Rant for the Day (keep it clean)

[Meerkat]

Ever notice that we are not people when we enter a dr office?

"We have a sprained ankle in room 2"

I walked out of an emergency room with head nurse chasing me down the hall yelling"You have to sign this release!"

Ben

Ben think thats something, we hd one chase the van down the street like a dog.Talk about determined to get that procedure.. That alone should have been a huge warning,but sometimes I am naive.
The stent assenbly line started back up Monday and that was Friday night .

 

[Supervisor42]

I once had a dr. appointment. Had to take time off work to go. Got there, waited and waited. Of course no one had the courtesy to say anything about the wait. Finally I went and asked about my appointment. Dr. wasn't in, at the hospital delivering a baby. WHAT? I took time off work to sit in the waiting room and not one office employee called to let me know in advance or even mentioned it when I got there? So when I asked that, I was the bad guy for questioning them. "This one is having a fit because she has had to wait." I left the dr. office and never went back. There are other doctors in this world.

Well, thank goodness you had an appointment!You could have been in for a long wait without one.
No service = no money.
I hear people complaining a lot about being jerked around by healthcare people.
"The doctor's office just called and told me they have scheduled an appointment that I have to show up for"
That's not how it works. If you need a doctor, you call them.
We consumers, we run this place! If they suck, give them no money!
You would be amazed that they will do what you tell them to do.

I went in for my yearly pit-stop and asked if they had the PSA test on the list (my dad had prostate cancer and the PSA test caught it in time and saved his life).
They said: "no, the doctor didn't authorize it".
My reply: "You are doing the PSA test".
"I'll have to ask the doctor and see if he will authorize it".
Within minutes she was back putting a label on another vial.
Like bankers, they work for us. If they get too uppity, remind them who is boss.
My doctors are very accommidating.
They will do whatever it takes, to get that guy, thahell out of their office.

 

[Meerkat]

Most doctors are ok but it seems I'm a magnet for the other ones at times. But then dr.s have saved my life many times.

 

[zannej]

Going to an appointment and not being seen within a timely manner is one of my pet peeves. Why bother setting an appointment time if you're going to make someone sit in the waiting room for 3 hours or more? I understand if it's a walk-in. What also irritates me is when they make you wait for hours but if you are 20min late they will act like you're the bad guy and cancel or bump your appointment even though the doctor still wouldn't have seen you in that time. I once saw a guy who was on time for his appointment & about 30min past time he said he needed to go outside to get something. He was gone less than 5 min. Clerk called his name & his wife was there saying he just stepped outside. Clerk got a real attitude about it and said she was canceling his appointment. He walked back in less than a minute later and she chewed him out and told him "too bad". He was pretty livid about it, but she was in a separate little room with those glass sliding window things so she shut the window and walked away.

I used to get more agitated about the waiting. Had to actually leave a chiropractic appointment so I wouldn't be late for class back in college bc it was over an hour past my appointment time. I received an apology from the doctor the next time-- there had been an emergency case & they were reducing the fee for the next visit as part of the apology. Most places won't do that. Now they just expect you to wait & don't give a damn what else you have to do.

Meerkat, I've had both good and bad doctors. Worst ones I've had were cardiologists. Of the 3 cardiologists I've had, only one was good. One was meh, and the other is a downright quack who shouldn't be allowed to practice medicine. He has caused the deaths of many patients & his malpractice contributed to my father's death.

Mark, I hope your eye appointment went well. I just took my friend to one today. He's got another one Monday.

