Why is it so busy here?

[Slave to the Phone]

Or why is the wait so long?

How many ways can I answer this question without getting fired? Let me start and maybe you all can help.

Its busy because other people are here applying for benefits. (I can't say that's it because there are a shitload of people who want free food.)

Do you see all of those people sitting in the chairs waiting? Its because they got here before you did, so you have to wait for them before you can be seen.

I don't know why everyone came today, but its very busy, please be patient.

Seriously, I try to be patient with everyone. I know that nobody wants to be sitting around for hours to apply for free food/health insurance/cash, but that's just how it is. Don't yell at me because you have been there for over 5 hours. I'm just a lowly Eligibility Worker, I don't make the rules. You seriously are not the only person in the state who wants those things, its not MY fault that you have to wait behind other people to be seen. Its not MY fault that its too hard for you to get out of bed to be here at 6am and be the first in line.

Don't yell at me because you could have done the application online instead of using our kiosks. Had you bothered to look it up online, you would have known that.

Don't yell at me because you didn't know what to bring with you. If you had bothered to use your smart phone to look it up, and yes I see it in your hand, you would have known what was required.

Don't yell at me because I don't speak Arabic or Farsi. I speak English because I live in an English speaking country and I can speak broken Japanese because I learned it when I lived in a Japanese speaking country.

Stops grumbling.

So, what do you folks say when people are upset about the lines or crowds?

[jedimaster91]

Yes, the exam does really take that long. Why? Because I have to rely on your body to do it's thing and that can take awhile even if everything's running normally. If something's abnormal, it takes longer.

No one told you it was going to take this long? That doesn't surprise me. Really unless you work <specific imaging modality>, you don't understand <specific imaging modality>. They think we just wave our magic wands and make results appear. But it appears all our magic wands are broken, so we have to do this the long way.

Lucky you. You're one of the few, the proud, the one who needs images checked before you leave. This can be for one of two reasons: either the exam was ordered that way and we have no choice, or we saw something Really Bad on the pictures that we want a doctor to look at. As luck would have it, all of the doctors are probably at lunch. Which means it's going to take me awhile to find one. And if you have spectacular luck and we need to get ahold of Bipolar Cardiologist, she'll wander down when she's darn good and ready. Really we can't win with her. Either we disturb her and she yells at us, or we let you leave and she yells at us for not calling her. Personally, I don't care if you leave, but if you keel over from a heart attack in the parking lot, I did all I could short of duct taping you to the chair. And my superiors tend to frown on duct taping people to chairs. Spoilsports.

[Argabarga]

I know you can't get in and the lights are out, because there's nobody at the garage right now.

Why? Because it's 3am, only one person works that overnight period from 12 to 6.

Yes, I know there's nobody there, because that somebody who should be there is me and I'm on my way back there right now.

It'll be about 20 minutes

Why? Because I'm 20 minutes away

No, there's no one else I can send, I'm the only one and I'm 20 minutes away

No, I can't "hurry up" I have 20 minutes of driving to do to get there and that includes stopping at red lights and obeying speed limits, even moreso with a car on the back of this truck.

No, I'm not out "Scamming more people", the cops called me for this one, seems this particular fellow got confused and drove up a tree at that last intersection, the 4 or so beers the breathalyzer said he had might have had something to do with it, and when the cops tell me to be somewhere, and you tell me to be somewhere, the nice young men with guns win the argument, every time.

No, nothing's changed since last time, I'm still the only one and still about 20 minutes away

Why? Because every time you call me, I have to pull off the road, answer the phone, then get back on the road, you are literally making this take longer every time you call me.

No, you can't sue me for not getting your car back for an hour, the borough laws actually say I have up to two hours to process your request, I could sit in front of you asleep for an hour and 59 minutes and there would be NOTHING you could do about it, I also have the right to chuck belligerents and not deal with them until I feel "safe" which is when there's more than just me here, which is 6am, don't tempt me to make this worse.

[WishfulSpirit]

Arg benefits offices. Since Hubby is disabled we spend a lot of time there. Fortunately it's close to our new place. We bring books and don't kvetch about the wait, though. Having something to do helps, as does not being hungry. If anybody has to go to one for the first time, here's our survival list:

1. book you've read before and won't get so interested in that you don't hear your number being called, but is still interesting enough to pass time
2. snacks of some type and water. You WILL get hungry or thirsty if you go on a busy day
3. If you have kids with you, something to keep them entertained (preferably something quiet)
4. Jacket. They tend to blast the AC in those places even in mid-october. If you go in winter, dress in layers in case they're being overly zealous (or not zealous enough) with the heat.

