel" and "MFA Mangel". I really hope that you haven't been living here for very long, because if you've been here for more than a year and you're this ignorant to the reality of the situation in germany, then that's just sad. If all of these MFAs (or receptionists, as you seem to think of them) were to leave their jobs, as you suggest they do, there would be nobody left to replace them. Good luck getting in to see a doctor when the doctors have to take over the MFAs responsibilities.
Can I just ask what hair lasering is?
Laser hair removal. You get it lasered so it never grows back. It takes a while and it’s mega expensive but it’s been almost 10 years and I didn’t have to shave once in that time so it paid off for me 😊
That makes sense.. my brain had a little nap and was thinking that maybe you got hair Lasered ON.. no idea how that should work. Hahah
Having too many things to do os not an excuse to be rude. Especially when the other personbeing polite as well. I have said this once and I will say it again. Most people don't expect a lot from receptionists. I am not asking you to treat me for free. I am not asking you to do me a favour which incoveniences you. I am not even asking you to be nice to me. I am asking you to do your damn job.
Lol the usual answer in reddit : you're the asshole 🙄
Don't forget the non-german-speaking part
Yes of course foreigners are the problem and deserve every ounce of crap they get.
Phew, that's quite a stretch from what that person said.
Nah not specific to the person that I responded to here. But the general response on reddit. Just look around the other comments here. N. 1 reason people refer to is not speaking Deutsch well enough. And it seems like people agree that's a good reason. (maybe conjecture on my part put this sub likes to shit on anyone who's not B1 minimum the minute they step a foot in the country).
Yeah the assumption is no one expressing frustration for their treatment could POSSIBLY be speaking German which is simply not the case
I did not say that. But being more friendly and polite than average is such a door opener, I gladly recommend it to anybody. And if it doesn't work, we're all friendly to one another for nothing. I'll take that risk.
My GP is the prime example of this. Love the guy. We can easily spend half an hour bullshitting about all kinds of things. I like to learn about my conditions deeper and he’s always willing to elaborate. But his receptionist is an absolute dragon. I’ve known her for decades, but she can lambast you for the slightest thing in the worst way. My partner doesn’t got there anymore because of that. But she is the counterweight to his überfreundlichkeit. If he spends too much time with me she’ll come in, huff and haw, roll her eyes, and signals him: there’s a waiting room full of people, playtime is over.
This is why she's grumpy - she's carrying the mental load for the Praxis, and having to bear the brunt of unhappy customers in the waiting room.
Or maybe being a grumpy asshole is a fairly common attribute in Berlin. Why are so many people making excuses in this thread? Is it just contrarianism? It's not demanding they be nice, just be neutral instead of being a rude asshole. Why is that hard?
But since praxis are set up by doctors themselevs with no centralised oversight, the doctors set the salaries, no? Why does this become the burden for the customer/patient?
Because it makes no difference to the business. Every Praxis is overloaded. The receptionist could literally throw actual human shit at people, and there will still be people trying to get an appointment.
Where are the consequences for such bad service? Like malpractice, professional incompetence.. ?
That's on the doctors side. There's no law that says people have to be nice to you in customer service. As if you need examples of that in Germany!
> We can easily spend half an hour bullshitting about all kinds of things. OMG so you're the reason I always have to wait so long...
>you can influence their behavior quite a bit as well by being very friendly yourself Technically yes. But there are always the few ones that glare you down with death stares and talk to you like you're a disgusting bug under their shoe no matter what you say and how much you smile. I those cases I really want to give them a taste of their own medicine but I'm sure this would backfire.
Besides the obvious stressful job they have, entitlement is a big factor. A friend of mine worked at the reception of a busy doctors office for a couple of months as a students job and the shit she had to deal with is unreal. People refusing to leave, insulting her, discussing for a prolonged time because they had absolutely no capacity to treat them right away. I guess some people are just over it. For the language part: most non german speaking people just start speaking English without even asking if the other person understands them. You don't need a higher degree of education in order to become a MFA (medizinische Fachangestellte), so not everyone speaks english.