My other peeve is dishonest people who accuse others of crimes bc they are petty vindictive a-holes. So, to set this up: when my unlucky friend works for a company that operates at the casino to run the arcade. When he was new there, the boss asked him a few questions about the job performance of a fellow employee (there had been complaints) and the employee was on camera clocking in & then leaving and not returning until hours later & then clocking out just before leaving. Or just sitting in another part of the casino instead of doing his job. Dude got fired. For some reason, the employees who worked in that area at the casino blamed my friend for the guy's firing (they apparently liked him). So they started causing trouble & accusing him of stuff he didn't do and trying to get him fired. They accused him of theft before even though it was their manager who was stealing. Anyway, not only are these people bitter at my friend, they are willing to try to take down other friends of his to get their petty revenge. My friend got a call from his boss while leaving his eye appointment today. Apparently, a large white male went in to the casino after the arcade closed, unlocked the cases & stole ALL of the arcade prizes & carried them all out an unguarded side door. This means the person had a key & had to know the door was unguarded-- however, person was too stupid to realize he left fingerprints all over & that he was on multiple cameras. After robbing the place he changed clothes and came back in to the casino to gamble. Security said he had a Texas ID. But, the employees who hate my friend swear that the robber looks just like my brother (who hasn't been to the casino since October when he helped my friend move some heavy equipment) & that my friend must have given him the keys and put him up to it. Now, I know my friend had nothing to do with it and that it wasn't my brother. Not sure how they know it was a Texas ID but don't know who the person was. If the guy has ever been arrested they'll get him by his prints. I'm not worried about them trying to arrest my brother bc they have proof it was someone else, but I'm worried they will try to implicate my friend in this BS. I just don't understand how some people are so petty that they would try to get someone wrongfully imprisoned. I highly suspect the ones making the accusations are involved in this. It had to be an inside job. There was one other ex-friend who had gone to the casino and fit the description as well, but he didn't know what to unlock, hasn't been allowed at my friend's house in a long time, & didn't have a key. My friend checked to see all his keys are accounted for. So, that leaves casino employees as the culprits. I hope they find whoever did it and leave my friend alone. Still pisses me off that they accused my brother though. He finds it funny, but neither of us find it funny that they accused our friend of conspiracy to rob the place. On a side note, the ex-friend is already under indictment for conspiracy to rob his former workplace. But, he didn't have access to the keys & they are not the kind you can get duplicated at a key kiosk.

Whoever committed the crime knew which door to use, knew the trick to getting some of the keys to work, and had the keys but was too stupid to avoid leaving prints and being on multiple cameras from different angles. The part of me that loves crime shows really wants to play Nancy Drew and figure this out.

 

[Haertig]

Some of you seem to forget, medicine is not first come, first served. You come in with an appointment for an irritated hangnail. The guy after you comes in, no appointment ... a walk-in, with chest pains. Who do you think is going to be seen first, and who is going to have to wait? Medicine is a lot different than the food line at Burger King. A whole string of appointments, one after the other, may get delayed because one person came in earlier for an ear infection, and promptly proceeded to have shortness of breath and fell to the floor. That 15 minute ear infection appointment then turned into a 2 hour ordeal of EKG's, oxygen therapy, an IV, cardiac drug administration, monitoring, and coordination to transport to a hospital and a whole bunch of other stuff that never gets mentioned to you by the doctor when there is enough time for you to finally be seen. And you have the people who come in like clockwork for very minor things, then proceed to talk for hours about every niggly complaint they've had over the last 30 years, expecting you to fix them (when most of them have already fixed themselves, because they were non-issues in the first place). After a day of this, and being whined at and yelled at by the hangnail owner, the doc finally gets to go home at 9:00pm after having missed their kids 7:00pm school play (for the second time that week).

There is usually a very good reason why your appointment was delayed. They're not sitting in a back room playing cards, scheduling appointments they don't intend to keep, and laughing at you out there waiting. And you will never be told what the reason is because of HIPAA privacy laws. If you ask, you will get a coy non-answer, just like if you ask the bank fraud department how they knew your credit card was compromised. You don't think the doctor has a good explanation of why they were late? That's because they aren't allowed, by law, to give you that explanation.

I remember a doctor friend telling me how people would come into the ER because they had a tick on their leg. He'd pull it off with his fingers. Then they'd yell at him for charging so much money for a "stupid tick" (it wasn't the doc charging the money). They were clueless that the stupid thing in the encounter was not the tick. So what he started doing was pulling the tick off with a pair of hemostats instead, and then he'd set the tick in a little medical-looking dish instead of flinging it into the trashcan. He'd pick up the dish, look at it with a magnifying glass, say "Hmmm", flip through the pages of some random book on the shelf, type some things into the computer "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" - the morons were happy then.

