The Friday Afternoon Omigods

The BBQ Pit
21

Hey! I’m a government worker and I have to work on Monday.
Not fair.

We also get the last minute in-your-mind emergencies in child support. Payments are issued to a bank account or direct debit card. No, you can’t come down here at 4:15 to pick up a check. Why? See above and the other parent would need to have paid.

I spend a large chunk of client communications dealing with license suspension. Whether you agree with it or not - please let’s not discuss your opinions of it - the fact is in my state you don’t pay your child support you can lose your license (drivers’, barber, realtor, attorneys’, medical - you name it).
It’s not a quick “hey, who can I fuck over today” procedure.
One month without payment we contact you to ask WTF? We also tell you that you could lose your license if you do not pay.
Three months without payments a notice is sent out by our agency noting you have 90 days to pay / get in contact with us.
We are still either in frequent contact with you, again asking WTF? OR (more commonly) we’re trying to find you.
100 days after we send you notice that your license will suspend, the Department of Motor Vehicles sends official notice that your license will be suspended the following Monday.

Guess who gets client after client calling or coming in Friday at 4pm wanting to figure out how not to lose their licenses. Got a job? Got money? No? Bummer.

22

Friday afternoon Omigod?

I work in an aged care facility. At 4:45 I had a call from a horrid aged care consultant demanding to know why I gave a bed to some-one who wasn’t her client. I refrained from reminding the horrid aged care consultant that all of her clients are hard to place for a reason and the last lady she placed at one of our facilities ended up being left on a bed, attended once in twenty-four hours because she was so aggressive and then was transferred to a loony bin. Hung up from horrid aged care consultant and picked up phone to weird ass person who keeps demanding a bed for her father. She doesn’t know that after the first couple of phone calls, hell would freeze over before we placed her father with us ( that and the fact that my friend in the legal world tells me she’s a medical negligence lawyer). Weird ass person starts to yell at me, asking why if we are extra services, her father can’t have a private nurse and then: JUST GET ME A BED AND WE WILL NEGOTIATE THE LEVEL OF CARE LATER. At 4:59 I have an evil brainwave and pass her the horrid aged care consultant’s number. Fuck it. They deserve each other.

23

That doesn’t make any sense. Columbus isn’t even in Pennsylvania. What, do you commute all the way to Ohio?

24

In spirit. For about 5 minutes. Then I turn over and go back to sleep until noon.

25

That’s PA state workers for you. Always willing to go the extra mile… :smiley:

26

Ah, since I started working recently in a call center for an agency that offers, among other things, bankruptcy pre-filing and pre-discharge certifications, I must admit I am astounded by how much people procrastinate.

Our lines are flooded, not just on Friday, but daily, with calls from people who insist OMG! they have to get their certificates sent to their attorney ASAP because their court hearing is today. They do this without having any clear idea whatsoever of the process involved in getting said certificate. Like they didn’t bother calling up and asking what they would need to do until the day of their bankruptcy hearing.

And when you tell them that it will take between and hour and an hour and a half on the telephone, they lose their shit. I’m sorry your poor planning has resulted in this inconvenience, really I am. Maybe next time you might try asking ahead of time.*

*There is a slight possibility the attorney is to be blamed in these cases. They seem to wait until the last minute to even mention the certificate, and usually tell them something like, ‘‘Call this number, it will take 15 minutes.’’

No. No, it will not.

27

Heh, that reminds me of the time I got bitched out by a customer because our office had been closed the previous day. I told him that it was for Patriot’s Day.

after a brief pause I got this,

“What the hell is wrong with you people?! Your fucking football team finally wins the Super Bowl so you make it a state holiday?!”

I told him to review his American History, specifically the Revolutionary war and Lexington and Concord.

He never did apologize for being a dick.

28

I had a professor in college who was thrilled when it was Patriot’s Day because he was from Boston. No one knew what the hell he was talking about and he couldn’t seem to understand why his students in upstate NY weren’t as thrilled as he was.

The moral of the story: No one else gives a shit about a holiday that only happens in one state and expecting the rest of the country to care makes you an ass hole, not the person that doesn’t understand.

29

In Illinois they celebrate Casimir Pulaski Day, and all Chicago city offices are closed. I forgot this once (since it is not a Federal holiday) and went to City Hall to pay my property taxes. I was not amused, since it meant a second trip, but at least I wasn’t late paying my taxes, since they had extended the payment deadline because of the holiday.

30

Let me explain a little further. Here’s the hypothetical situation. Person “A” is the EBT cardholder and needs some $ for drugs, could care less about food. Person A sells their card value every month to one of several people. Maybe they know person "B’ who is a neighbor. Person B holds their card with the pin, checks the card value over the phone to make sure the food stamps are on it, gives A the agreed upon value, then goes food shopping with the card, comes home and RETURNS the card to person A.

Person A got their cash, person B got more food for less money. A lot of times this arrangement is on an ongoing basis. Occasionally someone gets burned an an ass whooping ensues.

I lived in the hood and this happens all the time.
People also sell their kids social security #‘s at tax time for refund money. Another hypothetical: If I have no kids and want to claim one, I just “buy” a SS # from someone that doesn’t claim their child. I then claim that child as a dependant. That too happens all the time. I then give the mother about $400-500.
Damn don’ tell me you guys are that naive? :smack:

31

Wow. Obviously my short 7 sentance post gave enough information to make you positive that I am an asshole. Let me elaborate.

I am totally aware that the holiday is very specific to certain states (and why). His tone of voice (think screeching harpy), and the assumption that people in Massachusetts are so pathetic that they need to make a state holiday for a stupid super bowl win, was what bothered me.

When someone mentions a holiday that I don’t recognize, my first reaction is to find out what they are talking about. Not make stupid assumptions like his. I realize that not everyone is interested in learning about things they don’t understand. But, acting like a dick (which he was) is totally unnecessary.

There are many different excuses for being rude to a customer service person. Yelling at them and insulting their entire state because that person’s company happened to close for a state holiday is not a good reason. Hell, if the company president wanted to close for Talk Like a Pirate Day, that’s his own damn business and his employees do not deserve to be yelled at or sworn at because of it.
Now, I don’t expect him or anyone else to care about Patriot’s Day. To be honest, I don’t really care about it either. That job was the only time in my life (since I got out of school), that I even had the day off. And actually, now that I also live in Upstate New York, I’m kinda glad to not have the holiday any more, because I’m finally positive what day my taxes will be due. Most companies don’t recognize it. But, I don’t expect someone to treat me like shit just because they made a stupid assumption.

This is how the conversation should have gone:

Him: Why were you closed yesterday?
Me: We closed for Patriot’s Day.
Him: What the heck is Patriot’s Day?
Me: It’s a state holiday in Massachusetts. It is for remembering the battles of Lexington and Concord - during the revolutionary war.
Him: Oh, well I don’t think that a national company should close for a state holiday. Your customers need you to be available during regular business hours.
Me: I’m sorry you feel that way sir. I’ll be happy to pass that along to the company president. Now, what can I help you with?

Instead, I got this:
Him: Why were you closed yesterday?! I had an emergency!! I needed to talk to someone! You weren’t there!
Me: We were closed for Patriot’s day. It’s a state holiday in Massachusetts.
Him: “What the hell is wrong with you people?! Your fucking football team finally wins the Super Bowl so you make it a state holiday?!”
Me: Sir, the holiday is not about football. It’s about the revolutionary war. If you’re interested in learing about it, I would recommend reading about the battles of Lexington and Concord - which happened in Massachusetts. (This was not said in a condescending tone. Think Librarian making a suggestion about a book - conversational like)
Him: Oh

Once he knew why we were closed, and that it wasn’t for some stupid football team, he became calm and almost pleasant. And he finally told me why he called. But again, he never did apologize for making a stupid assumption, yelling, and swearing at me. The fact that he did calm down tells me that I handled the situation correctly.

And for the record, I never raised my voice or acted rudely to him. My boss heard my end of the conversation (and by that was able to figure out what was going on). He said I handled it well.

Oh, and Massachusetts recognizes Columbus Day also.

32

I guess I was a little harsh in my response (it was obviously colored by my moron professor, who was a great guy on every other day), but very little of that came across in your post.

And for the record, I still side with the caller. He wasn’t a dick and it’s moronic for a representative of a national company to tell a caller they were closed for a state holiday. You should have said the office was closed and that you were sorry for the inconvenience. No more no less.

33

Good Lord. I remember going to the public library to pick up a book I needed for a paper (the university library didn’t have it because it was a children’s book) and standing dumbstruck in front of the “Closed in Honor of Pulaski Day” sign. “WHAT THE FUCK IS PULASKI DAY?!” I shouted out loud, to the amusement of many a passer-by. I was extremely pissed because I’d gotten up extra early to get to the library before class (it was an hour round-trip by bus) and because the paper was due that week. (In my defense I’d ordered it long ago through interlibrary loans but the process was taking way longer than they’d said it would.)

