Whenever I see, “a friendly reminder,” somehow, it never sounds that “friendly.” The word itself is a little off-putting.
Unless proven otherwise by the message, I’m going to assume any reminder is meant to be helpful, and therefore friendly, by nature.
Not being a person with permanent, regular appointments always on the calendar, I really do appreciate texts reminding me of a day and hour I’m supposed to show up somewhere.
I’ve learned the hard way, by getting a “Where are you?” call when I forgot about an appointment and I’m not in a place where I can get right down there.
It’s more than embarrassing; it’s a serious devaluation of another person’s time.
The more popular a service provider is, the harder it is to get on their schedule. When you do, you’d better learn to book another appointment right on the spot while you’re there, or else you or your poodles may have to look shaggy for awhile.
But medical services appointments can affect your pocketbook directly, and you’ll be wise to review the policies and pay attention to your schedule.
A “friendly reminder” voicemail from my dentist contains, at the end, a notice that a missed appointment will be fully charged and, if I’m more than 10 minutes late, an additional $25 will be added to my bill.
I have no problem with that; however, when I go—usually arriving a little early—I normally don’t get seen until at least 15 minutes after the scheduled time and I don’t expect to deduct anything from my payment.
And should you need to make a date change, a 24-hour notice before canceling or rescheduling an appointment makes sense. (In one case I’ve seen a 72-hour notice for a medical specialist procedure!)
In the medical arena, client time is inherently not nearly as valuable as the time of a professional.
But where retail goods are provided and services are rendered, the old-fashioned term “customer service” rings differently now in the social media world.
Business reputations are tricky; customers, sometimes “anonymous,” can take someone down in a matter of minutes depending on how fast they can type. Words (frequently misspelled) saying how you look, what you said, and any “feelings” they have about interactions in your establishment.
I’m doing a deeper dive into the Anonymous phenomenon. Just a “friendly” reminder for next time.
Marilyn Stokes was a public school teacher in Fort Worth for 15 years and subsequently worked at KERA public television for four years. She retired after 15 years at Ford Motor Company, Southwest Region.