During a appointment yesterday with a dental specialist, I noticed a waiting room sign. It said turn off cellphones.
Why?
Because — the sign explained — they are disruptive to others in the waiting room, to the staff, and to the practice.
As I quietly surfed the Web, exchanged emails and responded to TXT messages on my BlackBerry, three nearby waiting room patients spoke loudly and often. At one point, it was hard to concentrate. They weren’t on cellphones.
I felt guilty upon seeing the “no cellphone” sign when my name was finally called — some 30 minutes after my scheduled appointment time.
Which makes the sign silly. First, it’s outdated (cellphones are for more than just talking out loud). Second, you can technically use a cellphone and get things done without bothering anyone. Third, my schedule suffered an inconvenience.
The business failed in its portrayal as a well-run “quiet zone” looking out for all patients and the practice by keeping a lid on annoying chatterboxes. Maybe it was a bad afternoon and things were just off the tracks. Who knows.
When you tell your customers things (even in nicely designed lobby signs), be sure you’re genuine, and it makes sense. Customers notice. And there are plenty of businesses (dentists included) ready to welcome new clients.
photo: Rob Bouden on flickr
2 Comments
April 13, 2008 at 7:04 am
You are a rude person. You are in HIS office not yours. You play by his rules, not yours. I am sure like any other dentist he would be more then happy to loose you as a client as there is a shortage of dentists today and they can pick and choose who they wish to see.
April 13, 2008 at 9:41 am
These are fair points you make, albeit anonymously. In San Diego, there’s no shortage, and dentists actively market themselves through websites and online search tools. Here’s the link to Google:
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=san%20diego%20dentists&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
It’s the beauty of markets and market forces. Customers get to choose.
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