In my experience, receptionists are RUDE...?

Question

I'm not saying ALL are, but every receptionist I've ever met has been rude and bitchy. Any insight as to why?

Well I should've mentioned, since I usually EXPECT that a receptionist will be rude, I try my best to be polite and friendly, yet they still act the same way towards me. So no, it's not MY fault.

oh! oh! I ALSO forgot to mention, I work at a calling center, so I know what it's like to have to deal with rude and impolite people over the phone, but I never treat them the same way, I still treat them nicely.

Answer 1

Well, I'm a receptionist at a lawn & tractor company and I can honestly tell you I have been rude and this is an example:
The other day a lady called wanting to know if she could bring her tractor in. I told her i'd have to have her talk to the service department to better assist her in the details of her tractor. She continued on with a life story of how her tractor had to come in today (we closed in two hours), how her dad had the trailer and that he was leaving for vacation, how he was bringing his lawn mower to her house so that she could mow her lawn and then return it later etc etc. I just needed to transfer her to service to make sure she could bring it in that day. Service was busy so I told her that unfortunately they had other customers and that I would have them call her back. She continued on her story saying she was going outside etc etc. I then said, well if you would like service to call you back I need your information. She preceded to give me the story again and I said, I'm sorry miss I can't tell you the answer to if you can bring your tractor in, I don't know if they have room for it or if they'll even have time to work on it right away. If you would like service to call you back I need your name and phone number. She then went on to well the better have room in that lot back there etc etc. She gave me her information, I checked back with service and gave her a call. When I called her she then gave me the story again when all I had to say was service said you can bring your tractor in we close at 2. Then she went off about that. So .. mean while during this entire conversation I had about 20 other customers calling about various other things which I couldn't ANSWER because she was rambling on. I wasn't try to be short with her but she wasn't' the only one that needed help. It also wasn't necessary to give me her life story, its not that I don't feel her pain that her mower died but I also know that not everyone at my place of work would want to hear the logistics of it.


But, receptionists are probably more then enough irritated. They are running around trying to solve everyone's problems but here's the thing we aren't trained to help everyone. I can't sell a tractor, nor give you information on part we might have in stock, or whether we have time to look at your lawn mower today. So when you call a business and you have been there before get straight to the point. If you need something specific like in my case a lot of customers need parts, your best bet is to admit you need a part and then i can transfer you to someone who can better assist you. If your calling for a hair appointment when the girl answers say I'd like to make an appointment. Instead of telling a life story your more then likely going to be able to get what you really need faster and you don't' have to tie up some girl who's got 4 other phone lines blinking at her.

Another reason could be that which has also happened to me, lets say the business we work for someone has called in with a complaint (for me someones tractor is running properly etc) usually we take the biggest bitching before anybody else does, and we haven't done anything wrong. If there's ever a problem I will get some random guy or girl going on and on about how bad something is, and I try to explain to them I personally can't do anything that I need to know who sold them something ex and they get even more heated.

So as a receptionist I say this, we basically have to handle everything and we don't' know a majority of the answers to your problem. We can tell you directions, we can tell you our business hours, we can also tell you if someone is not in today, but we cant' answer all your problems. People need to learn to be patient and realize just because you called doesn't mean that the people your on hold for aren't busy on the other line or with a customer in the store. People don't just sit around to piss you off and wait 5 minutes to answer the phone. We do our best and just because you might feel like we left you hanging doesn't mean we have. Most try to be friendly as possible but when you've been sitting around for 5-10 hours a day answering peoples questions, getting bitched at, and had to take 100+ messages its possible, when someone goes to rub you the wrong way its easy to do it right back.


Well now that I've written a novel of a post, I'm sorry you feel we're all rude or bitchy, but maybe you need to meet some of us out of work.

Answer 2

Dealing with people all day is hard. Most of them are rude or demanding or demeaning to you, so you start out the conversation defensively because you want to show those people that they can't intimidate you. If you are nice to rude receptionists, they usually turn their attitude around. The problem is that a lot of people are just rude people, including receptionists, and no amount of nice will change that. I think that being a nice person, even if the gesture isn't returned, is good for your own happiness.