 

[Weedygarden]

Some of you seem to forget, medicine is not first come, first served. You come in with an appointment for an irritated hangnail. The guy after you comes in, no appointment ... a walk-in, with chest pains. Who do you think is going to be seen first, and who is going to have to wait? Medicine is a lot different than the food line at Burger King. A whole string of appointments, one after the other, may get delayed because one person came in earlier for an ear infection, and promptly proceeded to have shortness of breath and fell to the floor. That 15 minute ear infection appointment then turned into a 2 hour ordeal of EKG's, oxygen therapy, an IV, cardiac drug administration, monitoring, and coordination to transport to a hospital and a whole bunch of other stuff that never gets mentioned to you by the doctor when there is enough time for you to finally be seen. And you have the people who come in like clockwork for very minor things, then proceed to talk for hours about every niggly complaint they've had over the last 30 years, expecting you to fix them (when most of them have already fixed themselves, because they were non-issues in the first place). After a day of this, and being whined at and yelled at by the hangnail owner, the doc finally gets to go home at 9:00pm after having missed their kids 7:00pm school play (for the second time that week).

There is usually a very good reason why your appointment was delayed. They're not sitting in a back room playing cards, scheduling appointments they don't intend to keep, and laughing at you out there waiting. And you will never be told what the reason is because of HIPAA privacy laws. If you ask, you will get a coy non-answer, just like if you ask the bank fraud department how they knew your credit card was compromised. You don't think the doctor has a good explanation of why they were late? That's because they aren't allowed, by law, to give you that explanation.

I remember a doctor friend telling me how people would come into the ER because they had a tick on their leg. He'd pull it off with his fingers. Then they'd yell at him for charging so much money for a "stupid tick" (it wasn't the doc charging the money). They were clueless that the stupid thing in the encounter was not the tick. So what he started doing was pulling the tick off with a pair of hemostats instead, and then he'd set the tick in a little medical-looking dish instead of flinging it into the trashcan. He'd pick up the dish, look at it with a magnifying glass, say "Hmmm", flip through the pages of some random book on the shelf, type some things into the computer "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy" - the morons were happy then.

I understand that some people's health problems are more important or needy than others. But there is the courtesy of letting someone who arrives on time, or like me, always a little early, know about what is going on.

Another time I went to my doctor's office, an office where I had been a patient for many years. The office manager hands me a clipboard and tells me they want me to fill out the new patient information forms again. WHAT? That was strange. I question it. I hadn't been in for more than a year. Somehow, I found out that the real reason they wanted me to fill out the new patient form again was because they couldn't find my file, so they thought if they made up a lie, that was okay. When I saw my physician, I told her that telling me a lie, rather that the truth, wasn't a good thing.

 

[havasu]

My eye doc is usually on call at the hospital next door for eye emergencies. After sitting there for 3 hours, I went to the counter where they told me that he has been gone for the last 3 hours, and expect him back after a few more hours.

So why didn't they just tell me to go home and/or reschedule, or hand off his patients for the day to one of the 6 other eye docs?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Terri9630]

The cardiologist that did the kids tilt table test was 3 1/2 hrs late. He took his in-laws out for breakfast and "the service was so slow." That was his excuse. He is the only Dr in a 5hr drive with the equipment to do the test or I would have left and gone to someone else.

 

[Supervisor42]

So why didn't they just tell me to go home and/or reschedule, or hand off his patients for the day to one of the 6 other eye docs?

It just doesn't make sense to me.

It makes sense to me. They do that because 'nice' people just let them slide.
They don't want to have to go out and tell people "I'm sorry, we can't do our job".
The "make them beg

" idea is just fine with them instead.
Think about it, when you were working; how many times did you tell people "I can't do my job"?
If it were me, when I returned for my new appointment, I'd hand them a statement from my new eye-doctor and say: "Here! File THIS!".
The loss of patients and income is the only thing that they will understand.
Until then, they RULZ!

