Phone Etiquette

Today at work I unwillingly tortured by an unproductive 1hr meeting. The meeting had nothing to do with any work that I do so I was on there verge of tears.

In an effort not to fall asleep I pretended to take notes when what I was actually doing was making a personal "to do" list. Every now and then I would give someone eye contact and then look at someone else and nod my head in agreement not really caring what I was agreeing with.

Once the meeting was over I was surprised by how many things I needed to do and I'm sure had made it on one of my previous "to do" lists that I most likely lost. A few of the necessary things to do was making a few appointments for myself and Lael.

The first appointment was for the eye clinic. I wear glasses for the computer but other than that I am frame free. Lately though, my eyes have been bothering me all the time so age just might be kicking in ya know.

Ahem. Anyway, I dialed the number and this is how the conversation went:

Her: "Hello...." (in a whispered hush)
Me: "Uh....hello?"
Her: "Hello" (in a why the hell are you calling here type of tone)
Me: "Um....yes...is this the Optometry Clinic?"
Her: "Yeah...."
Me: "Oh...ok...I was hoping I could make an eye appointment"
Her: "There are not appointments through December."
Silence while I waited for her to finish the sentence....she didn't.
Me: "Ok...can there not be appointments made after December?"
Her: "No, we can't book out further than 30 days."
Me: "Ok, well can I get an appointment at another facility or base?"
Her: "Yeah, call the number."
Silence again while I wait for her to give me the number....she didn't.
Me: "Do you happen to have the number?"
Her: Grumble Grumble something something

This is wear I proceeded to hang up on her and I'm sure she didn't notice the difference. Seriously, you would have thought I called her at home at 3 in the morning. Customer service is really becoming non-existent.

After this horrible interaction I dared to make yet another phone call to another office to make Lael an appointment and this is how that went.

Him: "Pediatric Appointments, can I help you?"
Me: "Hi, I need to make an appointment for my 5 year old."
Him: "Ok, what's his name?"
Me: "Her name is Lael."
Him: "Oh, sorry, I tried to guess."
Me: "How can you guess something like that, do I sound like I have a boy?"
Him: "Well you sound confident so I figured you had a boy."

Really?? I don't even want to know what he thought a mom of a girl sounded like. Apparently I sound confident and so Lael should be a boy...I think. But she's not. I'm pretty sure she's a girl even though when I ordered her birth certificate is had her listed as a boy. I had to call the hospital and actually argue with the lady that I indeed had been wiping the privates of a girl.
I wonder if they were in cahoots with one another. It's all a big conspiracy....