I talked with Mr. X later. I ran into him in the grocery store or might not have ever reached him. I suggested he cut his overhead and buy an answering machine. It might also help him keep the few clients he had left who hadn't been run off by his secretary yet. He told me she was doing much better than when he first hired her.
Medical offices are the worst.
I have a friend who has bad-mouthed a doctor for 15 years. It seems she had a medical crisis and ''his office'' wouldn't help her. She's actually been mad at whoever it was who answered the phone that day, who is probably long gone by now. But that poor old doc is still taking a beating. I guess they went down the sewer along with television sitcoms and talk shows.