(aaand that's just another reason I'm not allowed in California ).

 

[Meerkat]

Dr.s are very busy now between office and hospital it is a very hard time for them.

 

[VThillman]

Dr.s are very busy now between office and hospital it is a very hard time for them.

Dunno what impact the pandemic is having on eye doctors, beyond modifications in the waiting room.

 

[Meerkat]

Dunno what impact the pandemic is having on eye doctors, beyond modifications in the waiting room.

Maybe lots of eye injuries from 'isolation'.

 

[Terri9630]

Dunno what impact the pandemic is having on eye doctors, beyond modifications in the waiting room.

My eye Dr was closed during the last shut down. I don't know about this one since I don't have an apt.

 

[Supervisor42]

Maybe lots of eye injuries from 'isolation'.

Yeah, watching CNN for very long will definitely damage them .

 

[Haertig]

Took my sons car into the Subaru dealership for an oil change and to see why the "check engine" light flashed briefly, it ran a little rough during the flashing, and then things have been normal ever since. I also asked for their opinion on what other maintenance might be required (130,000 miles on the car). Nothing really wrong with the car - just mostly needed an oil change.

They could not find anything in the cars computer dump that mentioned the flashing check engine light incident. But they came up with over $10,000 of miscellaneous other stuff they wanted to repair. On top of that, they recommended "preventative maintenance" of an additional $5000 to replace the engine. I thought oil changes were preventative maintenance, not engine replacements. It should be noted that this car indeed had a previous engine replacement (dealer installed, not 3rd party) 45,000 miles previous. So maybe with Subarus, engine replacements are indeed routine maintenance. An example of their recommendations was to fix the low tire air warning lamp that is currently on. They wanted to replace the battery in the sensor in the tire. A mere $605 for that service. I told them I thought a $3 tire gauge was the more appropriate "fix", and the new engine had a better chance of being installed in their rectum than in the car.

 

[VThillman]

Took my sons car into the Subaru dealership for an oil change and to see why the "check engine" light flashed briefly, it ran a little rough during the flashing, and then things have been normal ever since. I also asked for their opinion on what other maintenance might be required (130,000 miles on the car). Nothing really wrong with the car - just mostly needed an oil change.

They could not find anything in the cars computer dump that mentioned the flashing check engine light incident. But they came up with over $10,000 of miscellaneous other stuff they wanted to repair. On top of that, they recommended "preventative maintenance" of an additional $5000 to replace the engine. I thought oil changes were preventative maintenance, not engine replacements. It should be noted that this car indeed had a previous engine replacement (dealer installed, not 3rd party) 45,000 miles previous. So maybe with Subarus, engine replacements are indeed routine maintenance. An example of their recommendations was to fix the low tire air warning lamp that is currently on. They wanted to replace the battery in the sensor in the tire. A mere $605 for that service. I told them I thought a $3 tire gauge was the more appropriate "fix", and the new engine had a better chance of being installed in their rectum than in the car.

I owned a 2004 Subaru for a few years, bought it at 3 years old and 60K miles. Back then, the Subaru engine still had a reputation in folklore of running forever, just getting noisier. After 3 more years and another 20K miles, the engine had a quite loud knock, possibly piston slap, and I figured it was noisier enough to trade in - for not much.

 

[Supervisor42]

...
They could not find anything in the cars computer dump that mentioned the flashing check engine light incident. But they came up with over $10,000 of miscellaneous other stuff they wanted to repair. On top of that, they recommended "preventative maintenance" of an additional $5000 to replace the engine. I thought oil changes were preventative maintenance, not engine replacements.

