Irritating Dental Visit

[Asiel]

I was going to suggest the same thing. My doctor is never late, maybe once or twice by ten or fifteen minutes but he always tells me to book his first afternoon appt. works great for us.
If you really like the work the dental assistant does then I would speak to the dentist and tell him that although you love the work she does you just cannot abide with her being late every appt so that your day is ruined. Ask him to speak to her or you will have to go elsewhere. Sounds like he doesn't care if his patients have to wait or he would have spoken to her ages ago.
If she's late for your next appt I would simply tell her to cnacel you and walk out and find someone else.

[Freedom]

Thanks everyone.

I plan to switch to another hygenist in the same office. Will keep this Tues appt and make the switch on the way out as I plan my next 6 month appt.

[cassiesmom]

I think I'd let the practice manager know why I left, since it's lost revenue for the practice for that day because the hygienist was so late.

[wombat2u2004]

Time is money for doctors and dentists, lots of money.
They don't really care if you have to wait or not, so they tend to either overbook or get people onto the premises earlier than required.
It's the same here in Kangarooland.

[Medusa]

Absolutely, positively not were you wrong. The fact that they're handing out free movie passes tells me that they run a sloppy office rather than speak to Jean (and all staff) and make sure that they run on time. This happened to me a few times and my solution was to send my dr. a bill for my wasted time. Of course, they didn't pay but they got the point. And from then on I'd always call and ask "How are you running?" and if they said "15 minutes late" (or whatever), then I'd say "Well, I'll be 15 min. late as well." There's no way I was going to sit there and waste my time. I always did it w/m vet, too, b/c I usually would take more than one cat in at once and it was nerve wracking when they'd start fussing. However, Dr. Lee's office runs smoothly, no waiting, so no worries there.

[wombat2u2004]

I wouldn't go back.
Jean probably realises now that you are questioning her professionalism, or lack thereof.
Next time she gets you in the seat, she'll probably drill a hole in one of your rear molars without any anaesthetic.
I can imagine hearing the whirring of that drill, and watching little bits of your tooth flying everywhere.
Naw....don't go back.

[Cataholic]

I think 5-10 minutes is a reasonable wait time. I would have left, just as you did.

J was in the ER lately. 1.5 hours later, and I approached the nurses station, and said, 'Children's across the street has no waiting right now, I want to have him discharged'. Guess what? A doc was in 5 minutes later. Turns out, they couldn't treat him anyhow...nice bit of triage there, nurses! The doc did apologize, and I was gracious towards him...BUT, 1.5 hours, with a 6 year old? To find out they needed to send him elsewhere?