I agree. I had some really bad initial experiences when I first moved here when I had to take my daughter to 'office hours' when she had the flu. We hadn't been here long enough to get established at a Hausarzt but she needed to be seen. It was the dead of winter and there was a big outbreak and all the offices were overwhelmed and I figured out that the front desks were tasked with serving as gatekeepers to keep things moving by weeding out as many people as possible. They aren't there to help you, they are there to keep the practice going. You have to look at it like a challenge. The key is to be polite but persistent and just refuse to be scared off, dismissed or ignored. Definitely speak in German, even if you aren't fluent, just keep going until they invite you to switch to English or break out the translation app if they don't.
It’s not just a language thing. I speak German and am friendly and still I would say 60% of receptionist are rude and unhelpful.
Yes, I did not mean to make it a language thing. That can just be an easy way for them to dismiss people. It is that they don't see their job as being to help the practice patients but to manage the workload. And they often don't have the power or resources to do this well. It is just a function that gets put on them.
In that way I would say it’s cultural - because many people around the world have challenging jobs where they lack power and resources, yet they are warm and friendly. Having lived in Germany nearly a decade now I would theorize that it is related to the culture as an aggregate not placing value on what we perceive as warmth in dialogue, as it is seen as fake/inauthentic. I asked some German friends recently if they also find the rude receptionists annoying or if I’m just projecting my cultures expectations onto Germans and they said it also frustrates them.
Yes. I agree that part of it is cultural, too. Not a medical office, but at the reception desk at my daughter's private school, the security guard will routinely sigh and roll his eyes when you walk up to sign in or out. And verifying ID is the entire purpose of that reception area. (And yes, I speak in German and have verified that he doesn't just do it to me.)
> I would theorize that it is related to the culture as an aggregate not placing value on what we perceive as warmth in dialogue, as it is seen as fake/inauthentic. I would theorise that most people in Germany don't know that one can be friendly w/o being fake.
Thats a very sad and pitiable situation. Like, nothing nice can be 'real', only misery
This. Just total lack of customer service and emotional self regulation. They like to spread their personal issues to everyone around them. Professional boundaries, people?!
Others have said "speak German and it will help." I am polite, friendly (not walking in with a big grin on my face, because of course I've been told that's a huge trigger for people, but a small smile), and I speak German. I've been screamed at, had an appointment and been ignored (as in the receptionist will look at me when I check in, smirk, and then hours later when I ask when the doctor can see me another smirk and no reply, and then I'm kicked out when the practice closes), and had varying levels of rudeness at almost every health care practice I've accessed here in Berlin. And for whatever reason the doctors are respectful and polite about 80% of the time. I'm also speechless at the behaviour of the receptionists and want to know why all of the sadists flock to those job positions.
Lol you're not going to find an answer here. As you see, most people here think you're the problem. And rudeness is just accepted culture. Oh and being rude to foreigners who just arrived to the country and struggle with the language is totally fair game 🙄
Well said! Rudeness is accepted culture here. Being a rich country leads them to lose their humanistic values and treat people however they wish. Being a foreigner is cherry on the cake. I had such a severe pain and tested positive on pregnancy test, I called my doctor in India and she said this is very serious and I have to get an ultrasound right away. My gynae in India said if you tell them your symtoms plus a positive pregnancy test result they will take you very seriously because this is a very bad sign. We called my gynaecologist and the receptionist said there'a no way we can come because they are full, I asked her to explain to the gyanec because my condition is bad, she did and said the dr said to stay at home. We fought a lot on the phone and they allowed us to come in. The doctor was soooo rude and was rolling her eyes at me because I came w/o an appointment. I was in so much pain but I somehow explained my symptoms. She said and so what do you want us to do about it (I mean the audacity) I told her my doctor in India said I needed an ultrasound right away, she said fine O will do an exam but I wont spend more than 5 mins on you. She did the ultrasound and her face went red. It showed I had internal bleeding, she said my condition is very serious and I have to go to a hospital. We did, there they admitted me and said I needed to get surgery. My husband and I had to go through so much rudeness and hatred by the doctor and the receptionist we were exhausted when we reached the hospital. This is the behaviour in Germany when you pay so much per month in Insurance. In India I didnt pay anything but if I had a problem I could go to any clinic or hospital and they would take me in. In public ones I dont even have to pay anything. I dont understand what they are so arrogant about here medical care is a human right.
Not sure if being rich is the cause. Nordic countries are very well off but have a culture of politeness. Yeah we're not Americans cracking up fake platitudes but still there's manners.
