Oh my... stupid people really irk me

Soooo... I was supposed to have a midwife appointment yesterday. Yup, keyword is supposed.

This was going to be the first appointment John came to as well so he could start getting to know the MWs and getting comfortable with them as well. So we planned to meet at home at 3pm and then drive into town for 4pm. I left work at 2:30pm (2 hrs before my normal end of day so I am losing a bit of pay here) and get home at 3pm. We're just about to head out and I decide on a whim to check if there are any messages. There sure is!! >.< There's a message from my midwife group (specifically from the student who is currently doing a placement there) cancelling my appointment. This would normally not bother me because it has happened before.

But they had the courtesy to call me at work in the morning so I wouldn't miss any work!!!

So of course I'm livid because I've now taken time off work, I'm losing pay and I'm sitting at home with no appointment to go to. So I call back and talk to the receptionist who transfers me to the student who's doing the rescheduling. Keep in mind she's a MW student so she is in university and I'm guessing isn't that dumb. Or so I assume. So I'm a bit peeved but try to be nice and explain to her that I just got the message since I was at work and am now home early from work. She doesn't get it and asks, oh great, can you come in tomorrow morning instead?? So I explain to her as patiently as I can that no, I too have clients that I schedule and it takes me at least a few days to juggle my schedule around so that I can attend my own appointments. She doesn't seem to get this. So I asked if she had my work telephone number on file as it seems odd that the MW group could call me at work before to reschedule and that she didn't this time. First she says no... we just have your home phone number and this other number that doesn't seem right. I ask her really? So I ask her to recite the number and sure enough, it's my work number. (So now I'm getting angry). I asked her why she didn't call and she said that the number didn't seem right as it's a different area code. I live in freakin Southern Ontario... of course it's a different area code as where I work and where I live are in different area codes. It happens. So being the dear dimwit, she asks if I can come in over a lunchtime if the morning appointment doesn't work for me. So I once again remind her that I work in one city and live in another and the commute is about 30-45 minutes most days so it would be mathematically impossible for me to take my 60min lunch hour and drive the 30-45min, have a 30 min appointment and drive back to work in time. She didn't seem to get it. At the end of this painful conversation, I ended up rescheduling for next Wednesday (the 11th) but I've since gotten it changed to Monday (9th). In retrospect, all I was looking for was even a small, sincere apology or even acknowledgement of her oversight in not calling me at work. But I didn't get it. So I think that's what put me over the edge. So yes, hormonal, preggo Mary kicked in for a bit and I had a bit of a crying jag - more out of anger than anything else. It's all a matter of principle for me I guess. I'm still angry today because really, it's just poor customer service... so I think I'll let my MW know on Monday that I'm disappointed on how this was handled. It's obviously not her fault but she should know what her administrative support staff are doing (or rather not doing). Gah.

On a good note, we did have our hospital tour yesterday evening... It took longer than I had thought it would. We were there for almost two hours. Got a nice tour of Labour & Delivery and of the Maternity Ward. Got a Reader's Digest version of prenatal classes (why did we bother spending money on those, I'll never remember) and I got a warm fuzzy about the L&D nurses. If most of them are as nice as the RN who gave us the tour, I'll be happy. So apparently the average length of stay in hospital for a normal birth is 48 hours and for c-section is twice that long. What a change eh from even 30 years ago? My mother was saying that she was in the hospital with me for 10 days and I know with my younger brother she was in for about 5. Weird.

After the tour, John and I went out for dinner to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary (it was on the 3rd but he had to work that evening). I had yummy escargots (mmmm I could go for some more right now) and a roastbeef & mushrooms stuffed yorkshire pudding thingy. It was pretty good too.