Hooray for random state holidays.

34

We all have Monday off for Thanksgiving Day. :smiley:

35

Except for the part where he screamed at her, swore at her, and insulted her state.

I see. Not explaining the origin of an inconvenience is considered good customer service now.

36

It’s not just government work that gets this. Up until a few months ago, I worked for a bulk mailer doing, among other things, personalized letters. You’d be amazed how many clients would give us a 10,000 name mailing list at noon and expect it to be mailed the same day or worse, approve a personalized letter at noon and expect us to print and mail them the same day. Some of the mailing lists were in pretty bad shape, too, and in order to qualify for discount mail rates the addresses have to be standardized to meet the US Postal Service’s requirements, including 9 digit ZIP codes. What’s worse is our customer service reps would not take, “That’s not physically possible in the time we have” for an answer.

This is why I now work for a major financial institution and will also enjoy having Monday off. : Puts feet up and relaxes:

37

Lol, that would have gone over well. I can hear it in my head now…

Him: Why were you closed yesterday?! I had an emergency!! I needed to talk to someone! You weren’t there!
Me: we were closed yesterday, I’m sorry for the inconvenience.
Him: I KNOW YOU WERE CLOSED YOU IDIOT! I ASKED YOU WHY!
One thing that people working with National or International companies will have to learn is that sometimes one company will be closed and the other wont.

When I worked for this company, we had offices and factories in 6 different states and 2 different countries.

When we were closed for Thanksgiving (day) our factory in Canada was open. No one up there cared because their customers didn’t rely on us. Canada had it’s own CSR’s. When the factory was closed for Thanksgiving (one day) we were open and our customers were PISSED that we would have the nerve to give them Thanksgiving off. After all, what if someone in America had a REAL EMERGENCY! I wanted to tell them to grow the fuck up but I restrained myself.
When I tried to call a customer on the day after Christmas and they didn’t answer, I was minorly annoyed but then I realized that some companies actually give their employees the day off. When she came back I told her she was lucky to have two days off. She laughed and said they had no choice but to close the office. She was the only office worker and no one else knew how to cover the phones or do the billing. She was British and told them when she was hired that she WOULD take every Boxing Day off. Then she had to explain the holiday to them.
When we closed for Patriot’s Day, all our other locations were open. Some of them would occasionally close for their own state holidays.
When our customers were closed for Veteran’s Day, we were working. I felt we should have swapped the two but no one else agreed with me. I even tried sending an e-mail to the company president explaining that he was giving us all a holiday off that most of us didn’t even care about and quite a few didn’t even know the origins of. I also explained that almost every one of us was either raised by at least one Veteran or was one themselves. And I explained that our customer’s were being inconvenienced by our being closed. He told me no.

I wanted to go to the bank tomorrow. But, they’re not going to be open so I had to spend 30 minutes waiting in line yesterday, just to depoist my paycheck. I am kind of irritated that they’ll be closed but that’s because I have my own little grudge against Columbus (the man, not the holiday). But, I wont be calling them on Tuesday to bitch them out for it. I

Working when other people are not is a nevessary evil of life and we’re all gonna just have to get the fuck over it and stop being so self centered to think that if we’re working then every other American should be too.

38

We close everything here for Boxing Day, too. I personally don’t work on Remembrance Day either (your Veteran’s Day) as a personal choice, whether it is or isn’t a stat holiday.

39

The company I work for is in the international shipping business. I get a LOT of emergency calls in the late afternoon from people in California who have just now gotten back from lunch and realize OMG, you have to get me a booking for a shipment to Xingang RIGHT NOW for out-of gauge cargo.

On the other side of the coin, come Monday morning we have a ton of emails from our customers in the middle east who were not working Friday, but were working Saturday and Sunday. Occasionally, we will get 10 emails from someone there who berates us with increasing urgency to do something.

The cake was taken by a semi-clueless person from France who wanted to be exempt from a deadline because “everybody knows people here all go on vacation in August, we shouldn’t have to be held to that deadline.” Right. And Muslims don’t have to meet deadlines during Ramadan, nor Jews at Yom Kippur, nor Catholics on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday. You were told on August 5 that the offer was good for 20 days, and you wonder on September 15 why you didn’t get what you wanted.

40

I’m guessing, though, that if people call on Monday they get either a busy signal or a recorded message that says something to the effect of “We are experiencing an unusually high volume of calls. Please place your call later at a more convenient time.”