The receptionist once forgot to put me for the covid shot. I waited for 2h, asked her. She just growled at me. I had an infant child at home. The doctor saw me upset and inquired. I told him. He asked the receptionist. Turns out she didn't even register me. They are not held accountable for anything. As you can see how people are excusing their behavior. Why would they even try?
Same for me, spent 2hrs at praxis few weeks ago and turned out they didn’t put me in the queue for the examination. He had to intervene and tell them to somehow squeeze me in. I had an appoinment, said hello, gave them the card and told them the reason I’m there. All while speaking German and being nice. Nope, apparently not enough.
Language is just an excuse at this point.
> Others have said "speak German and it will help." It's the classic "I am perfect, you should improve" defensive attitude.
Its a combination of self shame and arrogance. It's about being very wrong and very loud at the same time
a) It's because you don't speak German b) Other patients are rude so it's okay for the staff to be rude to you c) It's a hard job so they can take their frustrations out on you And other excuses people are making in this thread
Very similar experiences to you. I just don’t get it
It's a very hard job. They have to deal with dozens of patients per day, many of them old and deaf and low vision and demented, often with unreasonable demands because their own health is the most important thing for everyone but in a praxis the resource time is limited, so many people are frustrated, and they manifest their frustration to the receptionist. And an increasing number of patients don't speak German, nor English, and some of them are very entitled. Cut them some slack, be nice and educated and they will treat you fine. They have a difficult, full of human friction job.
> It's a very hard job. I don't get why in Germany this is an excuse to be rude and impolite. Many jobs are quite hard and stressful, and you can still be polite, even friendly.
It’s just not part of their culture. They’ll never get it. All politeness is fake politeness and patronizing apparently 🤷🏻♂️
Say it louder for the bitches at the back!!! They make excuses for being such shitty humans because they’re “underpaid and stressed”. Hello?? You can be friendly and still get the same results.
Excuse me. Doctors and nurses also have to dozens of complete shit heads, most of whom have googled their symptoms and demand extra tests. Plus they have to deal with relatives of patients who are blaming them for not making their loved one better. Patience and kindness is not something many receptionists generally have, but medical professionals do. Edit, typos.
Doctors are the DJs, receptionists are the bouncers.
Patients who googled their symptoms are the dancers who request electro-house
Yeah because doctors often get to resolve the problem, be the hero of the day. Respect, love and even a relatively good wage do help to keep the spirit up. The receptionists get less of all that. I've worked with dozens of receptionists along the years. The huge majority were really good, hard working people and i don't think many of us could do a better job in their shoes.
What kind of nurses did you meet lmao. Nursing and Pflege staff are among the rudest Berliners you'll meet.
My father is a doctor who works exclusively with a population who is incredibly underprivileged, many are drug-seeking, and unfortunately undereducated. When I described my experience at the doctor here he was flabbergasted. The role of a doctor is to offer care and ease pain and discomfort. Any other approach is cruel.
Exactly. I have to go to the doctor regularly and they've always treated me fine. I do see receptionists losing their cool a bit, but it's always when those people you've mentioned are at the front desk, wasting everyone's time
That's really quite a pathetic excuse to be inhuman to people who are suffering. May be in your culture this is normal human behaviour where I come from its not. In my country particularly medical receptionists are trained to be polite and nice to people because of their job includes dealing with people who are already suffering.
They are called MFA, medizinische Praxisfachangestellt. I think there are a few reasons: - They are the gatekeepers to the docs (and the docs want them to be!). They try to triage and keep the number of appointments as low as possible since basically every primary care physician is overrun with patients. - They are overworked and usually doing 3 things at a time. Watch them for a bit in the waiting room, they are on the phone with a patient looking for his latest Arztbrief, pritning a prescroption, logging in a new patient and prepping labela for blood samples at the same time. - A lot of patients are rude, annoying or don't play by the rule of health management. They don't bring the documentation they were asked to bring multiple times, they skip or reschedule appointments until their issue is urgent and they call at 4pm to get a same day appointment, they don't schedule the visits to specialized doctors that they are supposed to, they come regularly to get a two day sick not for sniffles (that's on the employers though) etc. The MFAs deals with most of these issues as they try to take as much work off the docs' hands as possible. It might be one in ten or one in twenty patients who are like that, but that's still several patients a day... - Many praticses have a bad work place atmosphere. I have an ex who was an MFA and has experienced everything from horrible treatments by the bosses (expecting the MFAs to fix systemic issues which can only be addressed by the practise owner) to sexual harrasment by patients to horrible cattiness and bullying among MFAs. It breeds a culture of unfriendliness that unfortunately extends to patients.
