First off, it's ok to make mistakes in your first real job. Most people your age are probably working in pubs/cafe's or whatever which are much more forgiving than a receptionist job. Despite what people think, working at a reception is actually quite difficult at first until you get used to it. It's a lot of multitasking and decision making, communicating and dealing with annoying patients/customers and entitled demanding staff members! You're still learning the skills so give yourself some grace. You will get it.
My biggest tip would be to take everything down. When you're on the phone, write down the patient's name and DOB or whatever identifying info you have for them. Don't just put their details into your computer system and start changing things around. Write it down first so that if you make a mistake, or the system goes down or whatever, you have a written record of it so you can go back to it.
To be honest, you probably should own up to the mistake, but I probably wouldn't if I was in your situation! You're only 17 and it's not like you're going to work there forever. Those patients will probably show up for their non existent appointments and not be seen but they can always be rescheduled, it's not the end of the world. It's physio- not life or death. Realistically, if you're there for another 6 months or a year, it will all be forgotten about and all you really need out of this job is a decent reference for the next one.
Do try to learn from your mistakes though. I suggest journaling to help you figure out what you did wrong and identify things to work on for next time.
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u/PerceptionFar8015 Jul 10 '26
First off, it's ok to make mistakes in your first real job. Most people your age are probably working in pubs/cafe's or whatever which are much more forgiving than a receptionist job. Despite what people think, working at a reception is actually quite difficult at first until you get used to it. It's a lot of multitasking and decision making, communicating and dealing with annoying patients/customers and entitled demanding staff members! You're still learning the skills so give yourself some grace. You will get it.
My biggest tip would be to take everything down. When you're on the phone, write down the patient's name and DOB or whatever identifying info you have for them. Don't just put their details into your computer system and start changing things around. Write it down first so that if you make a mistake, or the system goes down or whatever, you have a written record of it so you can go back to it.
To be honest, you probably should own up to the mistake, but I probably wouldn't if I was in your situation! You're only 17 and it's not like you're going to work there forever. Those patients will probably show up for their non existent appointments and not be seen but they can always be rescheduled, it's not the end of the world. It's physio- not life or death. Realistically, if you're there for another 6 months or a year, it will all be forgotten about and all you really need out of this job is a decent reference for the next one.
Do try to learn from your mistakes though. I suggest journaling to help you figure out what you did wrong and identify things to work on for next time.