TAKE A CHILL PILL!

"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:" (James 1:19)

If there is any very Bible verse that 21st Century Americans need to learn, and not only learn but PRACTICE in their daily lives, it's that one! It doesn't seem possible that I've been working at my telephone answering service job now for fourteen months. In that period of time, I have spoken on literally thousands of telephone calls, and I have experienced a myriad of human behavior. I just want to share a few examples here:

This past Saturday, I encountered the angriest caller (the father of a child who had broken his arm) to date at the answering service job.
I had gone on my one hour break, and just a few minutes after signing back on, I picked up the phone to listen to this irate man. He sounded like a WWF (or is it WWE?) wrestler..the way they'll yell and say things like "I'll break every bone in your body!" No, he did not say THAT, but he ranted about having called two hours earlier to a particular pediatrics practice. No one had called him back...his son had not been treated, and he was furious. I tried to get through to the pediatrics practice's inside line, but all I could get was a busy signal. I tried to explain that to the caller, but there was a flurry of callers that came in, and somehow I lost his call. I DID send a message over the computer screen to my Supervisor (in the next booth) telling her this guy was irate and that we needed to do all we could to get in touch with that pediatrics practice. A couple of minutes later, another operator in the call center answered a call and it was that same guy, yelling at her. At the same time, I could hear my Supervisor on the phone. She HAD reached the pediatrics practice and was relaying the message and asking the nurse at the practice to call that man. While the Supervisor was still on the phone, I answered a call and it was the guy! This time he sounded ten times angrier than before! I was TRYING to tell him that my Supervisor was on the phone with the practice and that they'd call him within a minute. I could NOT get one word in edge wise. The man kept yelling, "I want a call back within three minutes; you got it, three minutes!!!???? Not one hour, not three hours, THREE MINUTES??!!" He just kept yelling that over and over, non stop. I tried and tried to break in. Finally, I did something I have seldom done on that job. I just hung up the phone. And, you guessed it. He called back AGAIN and got another of our operators who transferred the call to the Supervisor. The Supervisor also tried and tried to explain that we truly WERE trying to help him. When she hung up, she commented, "I just can't understand why he would wait for two hours with his son with a broken arm. Why wouldn't he just go to the emergency room?" All of us concluded that the man's judgment had been clouded. The issue for him was really NOT getting treatment for his son's broken arm. The issue was arguing with the medical practice and answering service and trying to prove he was right. That's the kind of thinking that sparks road rage murders!

It's not just the callers. I hate to say it but I've learned the behavior and attitude of television's Dr. House are NOT far from reality with some physicians! I phoned a doctor who was on call for his practice this past Saturday morning. He told me he was out running through the woods and that he did not want any calls until he got back to his house. (Again, mind you, he was officially on call and there were sick patients trying to reach him.) I knew what it was to be on call when I was a pastor. If a pastor pulled that kind of stuff, the next thing he'd know, there would be a surprise Board meeting and he'd be fired! On Saturday afternoon, I paged a doctor who had just ended being on-call. This was for a true emergency involving a child's head injury and a very upset uncle who was in charge of the kid while his parents were away. The doctor curtly reminded me she was no longer on call. It was like pulling teeth to get her to talk to the upset uncle rather than page the off-site nursing agency who'd call the uncle back in thirty minutes. The Bible talks about the difference between the "letter of the law and the spirit of the law". Honestly, I'd LOVE to give a seminar for all the doctors who are clients of that answering service explaining that concept!

People can be so self-centered and impatient. On weekends, we coordinate deliveries for several medical service companies. Most of these companies use delivery drivers who cover very large territories. One guy may cover the entire state of Vermont, for instance. Yet, someone in Swanton, on the Quebec border, will be very perturbed that the delivery man, who is now in Brattleboro, not far from Franklin County, Massachusetts, will take over three hours to get to his residence with the medical delivery the caller wants IMMEDIATELY. TRUE STORY: about six months ago, the delivery man for one of these companies was involved in a vehicular accident which totalled the company's van...late on a Saturday afternoon. A family on Cape Cod was waiting for an important medical supply delivery. I informed the family that the van was in a wreck and that "the delivery will have to be made tomorrow". Now, that family really didn't understand that I was working for the answering service; although I tried to explain that. They did not understand that I have no authority with that company to order its drivers and employees around; and neither do my Supervisors have that authority. The caller from Cape Cod informed me that they DID NOT CARE that the man was in a vehicular accident and that the van was wrecked. They DEMANDED their delivery. I called the poor shaken up delivery man on his cell and told him that. He was almost in tears and told he all he could do was deliver the item as soon as he could in his own private vehicle.

Now, I admit, I'm NOT always the most gracious customer. But fourteen months on this job have really mellowed me and I am MUCH less likely to whine if I get a Hazelnut coffee at Dunkin' Donuts when I wanted a French Vanilla or if the guy at the post office gives me a Canadian dime in the change I receive. It gets to the point that you have to realize we're all human. We are certainly to do our best, but we will all make mistakes.

Yup, it's doctors and it's truck drivers...it's waitresses...and it's corporate executives. We all fall short sometimes. We all make mistakes. But I think of that father with the kid with the broken arm. HE made that whole situation worse.
And, speaking of doctors and medical practices, maybe more should give this for a prescription: "TAKE A CHILL PILL"!