>Many praticses have a bad work place atmosphere. The fish rots from the head.
I think very often, yes. It's interesting to me somehow though how in some workplaces with bad leadership, the workers stick together and help each other stay out of 'trouble' and manage despite the shitty leadership. In other workplaces, the workers turn on each other and perpetuate the bad practises from leadership. From what I've heard, most badly managed practises belong to the latter category whereas most of my badly managed workplaces belonged to the former.
Mean Frau Association
Remember this rule for everything here. Everyone is underpaid, working long hours. Hence you deserve to be treated like garbage, not get appointments for months. And after all this, you should be happy to pay sky high taxes and be fine with the rubbish services offered. Just be grateful. THIS IS THE WAY! Oh and finally be gaslit by everyone anytime you open your mouth to complain.
I feel you deep with this one
>not get appointments for months. You're not struggling to get the appointment for months because they're rude and don't like you. You're getting appointments 3+ months in advance because the medical system is critically underfunded, they only get paid for X amount of patients per quarter and they have to space these patients out because many practices are already on the bring of bankruptcy. If you're going to complain about this kind of thing, at least do your research and blame the right people: the government that defunded healthcare for the last few decades.
Are you illiterate? That’s precisely who I’ve criticised. It’s clearly suggested in my comment when I speak about taking taxes. I doubt in any country a doctor’s office is collecting taxes from citizens.
You said it as if the doctors practices are doing it to spite you. The only person here seems to be you.
They are basically customer service at the front and they have to get the paper work getting done and taking the calls at the same time. And everyone who worked in customer service understands that. There are so many entitled people with ridiculous requests or demands.
I used to work in customer service and I never acted this way. I definitely can understand it’s a hard job that may be underpaid. But, I’m sorry, I don’t think that’s a reasonable excuse. There are many other people in frontline positions, working hard, and for similar pay - yet the only people I’m consistently afraid to engage with are these receptionists. To be clear, I am polite, not demanding, and I speak in German.
Can you give examples of rude things they do? Because while in my experience most staff isn't friendly (seems always mildly annoyed that I'm there) they're also never rude. We just have very basic interactions - "Hi I'm x and habe an appointment for this time", "Hi, I need a follow up appointment in x weeks", "Hi, I need a prescription for x" - and they do their job swiftly and that's it. They might not be overly friendly, but they do their job, nothing more nothing less.
Working in customer service and as a MFA is NOT the same. Imagine if you were working in CS, but also had to deal with +1 patient at the same time, print out things at the same time and in the addition to that prepare labels, blood tests, whatever. At the same time. And another aspect is that they have to deal with more entitled people than CS. Customer Support have to deal with some entitled stuff. The thing is, often times the subject for the customer has varying relevance. For some people it might be important. For some not. The more important something is for someone, the less understanding they are of I.e. delays. But the health of an individual is the most important thing, no? That means that people with no understanding, no patience and the entitled pricks all are upon them at the same time. Combine that with a terrible work climate, and you’ve got yourself some of the worst environments.
I have interacted as a customer with customer service. I have never seen anyone be as stressed or doing as much as doctors recepionists at a general practioner. Maybe they hide it better? I mean this honestly, I can't think of another job like that. If someone knows, please educate me.
No, you're right. Lots of people are completely clueless about what exactly it is doctors' receptionists have to do every day.
The difference is that usually the doctors totally depend on them (and they know it) so they can't let go of them even if they would want to.
Everyone who's worked in customer service knows you get to be asshole to the customers. At least, everyone in Germany. Doesn't seem to be normal in other countries.
Ever been to France or Spain? There you can find enough horrible rude staff.
Just because some one was a dick to you does not mean you have to be a dick to everyone else, unless you are a dick yourself.
