I recently drove a dear relative to the urologist for some testing. While sitting in the waiting room, I noticed that most of the magazines on the table next to me were men;s magazines. Looking around the room, it appeared that all the waiting patients were men. That made sense given the doctors good reputation with male-related issues.
The office was bright, clean and cheerful. The staff was friendly, though loud. Several times a front-desk conversation distracted me from the Men’s Health Magazine I was perusing. Upon closer observation, I saw that a staff person was speaking to an elderly patient. “He must be hard of hearing,” I thought. That explained why she would talk about personal matters loud enough to be heard from across the room.
There were quite a few older gentlemen in the waiting room, and only one teenager. A staff person standing behind the desk called the young man’s name from across the room, and asked, “Do you have the urge to go yet?” All eyes in the waiting room turned to him. Without an outward sign of embarrassment, he said, “Yes.” Then he stood up and walked toward the front desk.
Now let me ask you this? Was it poor customer service to call out that question in front of everyone? It would be for women. If the same thing happened in a gynecologist’s office, I can guarantee that just about every woman in the room would have considered it rude. Some would be embarrassed, some angry, a few might laugh uncomfortably, and others would be mortified.
Wouldn’t that teenager have preferred the receptionist to call him up to the desk to ask the question privately? Everything else about the experience at this office was exemplary. Maybe the urology office staff just have a better grasp of the male psyche that I do, but my advice would be “when in doubt, don’t shout it out.”
What do you think? How might your company do a better job of respecting the privacy of your customers?
written by Marilyn Suttle on www.WhosYourGladys.com
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