Welcome to the "new normal"!
They are not making any money selling new cars so they are leaning really hard on their service department to try to stay afloat.
Most people will take the bait and figure if their $12,000 car needs $15,000 worth of work, they might as well trade it in . They either get the money or the car.
Just be glad it didn't need some of the new "environmentaly-friendly" gas in the A/C that I thought was worthy of it's own thread. It's only $100 a pound. (installation is extra )

 

[Weedygarden]

Welcome to the "new normal"!
They are not making any money selling new cars so they are leaning really hard on their service department to try to stay afloat.
Most people will take the bait and figure if their $12,000 car needs $15,000 worth of work, they might as well trade it in . They either get the money or the car.
Just be glad it didn't need some of the new "environmentaly-friendly" gas in the A/C that I thought was worthy of it's own thread. It's only $100 a pound. (installation is extra )

I think this a common thing for dealerships. I had a starting problem, and it ended up being a bad battery. I was by a Sears store. They checked the battery and said I needed a new one. The battery that I had was only a couple years old, and should have plenty of life in it. I had gotten the battery from the dealership. I called them and they quoted me a price for checking the battery, which Sears had just done for free, and a much higher price for another one of their batteries. Nope. I bought a Sears Die-hard. Is it just women that this happens to? Or do they do this to men as well?

 

[user 55]

There’s a reason they’re called “stealerships”...

I’ve known several people that have stories to tell. I work in parts and I’m still amazed sometimes.

 

[Supervisor42]

I think this a common thing for dealerships. I had a starting problem, and it ended up being a bad battery. I was by a Sears store. They checked the battery and said I needed a new one. The battery that I had was only a couple years old, and should have plenty of life in it. I had gotten the battery from the dealership. I called them and they quoted me a price for checking the battery, which Sears had just done for free, and a much higher price for another one of their batteries. Nope. I bought a Sears Die-hard. Is it just women that this happens to? Or do they do this to men as well?

It happens to us as well, but we hurl it right back at them.
On the last pitstop for the wife's caddy, they said it needed brakes and rotors all the way around and that the rotors couldn't be turned. The pads have squealers on them that make it absolutely no secret when they need to be changed.
I told 'em that I would handle it

.
Her last caddy still had the original rear pads on it when she traded it with 285,000 on the odometer.
She's a very gentle driver.
Best of luck with the Die-Hard, like the AC-Delco, life expectancy is about 3 years. Warranty means nothing. See Consumer Reports tests.
I can't doxx myself, but I can say that if you put a battery in equipment that runs 2 shifts (16 hours a day, 5 days a week) you find out real quick what works, and how long.

 

[Meerkat]

Took my sons car into the Subaru dealership for an oil change and to see why the "check engine" light flashed briefly, it ran a little rough during the flashing, and then things have been normal ever since. I also asked for their opinion on what other maintenance might be required (130,000 miles on the car). Nothing really wrong with the car - just mostly needed an oil change.

They could not find anything in the cars computer dump that mentioned the flashing check engine light incident. But they came up with over $10,000 of miscellaneous other stuff they wanted to repair. On top of that, they recommended "preventative maintenance" of an additional $5000 to replace the engine. I thought oil changes were preventative maintenance, not engine replacements. It should be noted that this car indeed had a previous engine replacement (dealer installed, not 3rd party) 45,000 miles previous. So maybe with Subarus, engine replacements are indeed routine maintenance. An example of their recommendations was to fix the low tire air warning lamp that is currently on. They wanted to replace the battery in the sensor in the tire. A mere $605 for that service. I told them I thought a $3 tire gauge was the more appropriate "fix", and the new engine had a better chance of being installed in their rectum than in the car.

Now you know why hubby does his own repiars although it really hurt him and more pain. But it is still easier than repaiing what many of them do plus paying them to mess it up.
Of course not all of them arerooks but more now a days than a couple decades ago.

 

[VThillman]

I think this a common thing for dealerships. I had a starting problem, and it ended up being a bad battery. I was by a Sears store. They checked the battery and said I needed a new one. The battery that I had was only a couple years old, and should have plenty of life in it. I had gotten the battery from the dealership. I called them and they quoted me a price for checking the battery, which Sears had just done for free, and a much higher price for another one of their batteries. Nope. I bought a Sears Die-hard. Is it just women that this happens to? Or do they do this to men as well?