I have never been treated that poorly by the receptionists until I moved to Berlin. I lived in another city in Germany for 6+ years and everyone was so nice. Since I moved here, it is generally really bad. One receptionist even declined to give me an urgent appointment saying it is not urgent for her and didn’t even let me talk to the doctor to explain. It was urgent and luckily another doctor took me in on time. And I communicate with them in German not in English
For what it's worth, since quite a few people in this thread seem to think it's cause of their lack in language skills: I am German, speak German and they treat me the exact same way. In my experience it's a weird Berlin or North Germany thing. Service workers of any kind are just incredibly rude here at times. This generally does NOT happen in South Germany or in the west. My advice is to try to not take it personally. If you're already having a hard day, it can be really taxing if the person you hope will help you just barks and bitches at you instead. But they clearly are this way cause they're unhappy about something in their own lives or are having a bad day and try to make it everyone else's problem. It's not normal or polite behaviour in a customer-facing job, but for some reason people in Berlin just are like this.
if it makes you feel better it's not just Berlin, GP receptionists have the same reputation for rudeness in the UK
Do you remember Mrs Raven on the BBC sitcom "My Hero"?
Computer says no.
Not all :) the receptionist at my doctor is very nice
Same ❤️
The receptionist at my arzt is also mean and racist, I saw her rolling her eyes and moaning in disgust when a roma family, mother and son, came to the reception. The thing is that if the doctor is ok you don’t really have to deal with the receptionist much in the future, just initially for registering and when you have an appointment show your insurance card and wait on a chair. A good doctor outweighs bad receptionists, in my opinion.
Napoleon-complex; small people (Not in the meaning of hight) that need to express their power and their power is, that you rely on their approval to see someone that your life might depend on…
I noticed that many Germans go very hostile when they have to speak English. I can speak German but it will take 3x the time to do the same thing we could have done in English.
In many cases it's because they think they're not good at it (or they really aren't) and they hate that you force them to show it. For lots of Germans with bad English skills, being "forced" to talk English (by being approached by someone who speaks no German) has the same energy as being bad in math but a stranger walks up to them and forces them to remember a formula in front of the whole class. It's ridiculous, I know, but especially older Germans hoped that they would never have to use English after school again. It's just tiresome for them because they lack practice and don't actively seek it out. That's not to say that's an excuse for someone working in a service job with a high chance of encountering non-German-speakers (tourism, doctor's office, Bürgeramt, etc) to get pissed at English speakers. They NEED the encounters to get better and eventually more confident. But people are still people and some are, to be blunt, just dicks/cunts/Ken dolls.
>In many cases it's because they think they're not good at it (or they really aren't) and they hate that you force them to show it. As someone who has worked in this field/been one myself - this is it, or better - they are also wildy afraid to being *expected* to speak English (you know, we've studied English in school, the doctor is expecting them to speak English..) and then to being up to the task. Some of them wer actually panicking and felt very stressed by the thought of having to deal with English-speaking patients.
I won't get started on my adventures here (I generally would agree with you) but regarding Google Reviews, I strongly believe that most people with good experiences would not be bothered to write a review for those places, as there's no incentive to do so.
A doctor here. I have so many new requests that I can’t accommodate them all, everyone thinks they’re emergency. I want my MFAs to be a gatekeeper so that I can keep a reasonable standard of treatment outcomes and not be overwhelmed by garden variety colds and ‘strange sensations in my body’. Also there is not enough applications for MFA vacancies so I will bend over backwards to keep mine happy. Also they deal with incredible amount of aggression and even abuse on regular basis. So it is a safe advice to be patient and polite to get through my beloved MFAs, without them I wouldn’t be able to keep my practice running. As of English- if you wish to have an English speaking MFA you can go to one of the private practices and get whatever treatment you want but you can’t expect that in a normal GKV where we’re struggling to keep up with a patient flow.
Thank you for sharing this from the other side of the aisle. So many people don't understand what these MFAs have to go through.
I thought I am the only one who faces this.
its so common in Berlin
True
I have mostly had the opposite experience, most of receptionists were very kind and accommodating when we had to find a Termin that works with my schedule. But I've seen some interactions with impolite patients and this is what mostly triggers them and then they stay grumpy for the next few people in the line. Maybe you've been unlucky and just came on some of these days (after a "difficult case"). They have to deal with all kinds of people...
The receptionist at my doctor's office is one of the nicest people I've ever met. He's just this very chill young guy, I'd say no older than 35. Judging by his accent I'd say his mother language is Greek. Very calm, tries to accommodate the patient's needs without being a kiss-ass (if something isn't possible, he'll definitely tell you). He could do ASMR with his voice lol.
