topic Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy in Community Chat

When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

petepetey — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 18:55:14 GMT

Person ahead of me at the dentist today arrived 20 minutes late..so of course

I had to wait and my appointment was late.

Not only did I wait it was in my cold car. They don't allow people in the waiting room these days.

My daughter had an appt. at the same time as me and got right in. Then she had to sit in the car and wait for me to be done.

Why should the person who arrives on time for a scheduled appointment have to be the one to suffer?

Just a vent. If this happens too often I will find a new dentist.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

qualitygal — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:02:25 GMT

Oh yeah, they should have let you in and then the late person. I'm afraid I'd have raised a stink. I don't usually do that, but, right is right and that wasn't in my book.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Vivian — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:04:12 GMT

That policy was a mistake. Most of my health care professionals' offices have signs that state they have the right to cancel (and charge for) appointments where the patient is more than ten minutes late. That patient who was late should have gone AFTER, if at all. It's bad enough that doctors too often run late, but when you add doctors' schedules to patients' tardiness, you've ruined at least half a day,

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

happycat — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:04:40 GMT

When the person ahead of you was 5 minutes late, they should have called you back, in my opinion. I wouldn't be happy either.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Wsmom — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:13:42 GMT

Agreed. I had the incident where I needed some quick work done, a 20-minute appointment. So they took me back on time, stuck me in the chair and the assistant kept saying he's on his way in. He had an emergency and wasn't. So that 20-minute appoinment was an hour and a half with the repeated "he's on his way in". I did vent my frustration. I said just tell me you are running an hour behind instead of her repeatedly lying to me. I had to pick up DD and instead of frantically getting someone else to do it I could have had it taken care of earlier.

I had a friend who had the incident where they were told they would have to wait in the car and it was going to be a long wait so she said see ya and rescheduled.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Krimpette — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:13:55 GMT

Odd, to me, that a dentist office can afford to wait for a tardy patient to arrive. A few minutes, OK. But 20 minutes???!!! Hope they rethink that practice!

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Jordan2 — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:17:57 GMT

@petepetey the dentist's office made a mistake, they should have taken you first if she or he was more than 5 minutes late. This can throw off the dentist's schedule, unless he was running late already. Your time is valuable.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

CrazyDaisy — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:28:51 GMT

How do you know the person was late and not an emergency they were trying to fit in between appointments. Cannot imagine anyone will discuss the situation with another patient. Next time keep your car running to keep it warm and have good thoughts.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

beckyb1012 — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:30:43 GMT

My dentist has two hygienists but I was actually waiting in the lobby for the dentist on this day. Karen called the patient to see if they were still coming and at that time they were ten min. late. She told them if they still came right over it work because the next appt. was not till later for the hygienist. Person canceled since they had made other plans. 10 min.before she called and still drive time to get there would back up the next appt. if one had been scheduled for sure. Tardiness is my main pet peeve.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

ECBG — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:31:11 GMT

@petepetey

We never know if the person before us is having the same procedure or not, but I would have talked to the office manager before I left. You can still call tomorrow and ask their policy.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Kachina624 — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 19:47:29 GMT

Poor office management. I'd casually mention it to the dentist on my next visit.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

LindaSal — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:26:01 GMT

When I was working my office would always try to take the next patient if the previous one was late. However, you have to realize sometimes there are several hygienists and other doctors that may be working in different operatories. Therefore they are all running on different schedules since only a certain amount of time is allowed for each type of procedure. Not everything always goes as planned and the doctor's have set backs for umpteen reasons, believe me I've lived them all......we had a polite sign in our waiting area that simply stated. "Please understand that we may run late at times and we will give you the same careful attention as soon as possible".

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Sage04 — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:30:53 GMT

@ECBG wrote:
@petepetey

We never know if the person before us is having the same procedure or not, but I would have talked to the office manager before I left. You can still call tomorrow and ask their policy.

@ECBG I agree with you. The person could have been there for a cleaning or someother procedure.

I remember once at my Dr´s office a patient got upset because another patient who came after her was called before her. The worker explained to her that there was more than one Dr at that practice and they weren´t even seeing the same Dr. She was a little embarassed.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

rms1954 — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 20:34:42 GMT

@petepetey wrote:
Person ahead of me at the dentist today arrived 20 minutes late..so of course
I had to wait and my appointment was late.

Not only did I wait it was in my cold car. They don't allow people in the waiting room these days.

My daughter had an appt. at the same time as me and got right in. Then she had to sit in the car and wait for me to be done.

Why should the person who arrives on time for a scheduled appointment have to be the one to suffer?

Just a vent. If this happens too often I will find a new dentist.

So not right. I am sure I would have complained to the desk person and let them know if it were to happebn again, I would walk out and find a new dentist. I think the late person should have been made to wait.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

sann — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 11:55:46 GMT

A few days after I have a dental appointment I receive a survey. If that applies then voice your complaint.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Imaoldhippie — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:02:47 GMT

No need to complain now. You should have voiced your disapproval right then and there. They should have taken you in the late patients place. Not very thoughtful of them.

In fact I would call their office and tell them that you had to wait, etc.

BTW, why did you not turn your car on and turn the heat on? No reason to set in a cold car. Could you have gone to a coffee shop/restaurant and waited?

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

Cakers3 — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 12:59:59 GMT

@petepetey

How do you know that patient was 20 minutes late???

Or are you assuming that since the person arrived after you and was seen before you that the person arrived late.

There could be any reason why a person arriving after you was seen before you.

And even if they took you on time and made that other person wait, there would still have been another patient after that who was not taken in on time.

It doesn't matter why that person was seen before you; the issue is that everyone after that was pushed down on the schedule, not just you.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

CelticCrafter — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 13:05:04 GMT

@Jordan2 wrote:
@petepetey the dentist's office made a mistake, they should have taken you first if she or he was more than 5 minutes late. This can throw off the dentist's schedule, unless he was running late already. Your time is valuable.

Unfortunately the medical profession doesn't think so.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

missy mouse — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 15:25:19 GMT

I was a dental hygienist for 40 years. If my patient was that late, half the appt. time, we would offer to reschedule. If you are late, you have no respect for my time or my next patient. They need to have a plan for late patients and stick to it.

Re: When the person ahead of you arrives late to their appointment.....WHy

petepetey — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 16:05:04 GMT

Why do I know the person before me was late?---I asked the hygenist.

She told me the truth. I appreciate truthfulness in a person.

The person ahead was just getting the routine appt. like me. If you are getting

specialized treatment you are in a different room with the dentist or special asst.

Yes, everyone behind me was being held up too.

That is what irks me about people who run late all the time.

I once dated someone like that and it left scares inside me. I once worked with someone like that too, late almost every day by 10 or more minutes. I then had to do the work of 2 until they got their stuff together enough to show up to work.