They "do it" to everybody, unless the target is a known ballbuster.

 

[Meerkat]

It happens to us as well, but we hurl it right back at them.
On the last pitstop for the wife's caddy, they said it needed brakes and rotors all the way around and that the rotors couldn't be turned. The pads have squealers on them that make it absolutely no secret when they need to be changed.
I told 'em that I would handle itView attachment 54860.
Her last caddy still had the original rear pads on it when she traded it with 285,000 on the odometer.
She's a very gentle driver.
Best of luck with the Die-Hard, like the AC-Delco, life expectancy is about 3 years. Warranty means nothing. See Consumer Reports tests.
I can't doxx myself, but I can say that if you put a battery in equipment that runs 2 shifts (16 hours a day, 5 days a week) you find out real quick what works, and how long.

SuperV what is the best batttery?

 

[Supervisor42]

They "do it" to everybody, unless the target is a known ballbuster.

That be me.

I show them my A.S.E. Master Tech certification card and the bogus crap vanishes in a puff of smoke.
They know that over half of their techs will never make Master.
And the ONE guy that can get them in really deep trouble... is me .
Everything instantly turns into "Yes sir, yes sir

".

 

[Haertig]

Yeah, they wanted to replace my battery too. Although it is only two years old, starts the car just fine, even in cold weather, "it tested poor". And a new battery from them was only $235 (for their cheap-ass OEM battery). That was their "closest to reasonable" repair quote by the way ... only about double of what it should have cost.

 

[backlash]

Ok in defense of dealerships here's my story. My battery died. The dealer ran a complete charging system check then replaced the dead battery. My cost $115 total.
My truck started having a problem where all the warning lights came on and it was running terrible. The dealer tested it and couldn't pinpoint the problem. A month later it did it again. They replaced the throttle body and it cost me $100 deductible. They go out of their way to make sure I am happy. I also have horror stories about other dealers so it depends on the dealer

 

[Supervisor42]

SuperV what is the best batttery?

This is a very deep question that could easily consume an entire thread by itself.
I don't want to derail this thread.
Short answer: The best batteries (commercial/industrial) are ones that you will never see in stores.
They are expensive and beg the question: "Do you really need one that good?"
It's easier to list the ones that suck, the ones that suck really bad, and why.
AC Delco: Designed to get a new car off the dealer lot at the lowest price. Nothing more.
Read your new car warranty. It doesn't include 'wear items' like belts, hoses, and the battery.
Everstart: Walmart is indeed the low-price leader. But you get what you pay for. Junk.
Die-Hard: Designed to get you back into the Sears store, where they can make money off of you while they change it.
When Consumer Reports started doing battery tests, most of their tests could not be completed on those, confirming what we guys in the field had known for decades. In all fairness, once the truth was out Sears began improving them... some. They didn't fail as bad the next year.

 

[Meerkat]

This is a very deep question that could easily consume an entire thread by itself.
I don't want to derail this thread.
Short answer: The best batteries (commercial/industrial) are ones that you will never see in stores.
They are expensive and beg the question: "Do you really need one that good?"
It's easier to list the ones that suck, the ones that suck really bad, and why.
AC Delco: Designed to get a new car off the dealer lot at the lowest price. Nothing more.
Read your new car warranty. It doesn't include 'wear items' like belts, hoses, and the battery.
Everstart: Walmart is indeed the low-price leader. But you get what you pay for. Junk.
Die-Hard: Designed to get you back into the Sears store, where they can make money off of you while they change it.
When Consumer Reports started doing battery tests, most of their tests could not be completed on those, confirming what we guys in the field had known for decades. In all fairness, once the truth was out Sears began improving them... some. They didn't fail as bad the next year.

Sure don't want derail and add to my escape goatism..So its the cheap battery for us.

 

[Meerkat]

Come to think about it,how do we derail a rant thread anyway?
If it gets derailed we can just rant abou it,right?

 

[Amish Heart]

Yep. Sounds right to me.