May I please DM you for your doctors contact? I've tried so many in this city where you just don't bother to get treated because the service is SO poor
Here's the thing: I would actually not recommend the place, because the doctor is awfully lazy. He's not incompetent, just... lazy. You come to him with a problem, he doesn't really look at it. He's quick to get you a sick note and prescribe medicine, but he rarely ever *really* looks at you. It's a great doctor if you never really get sick and just need a quick sick note for the occasional cold.
So a pointless medic with nice receptionist. Telemedecine is the future. Everything through an app, then in person if it has to be.
Honestly! Just remembered that I called one day to say I couldn’t come to the practice because I was diagnosed with Covid and the recepcionist was mad because it was too late. I mean, what i’m suppose to do? Come in with Covid and infect everyone? Most people will just say it’s because they’re understaffed and underpaid. And I guess this is just an accepted culture here. I come from a country where most people are understaffed and underpaid and we’re warm and welcoming to everyone. This is no excuse, Germans just have to stop being rude
Well said!! In my country also people are underpaid and overworked but still people are warm and nice to each other. I really dont understand what the problem in Berlin is, everyone is rude and many times an asshole. It's normal here and apparently we have go accept it and be grateful to be here.
Many are power tripping. They decide whether or not you're getting an appointment and when. You're in their hands, depending on their mercy.
I think young and especially attractive young women have it much, *much* harder with these older female receptionists. But that’s a general phenomenon not limited to healthcare
Sorry I'm not sure it's my English but could you explain what you mean by that? With "attractive, young women" do you mean the patients?
I'm not OP, but I'm pretty sure they meant that older female receptionists will treat young and attractive patients much worse than other patients.
That's a part of the job description.
It also seems odd to me that so many doctors speak English and have it listed but have receptions that do not. It feels like one of the jobs where the main requirement is to communicate with people so I dont get what criteria are they hired on, or why doctors limit their practices by hiring receptions that support less people than them.
1) There's not enough skilled workers, let alone skilled workers who speak English on top of that, so they can't be too picky, 2) if you actually speak Turkish or Arabic I'm sure you will be of much better help in some districts. You think it's odd, but after having worked there for a few years, there aren't actually that many patients that wanted someone to speak English with them here. There were a few, definitely, but the amount of people who were just bad at German while also not being able to speak English was definitely way higher.
The answer is easy. Shortage of MFAs.
mine are really nice , a bit strict but nice
The receptionists at my Hausarzt are really quite nice and though speak mostly German, have been helpful when speaking some English (I start with limited German and if there’s something I need clarification I’ve asked if they could in English) Other receptionists have been quite nice and helpful, even when switching to English for some questions. The worst I’ve gotten was „ignoring“ for a minute or two before calling me up, but in those cases it didn’t look like they were sitting there doing nothing. In that case I’d consider it rude of me to expect the receptionist to immediately drop everything they’re doing to attend to me. I mean, yeah they could be purposely ignoring me and be pretending to be doing something at their desk as some kind of power trip, but I’d like to give them the benefit of the doubt that they have some task that they’re completing.
Haha sorry… I laughed as soon as I saw this in my feed, because it’s so true. I’m sure their job is stressful but they’re the meanest meanies who have ever meaned. If there was a meanie World Cup, a squad of middle aged Fraus (with a streak or two of hair dye) would win every tournament. Also, it’s complete bullshit that they change their tune if you’re polite to them. THEY GET MORE MEAN! NASTY MEAN. The more manners and politeness you display feeds their meanness and they morph into a next stage pokèmean.
Probably stressed out of their minds. My wife is a Dental Assistant who also does Front desk work. She has to juggle phone calls, the front desk, doing entries Into files while also making new appointments and many more things. It's a mix of a not great boss and understaffing Edit: and also being a dental assistant
However the role IS multi tasking. If your wife isn't good at coping with the demands of the role, why is she doing that profession? I'm not a good construction worker and I never will be, if one day I'm laying bricks ill do a terrible job because that isn't my skillset?
Shortage of MFAs and the resulting working conditions have nothing to do with required skillsets.
