Hi everyone,
I have been having some issues with my colleagues at work for a while now and I would like to ask for your advice.
I work as a receptionist at a hospital in London. I work at the main reception. My duties include directing people to their appointments and departments, registering blue badges for the disabled parking (spaces are very limited), manning the patient inquiries and the domestic helpdesks, sometimes booking minicabs for staff, booking porters for people going to the clinics. It is very busy and very stressful, with people taking it out on us almost every day.
I feel like I work twice as hard as my colleagues, and that’s not only due to my sense of duty, it’s that they leave me no other choice.
There is a constant flux of people and we have to serve them fast, before long queues form. But you have to actually look at them in order to serve them. My colleagues do not make eye contact, they stare into their screens, something that I cannot do. I can’t ignore a service user in front of me, especially when this is the most important part of my role.
I have two colleagues. One of always shows up at least half an hour later. His shift starts at nine and he comes at nine thirty, but mostly at nine forty. The busiest time of the day is nine to ten. This has been happening every day since I am there, for two years. When he arrives, the first thing is to call his wife and talk to her on the phone, while service users parade in front of him, towards me. If they dare ask him something, he ignores them. He often does personal business from the hospital phone, talking to his bank, to people delivering things to his house, to arrange for his wife’s visa etc. Calls should be coming on his phone for patient inquiries as well as mine, but as the phone is engaged, I have to answer those calls as well. He also says very sexist and racist things, like “all English people are on benefits”, “English people are retarded”. We are both immigrants here. I do not share his opinions and they make me extremely uncomfortable.
The other colleague ignores service users most of the time. He has a tablet in front of him, below the computer and watches his shows. If people wait in front of him, after letting them wait about five minutes, he angrily calls them to him and tells them they need to approach him, that he doesn’t call. He has been working there for a long time and knows many people. There is a procession of his colleagues from other departments every day. They speak so loud that sometimes I can’t hear the service users that I have to deal with, because he is to busy talking to his mates.
As a consequence of their behaviour, most people come to me and I have to deal with twice as many people. Our “team leader” is on sick leave most of the time and when she is there she rarely comes to see us. She has been told before about what my colleagues are doing (not by me) and she just told them not to behave like this, but no action was taken. They blatantly ignore her.
I feel both me and the service users are treated very badly by my colleagues. I guess the right thing would be to approach my colleagues and tell them to change their behaviour. I tried it with one of them. He didn’t speak to me for a week and shot me murderous looks. His attitude got even worse since.
I am also very intimidated to talk to them, because I know they would not listen. I would only create enemies. There is also another dimension to this. I have been moved there from another department and I am not on a permanent contract there. I replaced a person who was fired through their machinations, because she was constantly complaining about them.
The straw that made me write this post is this:
A few days ago, a delivery guy brought some packages for the breast clinic. They were wrapped as presents, I don’t know what was inside. Seeing as it is the breast clinic, I am guessing it was something for the cancer patients, there were too many to be for the staff. We don’t accept anything at the reception, but this delivery guy was very rude and just dropped them in front of us and left. My colleagues stored them behind the reception, until the person they were meant for came to collect them. In the meantime, they stole a few of them. I feel it is my duty to report this, but I feel nothing will be done and I will just be exposed to their revenge.
Thank you for reading so far. What would be your advice?
Fixed the wall of text - EVH
I have been having some issues with my colleagues at work for a while now and I would like to ask for your advice.
I work as a receptionist at a hospital in London. I work at the main reception. My duties include directing people to their appointments and departments, registering blue badges for the disabled parking (spaces are very limited), manning the patient inquiries and the domestic helpdesks, sometimes booking minicabs for staff, booking porters for people going to the clinics. It is very busy and very stressful, with people taking it out on us almost every day.
I feel like I work twice as hard as my colleagues, and that’s not only due to my sense of duty, it’s that they leave me no other choice.
There is a constant flux of people and we have to serve them fast, before long queues form. But you have to actually look at them in order to serve them. My colleagues do not make eye contact, they stare into their screens, something that I cannot do. I can’t ignore a service user in front of me, especially when this is the most important part of my role.
I have two colleagues. One of always shows up at least half an hour later. His shift starts at nine and he comes at nine thirty, but mostly at nine forty. The busiest time of the day is nine to ten. This has been happening every day since I am there, for two years. When he arrives, the first thing is to call his wife and talk to her on the phone, while service users parade in front of him, towards me. If they dare ask him something, he ignores them. He often does personal business from the hospital phone, talking to his bank, to people delivering things to his house, to arrange for his wife’s visa etc. Calls should be coming on his phone for patient inquiries as well as mine, but as the phone is engaged, I have to answer those calls as well. He also says very sexist and racist things, like “all English people are on benefits”, “English people are retarded”. We are both immigrants here. I do not share his opinions and they make me extremely uncomfortable.
The other colleague ignores service users most of the time. He has a tablet in front of him, below the computer and watches his shows. If people wait in front of him, after letting them wait about five minutes, he angrily calls them to him and tells them they need to approach him, that he doesn’t call. He has been working there for a long time and knows many people. There is a procession of his colleagues from other departments every day. They speak so loud that sometimes I can’t hear the service users that I have to deal with, because he is to busy talking to his mates.
As a consequence of their behaviour, most people come to me and I have to deal with twice as many people. Our “team leader” is on sick leave most of the time and when she is there she rarely comes to see us. She has been told before about what my colleagues are doing (not by me) and she just told them not to behave like this, but no action was taken. They blatantly ignore her.
I feel both me and the service users are treated very badly by my colleagues. I guess the right thing would be to approach my colleagues and tell them to change their behaviour. I tried it with one of them. He didn’t speak to me for a week and shot me murderous looks. His attitude got even worse since.
I am also very intimidated to talk to them, because I know they would not listen. I would only create enemies. There is also another dimension to this. I have been moved there from another department and I am not on a permanent contract there. I replaced a person who was fired through their machinations, because she was constantly complaining about them.
The straw that made me write this post is this:
A few days ago, a delivery guy brought some packages for the breast clinic. They were wrapped as presents, I don’t know what was inside. Seeing as it is the breast clinic, I am guessing it was something for the cancer patients, there were too many to be for the staff. We don’t accept anything at the reception, but this delivery guy was very rude and just dropped them in front of us and left. My colleagues stored them behind the reception, until the person they were meant for came to collect them. In the meantime, they stole a few of them. I feel it is my duty to report this, but I feel nothing will be done and I will just be exposed to their revenge.
Thank you for reading so far. What would be your advice?
Fixed the wall of text - EVH
Last edited by a moderator:
