Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I'm approaching retirement, but have no enthusiasm for it just yet, and have developed a couple of chronic issues which require regular hospital appointments.
THE PROBLEM: I work a non-traditional schedule -- Four ten and one-half hour days; 6:45 PM to 5:15 AM; just about the worst possible arrangement for an activity that wants to schedule Monday-Friday, 8-to-5.
A few departments have been understanding and placed a "don't call before 2PM" advisory on my file. But the word doesn't always get around, and yesterday morning at 10 AM, after I had slept for only three hours, I got a call from a bouncy, perky, goody two-shoes about a minor issue. People, especially the younger ones, just don't recognize how hard it can be for a mature person to go back to sleep once the sun is up.
It's just the old "Take two aspirin and call me in the morning" attitude -- with a new twist.
Most of the time I do, but there are occasions when the channel has to be kept open for other matters; it's the totally unnecessary calls that can be a problem.
In addition, some of the departments and personnel involved have a policy of finishing early in the afternoon. Evening hours would be helpful but the health-care world is strongly "geared" to daylight hours, and often doesn't recognize that some of us can't be.
I wonder how they'd like it if police and fire protection wasn't available after 5 PM?
If you are a computer geeky type person, you could probably get one of those phone answering systems - press 1 for this, press 2 for that, etc. And those can be installed on a personal computer. Might need the addition of a circuit board for the phone connection.
Then you could program it to notify the caller that you are a day sleeper - to call back at a certain time if it can wait - or to press 1 to leave a message - press 2 if it is urgent and then need to get ahold of you now. Then the computer could make a noise to alert you to answer the phone.
These are a bit complex to set-up, but shouldn't be too expensive for a simple one telephone line system.
I agree OP! No matter how many times I tell doctors, friends, etc, my abnormal yet unavoidable sleep schedule is constantly disrespected and disregarded.
geez....unplug the da**ed thing and be done with it! It should default to voicemail and you can process it from when you wake up! I wouldn't "lose sleep" over it
If you are a computer geeky type person, you could probably get one of those phone answering systems - press 1 for this, press 2 for that, etc. And those can be installed on a personal computer. Might need the addition of a circuit board for the phone connection.
Then you could program it to notify the caller that you are a day sleeper - to call back at a certain time if it can wait - or to press 1 to leave a message - press 2 if it is urgent and then need to get ahold of you now. Then the computer could make a noise to alert you to answer the phone.
These are a bit complex to set-up, but shouldn't be too expensive for a simple one telephone line system.
^^^^
Not Good
Most people don't bother to listen to the menu and just hit whatever until someone answers. I work inbound sales for various companies, they give clear menu options at the beginning for NEW ORDERS press one, for customer service, 2 etc, people press ONE everytime then start babbling at me about how their new wonder-gizmo didn't work, and it takes several minutes before I can get a word in edgewise they have the WRONG dept and no, I can't transfer them, they need to call CS at XXX-XXX-XXXX and they keep interrupting that, insisting I listen to their tale of woe, then, I get written up for long talk time with no sale, when they weren't calling to make a purchase. I'm not the gripe line! But, alas, no one LISTENS anymore
Trust me, if they have a phone number, they will call it, just to get somebody. I know what you mean a "silly Sally" type caller that just gushes as they tell you all about some nonsense.........
another caveat....be careful what numbers you give out to doctors, dentists, etc. They ask for a number to cal in case of emergency, and I used to think that was if you passed out in the office, etc, they needed to notify someone. Perhaps....but they just go through all the numbers you put down for any
Most of the time I do, but there are occasions when the channel has to be kept open for other matters; it's the totally unnecessary calls that can be a problem.
In addition, some of the departments and personnel involved have a policy of finishing early in the afternoon. Evening hours would be helpful but the health-care world is strongly "geared" to daylight hours, and often doesn't recognize that some of us can't be.
I wonder how they'd like it if police and fire protection wasn't available after 5 PM?
Last I checked hospital ED's were open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.....just like police and fire departments...
So sorry the "health care world" is "geared" to daylight unlike of course banking, insurance, law offices etc that are all open 24 hours for your convenience right??
95% of the world operates on "daylight" hours it is not incumbent on the rest of the world to know when you are sleeping. As has been noted it is 2015, there are plenty of phone options that do not include having to let it ring while you are sleeping.
I worked overnights for years when I first started in healthcare, I never expected the rest of the world to bend over backwards to accommodate my non traditional schedule.
OP, it should be relatively simple to allow only certain nominated numbers to call you during your sleeping hours for emergencies.
Quote:
they give clear menu options at the beginning for NEW ORDERS press one, for customer service, 2 etc, people press ONE everytime
The problem there is they have the menu the wrong way round. A direct line to you should be at the end of the list, not the beginning. ONE should go to a number that just rings and rings. You should also be able to say to them "Please hold" and put them on hold - for a long time. Then get back and tell them they have selected the wrong option and to please try calling again and select the right option. Failing that, simply say "One moment while I transfer you" then cut them off.
Last I checked hospital ED's were open 24 hours a day 365 days a year.....just like police and fire departments...
So sorry the "health care world" is "geared" to daylight unlike of course banking, insurance, law offices etc that are all open 24 hours for your convenience right??
95% of the world operates on "daylight" hours it is not incumbent on the rest of the world to know when you are sleeping. As has been noted it is 2015, there are plenty of phone options that do not include having to let it ring while you are sleeping.
I worked overnights for years when I first started in healthcare, I never expected the rest of the world to bend over backwards to accommodate my non traditional schedule.
If you read the OP's post, you will see that she is talking about people who should KNOW that she is asleep. She is not talking about "the rest of the world."
I don't think asking people to call at later hours is in any way asking "the world" to "bend over backwards."
I actually think its the least amount of respect they could show and aint much to ask at all!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