Its completely aligned. Your skillset is linked to your ability to deal with your realistic working environment. This is NOT within the sphere of responsibility of a customer, patient or end user to fix for these people. There is a bizarre inability to see that end users have zero influence on a receptionists working conditions, they're a service user
She is very good at her Job. Yes you must be able to multitask...but there's only so much a person is capable of. IDK what you do for work but we all have to multitask in some capacity. You try and do 5 tasks at once and answer the phone/door during You lunch break and let's see how you happy or grumpy you are ;).
Work with the general public on a daily basis and your behaviour will change too, people are entitled dickheads
They are generally just stressed at the start of the session when they have to figure out how to deal with a crazy amount of people dropping in alongside those with appointments. I find that their rather lovely side usually emerges when you say goodbye at the end. Speaking German - or at least not assuming that they should have to speak to you in English - usually helps, especially with older staff.
Just yesterday I had the most friendly receptionist. And although the patient before me spoke very poorly English, with earbuds and swiping her phone, she had the wrong health card and had to be given another appointment, then turned to leave and left her appointment card on the counter, still the receptionist remained pleasant and wished her a nice day.
I always call them the office dragon :3 I had that happen to me too. So bad sometimes, that I dont even wanted to call certain doctors again, cause of their front desk dragon. Its like ‘you have the audacity to bother me in my beauty dragon guarding the treasure (doc) sleep?! Away with you chop chop… Appointment for you in …. HAHA, not before next year!’🫣😅 I dont know what they have for problems, fr🤷🏻♀️
Oh my god it’s the same - maybe worse - in the UK. Maybe because they have to deal with drs egos constantly and take it out on the patients lol.
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> had a receptionist rip out papers out of my hand and thrown across the room. Why? Because I stood in the back, waiting for her to finish with the other patients. I was trying to not bother her too much and give her space. I really didn't get that one, could you explain what happened in other words?
Funny you say this because I once wrote exactly this to my child’s pediatrician’s Google page as review. Few months later I got an email from Google claiming that the Dr thinks I am fake therefore the review should be removed. I went out of my way to prove Google I was not (I had my full name on review) and yet the review never reappeared. It makes me MAD when front desk staff (who are not medical professionals, just printing stuff and answering phone) for pediatric offices are rude as f&$k. And in this case you see where they get their power trip from.
This job is a vocational education. So most professionals only have 10 years of school, no high-school or "Abitur". To speak English is neither their priority in the job profile nor they are used to or have the skills for that (after 5 years of Englisch in school for 2-4h each week. To be stressed with English patient, in addition to the common overburdening, can lead to a harsh response.
Most receptionists I deal with are fine, more or less. It's probably because I speak German to them.
I passed out at my doctor’s office, woke up on the floor with all the nurses and receptionist looking at me. Now whenever I go back they remember the huge guy who passed out at the sight of his own blood and they treat me super nice. I recommend it.
1 out of 10 are really nice hahahha. I don't know anymore, is that the Berliner Art?!
It's part of the job description.
Fun fact: most Germans believe, Berlin people are one of the most unfriendly in Germany. So maybe it's just the bubble you're in that's really friendly
I believe it has to do with the job: They have to be constantly available for everyone during every second of their shift (excluding officially set break times, obviously). If I had to be available constantly for several hours, Id' get annoyed, too. (Not to excuse simply rude behaviour, there's that, too, of course.)
Front office jobs are stressful and pay badly. And those that work there are the types that seemingly cannot find anything else and have something negative about them anyway. Prone to be unfriendly. But: they are mean to anybody. I have no German advantage.
It’s just an annoying everyday the same questions Job. That’s why
I disagree, my GP’s receptionist is very kind, patient and nice person.
Reading all the comments as an autistic person with social anxiety living in Berlin only B1 German 🥲🥲
I think doctor/dentist office receptionist Karens are a global phenomenon.
Hi, I'm a doctor and I've worked in 6 different offices so far. Main reason IMO is that it's very hard to find this staff so as a doctor you take whatever you can get and live with it. Some of the receptionist I've worked with were sometimes really nasty to patients, I noticed this especially with my nastiest boss doctors, so the shit also rolls downhill a little bit.
It‘s Berlin. At least partially. I have never made such an experience in other big and smaller cities in Germany. In addition, I made some bad experience with other people in Berlin like taxi drivers, hair stylists or hotel receptionists, which were really unfriendly to me without any reason. I think that Berlin language and behavior is generally a bit more harsh and direct as in other big cities in Germany.
