When talking to Student Assistants...

The BBQ Pit
1

This is more of a rant. I like my job as a student assistant at Admissions and Records for my school. The pay is OK, the people are all nice, and i can talk as much as I want as long as I get my work done. It’s an easy job, and is pretty laid back, but there are things that idiots do that annoy me:

  • Do not threaten us over the phone, or act like you’ll do something to us when you’re at the front desk. We dont have to take your abuse, we’ll either hang up on you, or if you are talking to us face to face and get threatening, we’ll call the University Police. (One girl started to get threatening over the phone and in person, she’s not big, and i could take her ass out if she ever threatened me on the streets).

  • On that, we arent here to listen to you yell and scream at us over things we dont have control over. We have policies we have to follow. If you were too stupid to get your graduation application in on time when you knew the deadline was coming up, dont start to get teary eyed and ask if there’s a way to get around it. There isn’t, deal. Also, if you need those transcripts right away because you may get kicked out of your new school because you dont have them, dont start crying to us because 3 - 5 working days isnt fair, and you really need them, and you think we should make an exception for you. You should have requested them months ago (and if this is sudden, it’s not our fault, it’s whoever’s fault it is that overlooked things on your end).

  • Know what you want to ask us before calling or asking for assistance at the front desk. I understand you may forget something, but at least have an idea of what you want us to do for you. We’re here to help, but it gets fucking annoying when we have to run back and forth between the different people and file areas because you cant think of a way to summarize what you really need.

  • Tell us everything you need and dont tell us that you just “have to talk to the graduation evaluators”. They’ll keep asking us to get information out of you first, so you might as well tell us. It’s not like anything you have in your files is private to us.

  • Dont be afraid to tell us what you need when we ask. In fact, tell us everything you need from us. We arent going to go mess around with your records, or tell your social security number to someone else, you’re not at all worth the legal repercussions. We’re the first people you come to, so it’s our job to get that information out of you. Dont insist you need to “just talk to the director” or whatnot, because she’ll just ask us to get that information out of you before she considers talking to you (same with all the other staff).

  • Don’t switch your questions when we take you back off of hold, it just makes us have to go back and ask someone so we can answer you again.

  • Dont sigh at me for putting you on hold. It takes time to get an answer from one of the staff, our office is busy, we arent here to cater specifically to you. If you dont want to be put on hold, you shouldnt be calling us.

  • Dont hang up because you’ve been on hold for a while. It’s rude.

So, be nice to us A&R student assistants. Rude people get talked about among us when they leave. Abusive people get talked about to the entire office (and even next door at Student Information). We are here to help you, that is our job, but we dont have to take abuse from you. I do my job, i’m nice, courteous, and helpful, but idiots make things taxing (although i dont mind ripping on them to my coworkers when they leave).

Where I work we give you private school service at a public university. We actually talk to you face to face with only a counter between us and you. We also answer our phones quickly, so you are getting some damn good service.

So, that’s my job rant. It couldnt be totally perfect, could it?

2

Do you care for the people that come to/call your place with needs, or do you find them annoying?

Do you like being treated like you treat your ‘customers’?

3

It sounds like the people you are helping in your job as student assistant are just like the reat of the customers in the world. Some are rude,unprepared,spoiled,whiny people. Deal. I love my job as student assistant----I get to help people or ignore them as I see fit. Somehow, the rude and surly get far less help than the spoiled, and the unprepared can be toyed with forever.

4

Where the hell did you get that don’t care for people who come in with needs? Wrong, i DO care, in fact, for my job i have to care about what they need. I treat EVERYONE courteously and politely even if they are being rude to me. It is AFTER that i talk about them to my coworkers, in order to vent. I would get written up if i were rude to anyone, even those being rude to me. I’m very nice and patient on the phone and in person. Even those people who dont know what the hell they are asking get helped as best I can, or i have one of the other staff help them out. Perhaps you should have read more carefully (or actually read what I was saying, instead of mouthing off about me treating my customers badly).

Cyn: I understand some people are rude, and I do deal. Dont act like you’ve never complained to your coworkers about a rude person. This was a rant, it’s not like I cant handle my job (sometimes I wish it were a bit more challenging).

5

http://www.customerssuck.com

I should just have this link tattooed on my forehead by now.

6

I do something much more effective than complain about people’s rudeness, although I won’t again attempt to fool you into believing I wouldn’t impotently whine: the next time the rude student or staff approaches my help desk, I take a phone call or leave my desk with a “one second” thrown over my shoulder and busy myself elsewhere. Sometimes I stick around to not understand their question. I look puzzled and yet sincere. The rude leave, eventually, and I get paid irregardless.