Client Manners: Part 2

It seems that my previous rules suggestions for client manners are being completely ignored have not reached the general public, or were not thorough enough. In light of that, here are a few more suggestions - and reasons to use them - to help everyone have a good experience and prevent arguments/pissed off clinic employees/clients:

1. DO NOT let me get through my whole spiel on the phone and then ask for a business that's not even close to ours, and then argue with me about it. Ex: "Thank you for calling Local Vet Clinic, this is Vet Assistant 1 speaking. How can I help you?" "Uh, is this the DMV?" "...No, this is a vet clinic sir/ma'am." "But the phone book lists you as the DMV." "Yes, they made a clerical error and didn't fix it before the phone books were distributed." "That's false advertisement! Which is illegal!" Etc, etc.

• This does nothing but anger me. I have clearly stated what business we are, and you - on account of being what I refer to as a dumb-dumb - have ignored me a now made an ass out of yourself. Stop wasting my time, and don't accuse me of things that I can't control.

2. When you ask if you can have a refill of a medication that needs A. bloodwork done in order to fill it, or B. an exam because we haven't seen your pet in nearly/over a year, DO NOT get huffy or try to weasel out of it with excuses.

• Your pet's health is at stake here, not to mention we have a legal obligation to see your pet and know that it's getting the correct medication and/or is healthy enough for those meds before giving out refills. This especially goes for medications like heartworm preventative (which an annual test is recommended for so as to not accidentally kill your pet by killing heartworms if they have them) and any medication that needs bloodwork done annually. The bloodwork is to make sure that the levels of the drug in their system is appropriate, it is not our fault the tests can be expensive. Take that one up with the companies that make/run the tests. 

3.  DO NOT bring your pet in for an elective surgery (dental cleanings, fatty mass removals, declawing, etc), sign all the papers, and then ask if you can do a payment plan after we've done the surgery.

• Not having the money is NOT an excuse, especially for an elective surgery. You should have had the money ready to give to us BEFORE setting up the appointment. 
• Yes, we will have you fill out a Care Credit application before we agree to a payment plan, thanks to asswipes people like you that have screwed us in the past by not holding to the agreements. That is the reason for our, "PAYMENT IS REQUIRED AT THE TIME OF SERVICES," plaques in all our exam rooms and the lobby. 
• You wouldn't do this to your doctor, so don't do it to your pet's. 

4. We have an open door policy, so if you want to watch your pet's surgery, you're more than welcome to. However, DO NOT tell us you will be there at 1 pm for the surgeryand then have the audacity to show up an hour and a half late and be angry with us.

• First of all, we don't have set times for each surgery, so by scheduling a time to show up at all, you're putting us in a time crunch. Our method is to make sure we have both doctors each working on a patient during our surgery time, and we usually figure out the best way to make use of our surgery time as we go.
• Getting angry with us because we either did your pet before you got there - since you didn't call us to let us know you would be late AND we couldn't reach you on the number you left, we assumed you weren't going to show - or because we hadn't done your pet yet and now you have to wait a few minutes for us to finish one surgery before starting on the your companion's does nothing but piss us off. NEWS FLASH: Your time is not more valuable than ours, and since we're working with individuals under anesthesia you should be understanding instead of cussing us out. 

5. Please do not yell at the receptionist because you didn't know that your pet was five years overdue for vaccines and we require they all be updated in order for them to board or stay even for just the day.

•  This is required for the safety of not only the other pets in the clinic, but for your pet's health as well. We do not vaccinate simply because we're "money grubbing assholes," you asshole. 

6. Please do not yell at ANY of the staff because you couldn't be bothered to bring Chi-Chi's rabies certificate or any shot records at all. We WILL revaccinate if we don't have the records, simply for the safety of our staff and for your own legal protection.

• Telling us that Local No Kill Shelter did the vaccines isn't going to fly, as we are - literally - NEVER able to reach them and pretty much have to assume you're lying due to the lack of records.

Hopefully this has been helpful in giving us better behaved clients. =]