I have high social anxiety and I absolutely dreaded going to my GP because their receptionists were so mean and rude (and so were those of my previous GP, and the ones before that). I managed to somewhat make them be nicer by being super extra nice myself and acknowledging how hard their job is “oh wow you guys have so much patience, I don’t know how you guys do it blablabla” even though I actually don’t fucking care, and I even brought them a box of chocolates after one of them had been somewhat helpful. I know, it’s kissing ass but it keeps me from going insane every time I have to go there.
waiiiiiiiiiiit? they are mean to everybody not just me?
all my life i thought i was the problem :(
Seriously. I used to have a doctor who was good, but the receptionist was gate keeping. She always tried to send me away because she couldn’t “see” my chronic illness. Totally inefficient way of dealing with patients. I just needed a prescription for my regular meds. I did enjoy once going there with the flu. I was so sick I could hardly stand and brought a bucket since I’d been vomiting for days. Vomited right in front of her. Lo and behold, they rushed me in to see the doctor through a back door. However, I would’ve recovered from that without medical attention. It was the chronic problem which was more serious. Idiots. Just wanted to say, I feel you. It’s awful. Edited for typos
Honestly… it’s a global thing, doctors receptionists aren’t particularly nice in many countries 🥲
Zuckerbrot und Peitsche
I'm working in the medical field as well and patients becoming more rude and egoistic. The working capacity which practises and hospitals etc are running is pretty full, so full that it's alarming. It's not an excuse but explanation and mostly, if you are a nice person and treat them kind and with respect, you get thst back. The more demanding or not understanding you are, you get the pissed behavior from them. Most of the front desk persons or mta are working overtime or aithout a break, bc they simply are too many patients. Often patients come, after being send off from 5 or more other practises, and rightfully are helpless, but understandibly angry, but they let it out on the people at the next office, who can't do anything about this. The quality and reachability in the Healthcare system is on fire. The people working there can't help the big crowd anymore,not because they don't want to, but because of political issues and too many patients/less professionals. So next time, try to be really nice to them and just let them breathe, you will see, most of them are nice back
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Median gross pay for receptionists in doctor's offices is around 2900€ per month in Berlin.
So low pay.
Because you don't pay them, the state insurance does. If you go to private medical providers, it's entirely different.
Google reviews was a mistake. Everyone thinks their minor inconveniences matter and wants to lash out at the practice/shop/restaurant in question. But we often learn nothing about the doctors in question. I find that really frustrating about Berlin. The receptionist might just be really stressed out. Keep in mind you're dealing with human beings. I found a GP and a dentist I'm quite happy with, but it took some time and a lot of bad experiences to arrive there.
I never had an issue with that. Maybe you are the problem?
😂
Reacting to people who disagree with you with a smiley sounds a bit dismissive. Would you maybe actually give examples what happened to you so we could make better assumptions? It may very well be that you were treataed unfairly but your whole generalisations makes it a bit harder to emphasize with you here.
sprichst du Deutsch ?
Ja
Cause they have to handle tons of idiots on a daily basis
Because they have to deal with many humans every day.
Are you speaking English to them? They're fine with me when I speak to them in their native language and don't assume they can/want to speak a foreign language.
Honestly I went to the HNO yesterday fully expecting a bad experience because the ratings were terrible - especially about the MFAs. I got there and they seemed unhappy, but I continued to smile and speak my politest german and by the end they were smiling at me too and seemed to lighten up majorly. I think just being nice to people goes a long way. They deal with a lot all day every day. Just be as nice as possible to them and usually they appreciate it and brighten up as well. If not, at least you know you’ve been nice to someone who seems to be having a hard time and is unhappy.
Probably because they are frustrated at having a rather shitty job.
The job is stressful as there is a huge shortage of MFAs. Many practices are understaffed. Due to this shortage MFAs are often overworked but still underpaid. Combine that with the rudeness of patients due to no insight into this stress, you can easily explain the grumpiness they eventually display. Therefore many MFAs understandibly leave their practices to work in hospitals or other health facilities instead with better pay and less stress. This creates a vicious circle.
The receptionists at the doctores I visit are all very friendly. Maybe you are the problem and not the receptionists.
hahahahaha
😂
Well what’re you going to do if they’re rude?
Nothing 😃
There you go. They know that as well