Complaining

I was really upset when I was recently told that I was a complainer. Wow! that home truth really hurt. I never saw myself as a complainer. I only do it when things do not go the way they're supposed to. Take my mother's recent hospital stay as an example. My mum had to be fed her supplement by Ryle's tube. On the second day, she vomited right aftr her feed so I ran out to call the staff nurse who immediately screamed at me " What have you all been feeding her?" Excuse me! I asked her to look around the room to see if there was an food there. anyway after a couple more instances of rudeness I wrote an e-mail to the Director of Communications & Patient Relations. The next day , the nurse noticed that my mum's feet were swollen due to water retention so she said she would tell the doctor about it. One hour later there was a knock on the door and this intern who looked all of 15 years old, pops in and says, " So whats the problem? What are you all complaining about now? " Excuse me!! I was starting to see a trend here...........
I was too stunned by her remark to have a quick retort but my cousin who was in the room asked the houseman in her most sacarstic voice " Are you having a bad day , doctor?"So complaint e-mail #2 was sent that aftenoon.
A couple of days after that I got some feedback from a friend working in the hospital that I had gotten a "reputation" for being a complainer.............wow! I was so hurt since that remark came from an ex-colleague working in the hospital and she said she heard it from another ex-colleague who did not want to come see me because of that!!
Was it wrong of me to have complained about those incidences of rudeness and bad service? I really don;t think so. I think they felt that since I was an ex-staff f the hospital I should have been more forgiving and let things slide. I think as an ex-staff ( a member of the pioneer team that set up the hospital) I have an even bigger responsibility of pointing out things that are not working. Singaporeans have always been accused as being a population of complainers and I really don;t want to be one and then again if we don't say anything we're accused of being an apathetic lot........you just can;t win!