Answer 3

Because receptionist positions are entry level positions and attract people from different skill sets. The skill set needed for a good receptionist is not really an entry level type position.

This means that Sally wants to get an easy job out of school and applies for a Receptionist position. She is willing to work for next to nothing and is young and visually acceptable so she is hired. She is not trained nor does she have the experience or skill set to be a receptionist. A receptionist is a business' external face and first impression for customers and other clients. This person must be knowledgable, calm under pressure, diplomatic, and a multi tasker.

Answer 4

I am a receptionist so to speak, I try to be pleasant all the time. When I am not it is probably because-
rude customers (not unnecessarily you)
it is a stressful job at times
really busy
sick of everyone needing something right now
Though it isn't right to take it out on other people, when you are in a bad spot it just happens. If I am rude on the phone it would be because you are the 100th caller and just that lucky:). I am usually never rude though and if I am then I apologize because as I said it isn't right to take it out on others and not professional to take it out on anyone.

Answer 5

I agree w/ Oreo. It doesn't matter what number call you are. It doesn't matter if they get asked the same question all day. That's not YOUR fault. It's their job, they get paid for it & if they don't like it, they can get another job. True, we shouldn't be rude or demanding, as they too, are human beings but all that about how many ppl they deal with all day is bull. When I worked with DirecTv, they told us, "If they are upset, remember they are upset w/ the situation, not you, so don't take it personally". THAT'S how they too should handle it.


Oh, I called my bank a few days ago & the lady was so rude & mean & hung up on me even though I kept saying apologizing for something I didn't even have to apologize for because SHE misunderstood. I talked to her Supervisor & God knows if she got fired because it's completly unacceptable.

Answer 6

1) Well they do have to deal with repeated questions the whole day.

2) Some people dont know how to ask a question.

3) Maybe your approach is wrong. Sometimes we can accidentally sound rude or demanding.

4) The person you talked to might have had a bad day.

Answer 7

Speaking as a receptionist for a very well known large company at the headquarters I can tell you that most of us are trained to weed out repeat callers, call center calls, sales calls and just annoying people in general and we can spot you a mile away. Your probably someone who thinks that just by dialing a phone you can get a CEO on the line anytime, our job is to stop you at the door or pass you off to an Administrative Assistant (who by the way are glorified bouncers, you gotta get through them before you get to the person you really want).

Brutal, I know, but very true.

Answer 8

I used to be a receptionist and I was only sharp to rude people. How do you speak to or interact with the receptionist(s)?

Answer 9

call me! i'm a receptionist, and not only am i friendly, but I have a great Southern accent. Now, if you act like a butt to me, I'm liable to stick my tongue out at the phone, and I have been known to flip off the phone, but all you'll HEAR is my sweet, helpful voice.

Answer 10

The people that come in are rude, they think we know everything in teh company,

This is LITERALLY what they hired us for............

to aNSWER A PHONE, EVERYTHING ELSE, WE JUST KINDA HAVE TO BE THROWN INTO.
(sorry for the caps, the bitton locked)

It's not right, i always have a smile on my face, but I do have to admit, when someone comes in and says, " I'm suposed to fix somethig?"


Quess what no one tells the receptionist whats going on.

We need tp know who your contact is, what you have to fix.

Then they respond " I dont know"


so I have to do MY job, the BOSSES job, and some random handy mans job,
and I was only hired to answer a phone.

And think about this,
I work with a bunch of pharmiseutical SCIENTISTS!!!!

Do you know how to do a fed ex shipping labe?
I click on the company, and click print,
that is it ta da the label is ready to ship.


these SCIENTISTS can't figure out how to do these shipping labels if their life depended on it.


can you imagine how annoying that is

Answer 11

I've found that in my own life, whenever I begin to expect bad things from a certain place or group of people, I act in such a way as to make those expectations come true.