Reader 18
The Busy Front Desk
The front desk at a medical office was unusually busy. Three workers were trying to answer phone calls, check in patients, and organize forms at the same time.
Nina had been answering calls all morning. Every time she finished one call, another one came in. Several patients were also waiting to check in.
When Tom walked in from the back office, Nina looked at him. “I’m starting to fall behind,” she said. “I haven’t finished these forms, and the phone hasn’t stopped ringing.”
Tom looked around the waiting room. “I can pick up the slack for a while. Tell me what needs to be done first.”
Grace, the office manager, handed him a stack of forms. “Please organize these, and then help Nina answer the phones.”
Nina took a slow breath. “Thank you. I was trying to keep up, but the calls kept coming.”
Grace checked the afternoon schedule. “No one should have to carry the whole load alone,” she said. “We need to work as a team when the office gets this busy.”
Tom organized the forms and then sat beside Nina at the front desk. He answered the next call while Nina checked in the waiting patients.
Within twenty minutes, the line was shorter, and the front desk was running smoothly again.
VOCABULARY
Write the words or expressions from the story that are new to you or that you want to review.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Share your thoughts. Use details from the story to support your answers.
What details suggest that Nina is struggling because of competing demands rather than a lack of effort? Explain how the different tasks affect one another.
Tom offers to help, and Grace decides what he should do first. How do their responses work together to turn his offer into effective support?
How does the way the workers divide the tasks support Grace’s statement that no one should “carry the whole load alone”? What evidence at the end suggests that their approach works?
LISTEN
Listen to the recording and respond in complete sentences.
What did the speaker say?
Do you agree or disagree with the speaker? Why?
