Not all bullies at work are our coworkers, more times than not the bullies we encounter at work are people who come from the outside, like our customers.
Most of the time we have wonderful customers who we love to help, but every once in a while we get one of those, nasty, bully type of customer.
For some reason this type of person feels that they need to push others around and get things done their way. I always wonder when we encounter one of these types of people in our practice, “who is their mother and how did she raise this person that they became such a bully?”
Seriously, I cannot understand how people can be so pushy and nasty in public. When I witness this type of behavior in grown adults I have a hard time getting my mind around how they behave that way.
Not too long ago our office had the honor of dealing with one of these bully types of people. His demands were unreasonable and he was loud and just plain nasty. Our assistant, who is well-trained in handling these types of situations, kindly explained to the man what our policies were.
This person was upset with our billing policies and thought we should just accept what their insurance paid and write off the about that the patient’s insurance company said was due from them, the patient.
This man was so loud; I think every patient and doctor in the office heard him. Why did he think it was necessary to behave this way or that we would buckle under his demands?
The office assistant remained calm and stuck to his guns and again gave him an explanation, but this time also asked if they wanted to keep the appointment because there would be charges involved.
When this man saw that he could not force his way on the assistant he said they wanted to be seen and quieted down. It was amazing how loud and obnoxious this man was and for what?
Apparently, this man thought his methods would cause our office to change its policies. Our office policies are written in stone and the assistant knew the physicians who own the practice would back him. He was able to feel confident when handling this person.
It is very important that your office or place of business have policies that everyone can count on being concrete so there is no wavering and they can be confident and no matter what they will be backed up when upholding them.
Sometimes there are just those people who will try to push the line to get things their way and it is sad to say more times than not they win. Having policies set will help tremendously the next time your office encounters a bully, make sure you have your policies in writing and everyone knows what they are so they can uphold them confidently when needed.
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