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Rant over, all sorted!

DiamondAsh

DiamondAsh

Well-Known Member
Messages
641
Location
Walsall
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Disregard for authority. Noise.
All sorted now.. thanks.

I shall heed the timely advise about keeping cool :)
Must remember to B R E A T H E !

On reflection I should have just thanked her and said 'that's all for today, thanks. I can manage from here on in.'
I guess I'll know for next time :)

Over-reaction is me all over ... hence, the Soapbox.

It wouldn't have helped that I was having a cyclothymic flare-up at the time ... no wonder it looks so different in hindsight. Thank goodness I'm not a politician!
 
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Faults on your side too IMHO.
You should have made it clear that you were pre-diabtic. If you are not then she was right with what she said.
Are you pre-diabetic or just thinking that it may happen in the future?
 
catherinecherub said:
Faults on your side too IMHO.
You should have made it clear that you were pre-diabtic. If you are not then she was right with what she said.
Are you pre-diabetic or just thinking that it may happen in the future?
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wE'D already discussed my High Risk... tsk

Yes, If I'd said that I was PreD , it would never have happened.. but I'm not.
It was non of her business . I asked a simple Q and she should have been able to answer it without judgment.
Plus if ANYONE wants to keep tabs on their BG levels they can, and if they have a propensity towards sugar sensitivity etc, they SHOULD.
 
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I think the Bayer rep handled the call badly. Her job is interacting with the public, and she upset a potential customer. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of testing and her company's policies, she should have kept the conversation friendly.

Kate
 
Personally, I thing it is a good idea for people with a family history of Diabetes and an intolerance to sugar to keep an eye on the BG levels. That's all I'm doing.
 
kesun said:
I think the Bayer rep handled the call badly. Her job is interacting with the public, and she upset a potential customer. Regardless of the rights and wrongs of testing and her company's policies, she should have kept the conversation friendly.

Kate
Click to expand...

It sounded friendly to me, she just offered good advice that there's no need to check your BS if you're not diabetic.
 
Unfortunately, many of our interactions, particularly with “professionals”, about our diabetes, are when we are a bit on edge. I count myself into this.

As you tell it, it sounds, to me, like the lady you spoke with might have been trying to replace your meter, which couldn't be made to work in the way you hoped. She may have been taken off guard by your non-diabetic status. She probably ended the call disappointed not to be able to offer you added value, in the form of a new meter. She probably doesn't take too many calls from non-diabteics, and she will be working to company parameters.

My user name describes how I am trying to deal with my diabetes and some of the anxiety it sometimes brings to me. I tell myself, “and breathe”, to avoid the odd verbal disembowelling, which is never a pleasant thing – whichever end of the conversation one is on.

It's not easy. I don't always manage it, but as time moves on, I'm feeling more in control of the whole thing. I hope that happens for you too.
 
Garr said:
It sounded friendly to me, she just offered good advice that there's no need to check your BS if you're not diabetic.
Click to expand...
If I'd given what I thought was friendly and sensible advice to a client, and the client was so upset that she had to vent in an online forum, I'd consider I'd handled the call badly.
 
Garr said:
It sounded friendly to me, she just offered good advice that there's no need to check your BS if you're not diabetic.
Click to expand...
That is a myopic viewpoint... anyone concerned about their glucose levels are allowed to check them if they want.!
Simplz

Plus, not all blood glucose issues are full blown diabetes... that is just usually where they're heading.
 
kesun said:
If I'd given what I thought was friendly and sensible advice to a client, and the client was so upset that she had to vent in an online forum, I'd consider I'd handled the call badly.
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:) I am a bit overly sensitive, I Know that, but she only had to answer my Q... this happens to me such a lot. People take it upon themselves to go that step further and start to counsel me.... there's no need!
I should have been checking my BG levels years ago... I'm just glad that I;m doing it now and not leaving it another minute.
:)
 
If I'd been badgering her for a free meter I'd have understood her going on about it.
I wasn't. I told her I'd got several meters.
:writer:
 
DiamondAsh said:
That is a myopic viewpoint... anyone concerned about their glucose levels are allowed to check them if they want.!
Simplz

Plus, not all blood glucose issues are full blown diabetes... that is just usually where they're heading.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with you and no-one said you shouldn't check them if that's what you want to do. The fact remains that the advice given was good advice.
 
Garr said:
Completely agree with you and no-one said you shouldn't check them if that's what you want to do. The fact remains that the advice given was good advice.
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YES, I don't dispute that ... I never did. but that was not my enquiry! I was asking something about the meter, the hardware!
 
Maybe I misunderstood your post, I thought you were upset because she advised you that there was no need to test if you were not diabetic, if she was failing to answer your question, then that is indeed very poor customer service.
 
DiamondAsh said:
I recently got hold of another monitor but it reads in mg/dl and it reads a lot lower. I emailed Bayer (as it is the Contour) to ask if I could change it to mmol . I've just got a phone call from a lady at Bayer saying it cannot be changed, which I half expected anyway. So I then asked what the margin of error was on the machine (up to 20%) as it reads way lower than any of my other monitors.

She told me that they offer Diabetics free meters. I told her that I wasn't Diabetic (yet)
At this point she must have come over all 'medically qualified' as she asks me 'Why are you testing. You don't need to be testing unless you are diabetic.'

Click to expand...


By your own post you suggest she answered your question at the outset, then went on to enquire further. That is where I feel she tried to help you out (mentioning free meters) because she could not do as you wished (to change the measure).

Whilst telling you you shouldn't be doing something, at your own expense, which is quite legal to do, may have been clumsy and perhaps unneccessary, I still read, from your post, that she was trying to give you added value.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, the lady on the phone wasn't me!
 
AndBreathe said:
By your own post you suggest she answered your question at the outset, then went on to enquire further. That is where I feel she tried to help you out (mentioning free meters) because she could not do as you wished (to change the measure).

Whilst telling you you shouldn't be doing something, at your own expense, which is quite legal to do, may have been clumsy and perhaps unneccessary, I still read, from your post, that she was trying to give you added value.

Just for the avoidance of doubt, the lady on the phone wasn't me!
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very true... but I don't appreciate her poking her nose in where it's not wanted. That's how it felt.
 
Sorry, the Bayer lady didn't stereotype, you asked a question she answered, you asked another question, she said they offered free meters. You told her you weren't diabetic, (I see you put (yet) in brackets,I take it you didn't tell her that).
So any reasonable person would wonder why you are testing. You could have told her to mind her own business and ended the call as she had answered your original question.
Also from your profile you are overweight and you have a family history of diabetes, if this is linked to being overweight rather than testing BS to see if you can continue eating (sorry that's the way it reads for reason for testing), rather than join a forum for a condition you don't have, get away the computer, exercise and diet, that way you will lessen your risk and wouldn't need to test.
 
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