Hospital switchboards

[chickenfeet]

I have spent much of the last three days trying to fix up interviews with hospital executives. Since direct line numbers and extensions are rarely easily findable this means going through the main number. I swear every hospital in the province has pretty much the same message about visiting hours and how its not a good idea to visit a patient if you have plague. This is then followed by a 'press x for medical oncology' type message with at least 15 choices before one gets an option to speak to a human or more likely to spell the last name of the person one wants. It is exceptionally tedious.

Needless to say, nine times out of ten, when one does get through, it is only to voicemail.

Comments

[badasstronaut.livejournal.com]

After I started working for one of those places, I discovered there was a pivotal person, a secretary who knew everyone else's secretaries and who was about when and how and why. You have to find that person and give it chocolate.

[chickenfeet2003.livejournal.com]

Which is what I would do if I were dealing with one or two hospitals but finding the chocolate target at, say, Atikokan General, is harder than finding the person I want to interview.