"I phoned the hospital to check ..."

What could be improved: I phoned the hospital to check on an appointment and found the receptionist/ switchboard operator to be most unhelpful and curt. Since they were the first one who answered I expected to be put through to someone else, but unfortunately had to deal with their clipped tones. Having to attend a hospital is a stressful enough thing to do, without having someone who sounds like you're trying their patience when you've only just started speaking. A little training on customer service would be good!