Very Bad Reception, Part 11

(I am junior executive of a solicitor company. Despite being one of the top firms in the UK we are also one of the cheapest with a reputation of taking almost any case, despite being no-win/no-fee in order to help out people who usually wouldn’t be able to afford legal aid.)

Receptionist: *over intercom* “Miss [My Name], there is a very strange man here asking for you. Should I call security?”

Me: “No, it’s okay. I’ll come down.”

(I go to the front to see my boyfriend standing there, looking irritated.)

Receptionist: “This man is insisting on talking with you. I told him that he has no business here.”

Me: *to Receptionist* “This is my boyfriend. He’s here to take me to lunch.”

(My boyfriend smirks as we leave. During lunch my boyfriend tells me how rude the receptionist was to him: that she was telling him he had no business there and that he wouldn’t be able to afford legal aid. My boyfriend is in no way scruffily dressed, but we don’t talk to our clients like that, anyway. I decide to talk to receptionist when I return to hear her side of the story. When I return there is an angry looking man standing by the receptionist.)

Receptionist: “I’m sorry, sir, I can’t help you.”

Client: “This is ridiculous. I want to speak to someone in charge.”

Receptionist: “That’s not possible. I’m sorry. You have to leave.”

Me: “[Receptionist], what’s going on?”

Receptionist: “Nothing, this man was just leaving.”

Me: “Okay? Do you want to take lunch now?”

(The receptionist gets up to leave, smirking at the client. When she’s out the door I turn to the client.)

Me: “I am junior partner here. Is there something I can help with?”

Client: “Yes. I can her hoping to make a claim, but that woman said that you don’t help my kind here and that I wouldn’t be able to afford you guys, and that you don’t help tramps. That’s disgusting behavior.”

Me: “I absolutely agree. We’ll have a look at your case for you and determine a course of action. The legal advice is, of course, free for your troubles. We will be having words with our staff shortly, I assure you.”

(It turned out the man had quite an important case that won himself a huge payout and was our biggest case of the year. The receptionist denied everything, but after two more complaints, one from the senior partner’s wife saying that she was called a whore, the receptionist was gone.)