So I booted out the luncheon of stroke victims...

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am the “coordinator” and resident media specialist for a number of meeting rooms in a hospital. Today, in come a group of stroke survivors for what amounts to a theraputic luncheon. The physical rehab department runs these things periodically, and they patients get some re-learning of common household skills like using silverware, tables, chairs, etc.

They’re booked in from noon - to - 2:30PM. About 2:15 my coworker glances into the room, and asks me, “Why are those people watching a Clint Eastwood movie?” I don’t know, but so what, let 'em watch.

2:30 passes by, but I didn’t really notice the time til one of the facilities came up to me and said, “When are those people going to be done? It’s 2:45 and there’s another meeting in there at 3”

Yep, he had to clean out and rearrange the room. So I go in and say, “You folks had the rooms booked til 230 and another meeting is scheduled tp start at 3. I’m sorry, I’m gonna have to kick you out.”

The nurse in charge was really pissed… Couldn’t I put the the next group in another room? Well, I could but I needed the tables in THIS room for the meetring, so no. Surely, she said, the other group wouldn’t mind waiting ten minutes or so. I’m sorry, I said.

This was my rationale:
If I have to inconvenience someone, it’ll be the group that’s running late, not the group that’s coming in on schedule. And wouldn’t it look just great if the next group glanced in and saw what they were being held up for. — the last few scenes of Space Cowboys.

However, I’m going to hear about this tomorrow. My boss will say something like, “Jim, Jim, Jim. haven’t we talked before about extraordinary customer service?” Well, I had to piss off somebody. I do have a certain somewhat deserved reputation for abruptness, and there have been three complaints I’m aware of to my boss along the lines of acting “unprofessionally”. Fortunately, in two of the other cases at least, my boss was well aware that, the complainers used the term “unprofessional” when they meant, “unwilling to grant me exceptions from the rules.” The third case was in my second week of smoking cessation, so we wrote it off to a withdrawl symptom.

2

You tell 'em. Time’s up. Get out.
I am more often than not the group that’s coming in and I will not tolerate people in my room when it’s my time.
When the situation is reversed (which is rare), I get out, there and then.

3

You did the right thing. The moviegoers knew the length of the movie, they should have booked the room for more time.

4

If the other group also had patients, then probably kick the first group out (if in fact the 2nd group was actually going to need the tables), but if the 2nd group were all staff, I think stroke patients should be given 10 more minutes to finish the movie.

Hope you don’t get in trouble either way.

5

They had the room booked until 2:30p. Trying to push it later than that was very rude of them, I think. You did the right thing. Extraordinary customer service does not mean making Group 2 wait until the credits roll.

6

Well, it’s not like they wanted “just ten minutes” past the time they booked–they had already had 15 minutes past their alloted time. They wanted 10 minutes past when the next group had booked the room–40 minutes past the time they should have been out!

That’s just being rude on their part.

7

Fuck 'em. They should have booked more time. What were you supposed to do? I use to have a job kinda like that, I adopted this attitude; “Your poor planning is not my crisis.”

8

Frankly, I think the whole “customer service” thing is way overrated.

Room space is a finite thing, as is room time. If they knew their program was going to last x, they should have booked the room for x. No exceptions.

I realize that the nurse was looking after the people in the stroke group, but it’s really unfair to the incoming group to ask them to wait because of the lack of planning on the nurse’s part. Perhaps you can suggest to the nurse that she might want to block off more time next time she needs to schedule a group? That way, she’s covered and no one’s put out.

Robin

9

Who was waiting for the room - Staff or Patients?

10

I have a similar one, “A failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine.”

11

Medical staff, physicians and nurses, and some administrative types thrown in. It’s a regularly scheduled meeting, though to be frank, I don’t know what they meet about. They start at 3:00 PM, and I finish my day at the same time. Which was one reason, to be truthful, that I felt pressure to resolve it quickly, at the ragged edge of my workday when I often feel pressed to do “just one more thing”. If I’m one minute late leaving, I miss the friggin’ shuttle bus to where my car is parked, and have to wait another 20 minutes.

An update, it’s Sunday night and I just returned from the Springfield Dopefest hosted by Tiburon. My boss didn’t come in Friday, but there was an email waiting from her. She said we’d need to talk about this, and that I’d used a poor choice of words in implementing my decision (which she did not criticize). In retrospect, I agree, and she’s a really good boss so we won’t have a big thing over.

I suppise I should apologize for the choice of words, specifically “kick you out”, which is what the nurse was bitching to my co-workers about before I even left on Thursday. I will also tell her that, had she come and talked to me a half-hour earlier, I could have gotten the facilities people up there in time to set up another room. By the time I knew what was happening, there wasn’t enough time left to make other arrangements.

Anyway, I had already arranged to take Monday off, as I knew I’d be driving 6 hours Saturday, partying with Tibs and the others, and driving 6 hours back Sunday. Fortunately, I hooked up with Jane D’oh in Chicago, who split the driving with me and made it a much more pleasant trip.

All this to say, my boss and I won’t actually speak til Tuesday, which is probably better for all concerned.

12

Ahhhhh, didn’t want to miss the bus, eh? Just kidding.

Seriously, my Mom’s currently in the hospital having had a seizure Friday resulting from 2 strokes this year. (Obviously, my vote is going to be biased).

Stroke patients are having a tough time in general & can use all the extra patience & leeway they can get.

If the 2nd group (of Doctors & Staff) were willing to wait -or- use another room (what did they need tables for?), I’d say let the Stroke folks see the end of Space Cowboys. - This assumes that you had the time to wait also, if necessary.

It is definately possible that kicking these folks out of a room sounds worse to me than to others. - If so, nevermind.

Good luck with your boss - JC

13

Surely the doctors and administrators won’t mind waiting an indefinite period of time, standing around doing nothing, practicing their humility, while stroke victims watch the end of a Clint Eastwood violence fest because Nurse Rachet wanted them to learn the difference between 5 shots and 6 shots.

14

I thought we were talking about 10 minutes, & I don’t think space cowboys qualifies as a “violence fest”.