Some people are just irritating

So my soon to be wife works at our local hospital and has an office up near the customer service counter. Yesterday while at work my uncle (who has a very distinct voice and she can hear pretty much everything that goes on at the customer service counter) stops in to talk to the customer service people. He wanted to know if it was possible to change their payment plan with the hospital because right now it’s difficult for them to make ends meet with paying for the cancer treatment my aunt is receiving. They politely hand him a charity care application after telling him that there is really nothing they can for him and send him on his way. After he leaves the conversation she heard was pretty disgusting. I’ll spare most of the details, but it basically boiled down to the 3 women at the customer service desk talking about how they knew my aunt and uncle and how “well off” they are, which I can assure you they are not. And bantering back and forth on whether or not my aunts cancer was terminal. Upon hearing this, my girlfriend stepped out of her office and politely said, “well they are my soon to be in-laws” and upon finishing that statement the first thing out of their mouths was, “is she terminal?” Wouldn’t you maybe ask how she was doing first, or maybe how the family was doing, or if she knew if the treatment was having any effect before just diving into “is she terminal.

After hearing the story yesterday I was irritated to say the least, but again this morning, she got to work to start her day, and one of the ladies walks in her office and blantantly asks if my aunt is terminally ill. I just couldn’t believe it, how inconsiderate can some people be when they are working in a field where they are actually supposed to be helping people all day not bickerinig over whether or not someone is terminally ill.

And just for the record, as far as the family knows right now, my aunt is doing well and the treatments are taking their course.

Sorry for the rant…. blood is just boiling a little after hearing that again this morning.

Gossip……..

Happens pretty much everywhere, every day and concerning anything and everything.

Getting mad will do nothing to stop it.

May as well learn to get used to it.

Hope your aunt and uncle get through the cancer treatments, payments, etc….and eventually are able to get there lives back on track.

My mom committed suicide less than a year ago, so I know all about the gossip that goes along with everything. I just don’t understand where people get any enjoyment out of it.

Zach, you probably should be telling this story to the hospital administrator !!

Glad your aunt is doing well. Cancer sucks. My mom has had lung cancer and I guess if someone would have asked me if it was terminal, I wound not have taken offense to that question. I realize it has alot to do with the context on how the question is asked though. Congrats to your soon to be wife for having your back.

My wife works for a local hospital and I can assure you that there are laws against giving out patient information. Your girlfriend needs to be careful to stay out of that gossip because it could come back on her. My wife has seen more that a few people lose their jobs over HIPAA violations.

Not really a HIPPA violation that I see, although I do know what you are talking about and see what you mean. The only thing she divuldged to them was that, if in fact the cancer had turned terminal, the family didn’t know yet and it wasn’t public knowledge so there would be no reason for them to know about it either. And I know she stays out of it, having an office by this department drives her crazy I can assure you of that.

Sounds like chicks acting like chicks. In this case not very classy chicks but chicks none the less. Chicks.

Wouldn’t it be nice if nobody in the world ever talked about someone else behind their back? Every living person on this earth has done it, and will do it again. It just sucks that they got busted by your soon to be wife, and that you ended up finding out about it.

I don’t mean to be rude, but I’m sure you have talked bad about someone behind their back and if they found out I’m sure they would have been upset also. If not, I apologize, but I have never met someone who hasn’t done it before.

No, you’re right everyone is guilty of it and it happens all the time. I just thought with cancer and as touchy of a subject as that seems to be anyway people would just be a little more considerate after having heard they were future relatives of someone that could obviously overhear their conversation.

Like I said just my rant of the day.

most recently I have become tired of pussyfooting around when somebody is clearly in the wrong. Here’s what I would do, schedule a meeting with the admin, let him/her know what is going on at the front counter, and not leave till you feel satisfied that the problem(s) with customer service will not continue. My experiences are that those 5% of people who do these things bring you down 95%, and I won’t let these thing bother me, I started going right to the source. I have called out a few dumbazzes, strained a few relations, became brutally honest, learned to go directly to the source. My wife hates it when I call her out, but she was warned.

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I have called out a few dumbazzes, strained a few relations, became brutally honest, learned to go directly to the source.

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Are you for hire? I have someone that needs dealing with!

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I have called out a few dumbazzes, strained a few relations, became brutally honest, learned to go directly to the source.

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Are you for hire? I have someone that needs dealing with!

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my cost is one beer, non negotiable

What a crock. They have no business acting like that. I’m also really appalled that they wouldn’t do anything under the assumption that they thought your uncle was well off.

I hope your aunt’s health improves Zach.

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I have called out a few dumbazzes, strained a few relations, became brutally honest, learned to go directly to the source.

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Are you for hire? I have someone that needs dealing with!

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my cost is one beer, non negotiable

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my cost is one beer, non negotiable

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I’ve worked at a rather popular clinic in roch for going on 25 yrs. the #1 quickest way to be shown the door? Gossip about a patient’s health. Better start packing your bags as it won’t be long before security shows up… The #1 thing a medical center owes each and every patient is privacy… If you watch the employment orientation meetings it’s laid out in staright forward black and white.

Really saddens me to see the number of peeps that get walked out because they feel they have the right to intrude into others lives….

Might want to re-check HIIPA a little closer. They may not have a case if the patient finds out and wants to do something. But they’d be lucky to make it that far if a competent manager found out about this. bye, bye, enjoy unemployment.

It’s one of those occurences that should have ZERO tolerance, ZERO…

Could I be any clearer?

Kurt, I see what you’re saying and completely agree that it’s something that shouldn’t be tolerated. Unfortunately as a contracted employee, and the only contracted employee from the company on the site, it’s difficult to handle these types of situations without rocking the boat, no pun intended on this site. Yeah, maybe she could have said something more to the 3 that were discussing this, or could have approached a supervisor, but as someone who is trying to get herself noticed, and make herself a valued employee of the hospital rather than a contracted one, it’s hard, IMO, to involve yourself in something like this. Definitely not the type of attention someone would want to draw to themselves in her position and I completely understand that and support her for her decision to say nothing more than she did.