Boy, do I agree with THAT. I once saw a receptionist tell a guy with chest pains to sit down and wait while she got the paperwork completed on a guy with the flu. I had to flag down a nurse to get the 'chest pain' guy seen quickly.
There's a book that's about thirty years old now, written by a physician and called something like "how to be the world's best doctor". One of his highlighted pieces of advice: If you hire a receptionist, watch her like a hawk.
Through the miracle of the internet, here's a link to the book I mentioned.
http://www.galenpress.com/00315a.html
I like the piece of advice he offers in the title, too: the key to being a good physician is to kill as few patients as possible.