Some people are so rude

[monkey68]

I just called this morning to the Student Affairs department at a hospital I'm interested in rotating at next year. All I said was that I'm interested in applying for a spot around September, and she gets all huffy on me! She's telling me they're not accepting applications until April, which is fine. They have so much paperwork requirements that it will probably take me that long to get all the things together But there is a nice way to say it, not with the snooty tone of voice she gave me. I understand they probably have a lot of people calling asking the same question, or sending in applications that they're just going to have to send back, but maybe if they just said somewhere on their website that they're not currently accepting applications, to not send anything in until April, they wouldn't be getting so many calls This is the time of year when people are starting to apply for rotations for the 2010-11 school year, and plenty of hospitals are accepting applications now for that time, so I don't see why they had to get so huffy.

 

[agnes!]

It could be a one-time thing or it could be an indication of the general atmosphere of this particular hospital. Maybe the person answering the phone was just having a bad day kwim? The holidays can be hard on folks, just look at all the gift-giving/shopping/ILs/snow-days/stressor-filled posts there are on The DIS this time of year.

Perhaps you could write to the website coordinator and ask that the application information could be prominently placed on the website? The person answering the phone probably doesn't have anything to do with how the website is set up but she has to deal with all the phone calls (and maybe gets the added joy of sending back too-early applications).

agnes!

 

[monkey68]

It could be a one-time thing or it could be an indication of the general atmosphere of this particular hospital. Maybe the person answering the phone was just having a bad day kwim? The holidays can be hard on folks, just look at all the gift-giving/shopping/ILs/snow-days/stressor-filled posts there are on The DIS this time of year.

Perhaps you could write to the website coordinator and ask that the application information could be prominently placed on the website? The person answering the phone probably doesn't have anything to do with how the website is set up but she has to deal with all the phone calls (and maybe gets the added joy of sending back too-early applications).

agnes!

I know you're probably right, but I was a bit taken aback with her snippy, snooty tone after I asked if they were currently accepting applications. The person I spoke to wasn't some secretary answering the phone, I called the number on the site listed as the contact person, which went straight to the student affairs coordinator. So while she doesn't control the website, I believe she can say what she wants on there. Or if she didn;t want to be bothered with phone calls, she could have just as easily listed her email address. Another hospital I'm applying to says they prefer no phone calls, unless they call you first, they want everything to be done by email. Oh well, I'm just going to wait until April then.

 

[kaytieeldr]

The person I spoke to wasn't some secretary answering the phone, I called the number on the site listed as the contact person, which went straight to the student affairs coordinator.

Respectfully, unless the site listed the coordinator's name and the woman identified herself as that person when she answered the phone, you don't know that you were speaking to the official. It would make sense that there would be a Student Affairs Coordinator office; even if it's a one-person department, as I was typing I noticed the title specified nothing about admissions/applications/acceptance - indicating, much more likely than not, that this one person is responsible for answering telephone inquiries from potential participants.

 

[monkey68]

Respectfully, unless the site listed the coordinator's name and the woman identified herself as that person when she answered the phone, you don't know that you were speaking to the official. It would make sense that there would be a Student Affairs Coordinator office; even if it's a one-person department, as I was typing I noticed the title specified nothing about admissions/applications/acceptance - indicating, much more likely than not, that this one person is responsible for answering telephone inquiries from potential participants.

It did list her name as the contact person, and when I called, she did answer as such. So the site said for ex. "Mary Smith, Student Affairs Coordinator" under the contact person, and when I called, she answered "Mary Smith", not "Mary Smith's office".

Anyway, it's not that big a deal, just a rather abrupt start to my morning.