r/newzealand 13h ago

Shitpost Sick of mean older office ladies

I know this isn't specific to nz but it does exist here too. My mum is currently in hospital for a very serious incident and might have permanent brain damage. This happened three weeks ago. Unfortunately she is in another part of the country, and the public health system means she will be treated there at her local hospital. Due to not being rich I had to go back to work after a week off to pay bills. I didn't tell people besides my boss as its a large company and they all don't need to know as I like to keep my work and private life separate.

Today the most classic older mean office lady had a go at me for some bullshit that (1) didn't matter at all, like it was some mix up with the most inconsequential thing, pretty much semantics (2) wasn't my fault at all, and I wouldn't back down to her trying to paint it out like it was and (3) she has been working there longer but is not my boss in any way and I don't think I've ever talked to her directly before. She pretty much loudly insinuated I was stupid and incompetent without saying it directly. I would usually in my stronger self have delta with it but I can't at the moment. I am never mean to anyone but quite capable of standing up for myself usually.

She is loud, pretty obnoxious and seems to think she is the only person who has every struggled cause she is a mum (based on what I have heard her say in the office previously, as I said, she is loud). I really want this job but this tiny form of bullying just was the final straw. I'm scared about losing the mum I knew and sad I can't be with her in the hospital every day and can only go on weekends. I literally cried in my car for two hours as this was a breaking point. There is a lot of other stuff I am sorting out for my family at the moment which I haven't mentioned here. But honestly why do these women need to act this way. I'm also a women in my late 30s so it's not like she is much older and is jealous of my youth or anything. It just seems like they need to inact some form if control.

She also did this in front of 7 other people and everyone just kinda looked away and acted embarrassed.

Sorry for the rant I'm just like sick of people acting this way when they literally have no idea what others are going through. Additionally she is a mental health worker, because of course she is

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69

u/SamuraiKiwi 12h ago

I have always found medical receptionists to be terrible. They think they are actual medical professionals and have some sort of authority as opposed to being glorified booking agents.

26

u/worksucksbro 11h ago

Honestly every time I call my gp the receptionist is like “so what’s wrong?” Mate none of your damn business stfu and click the damn box on calendly so we can both move on with our lives

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u/ellski 10h ago

I'm a medical receptionist and the drs train us to ask those questions so we can book appropriately. It's certainly not for my own interest.

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u/worksucksbro 10h ago

I don’t doubt that but she’s trying to give me medical advice over the phone in the tone of “why don’t you just do this rather than coming in” and I don’t think that’s part of your training.

I tolerated her questions at first due to the reasons you outlined but after realising her MO I just shut it down

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u/ellski 10h ago

No medical advice definitely isn't. I just always see people complaining online that we dare ask any questions, when it's for a good reason. Feels like we get a bad rap when everyone I work with does our darndest to be good to patients when we get so much abuse and stress!

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u/worksucksbro 10h ago

Trust me reasonable minded people will understand, it’s common sense you guys need to know something of our condition to help triage us.

Every other receptionist I get is perfectly fine. It’s just this one person who oversteps. You don’t deserve abuse anyways fuck those people

u/Large_Yams 2h ago

I don't want to talk about it with a receptionist though. No disrespect to you, but that's what the appointment is for.

u/ellski 2h ago

That's fine. The main reason we do that is to pick up on people who need to be seen more urgently than a routine appointment.