[Mr Hero]

One I've been tempted to use at the hotel on a sold out night

Why is everyone sold out?
Me: Good question. What brings you here?
*Response*
Me: You're likely not the only one who's here for that.

[April]

So. Clients of mine.
I am available for you approximately 30-35 hours per week, depending on how many work meetings and trainings I have to go to. I take my lunch at the same time, every day. I hand write a copy of the hours that I will meet with you upon your intake, and stress that I will ONLY meet with you during those hours, and I won't meet with ANYONE of Friday, no matter how much you beg.

So when you, and 7 of your brethren wait until 3 PM on Thursday to meet with me, knowing full well that I have to walk out the door at 430 on the dot, and start crying that there are too many people in front you, and you're going to get a write up? No sympathy, plan ahead. I happened to notice that you were on grounds every day this week and still waited til the last second

[notalwaysright]

Mostly it's not "why are you so busy" it's "IT'S ALWAYS BUSY YOU NEVER HAVE ENOUGH STAFF ARGLKJL!" But yeah.


-We are the only large fabric store for 30 minutes.

-We serve not only our city of 80K, but a major city to the north which has 600k people.

-Corporate has the most strict payroll to sales equation ever, so we aren't allowed to staff properly.

-See that person there? She is well prepared and knows how much she wants of every single fabric. But she has 20 bolts, so it will still take 10-15 minutes for just that one person.

-See that other person? She is not prepared. She has just two fabrics and it will still take 15 minutes because she doesn't know what she's doing. No, I can't tell her to come back when she knows, I have to help her, it's my job.

-See my CW there? She is very sweet, but slow. I can't fix that. She's slow. She will take two or three times longer for one person than I will.

-You came in from about 1-5 PM, our busiest time, or anytime around Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Yup, that's three whole months of craziness.

Some people ask if I have any suggestion on when to shop... I do, yes! We will start holiday hours soon, so I suggest shopping at 8 AM.

[drjonah]

Got that a lot from the elderly when I used to work at Awful-mart. If their routine shopping day happened to fall on a holiday, black friday or the first of the month, they would be completely oblivious to it and complain that it's too busy and the lines are long

[Jay 2K Winger]

Yes, I'm aware you've been waiting about ten minutes for someone to answer your call. This is because you called:

(a) Early on the first day after the weekend, and like everyone else, you appear to have forgotten your password in just two days' time.

(b) To report that [App] was down, just like the last ten calls we've taken. We're aware of the issue and are working to get it corrected.

(c) Just before your shift ends, just like most everyone else, to get the problem you've been dealing with all day fixed so you don't have to deal with it tomorrow.

(d) After regular business hours, when there's only two or three people at ITSD. If something breaks, there WILL be too many calls for us to take all at once.

[bhskittykatt]

I get it, you need towels. It's a big resort and you're in the corner room at the very end. It's going to take a bit longer than five minutes to get those delivered. Yes I know you need to shower. No you have not been waiting over half an hour. I took your first call five minutes ago and the work order log where I put it in agrees with me. Calling me back two minutes later doesn't speed things up; they're already on their way and can only move so fast.

Oh, and bitching at me that you came here for "peace and relaxation" isn't going to get rid of the live music outside or the throngs of people. We do that every Friday night in the summer. We advertise it. When you booked online you even had an option to add tickets to said event to your reservation. There were a lot of indications that we were going to have live music and crowds. And the money those crowds are spending outweighs lone little you who is complaining.

[Android Kaeli]

When I worked at Random Craft Store the best advice I gave to people was this: DON'T COME SHOPPING ON SUNDAYS OR MONDAYS! Why, you ask? Sundays were the first days of the new ad and it was rare to have more then two cashiers all day [yes, seriously we rarely had more then two, MAYBE three, cashiers from open to close]. Mondays were the days when customers came back who didn't want to wait for the non-existent back-up to come up to ring, sometimes these days weren't better.

[XCashier]

Some people ask if I have any suggestion on when to shop... I do, yes! We will start holiday hours soon, so I suggest shopping at 8 AM.

"When is the store not so busy?"
"February."

Seriously.

What I want to say: You're on the same planet with seven billion other people, it stands to reason that more often than not, you will have to wait your turn.

[Trixie]

Why aren't your photos ready yet?

1. You barely finished placing your order and it's not on my screen yet.

2. You came 20 minutes before the promise time.

3. You're at the wrong store.


Why can't you get your photos right now?

See three above, also...

4. I have several orders ahead of you.

5. You have a large order.

6. Your order is complicated, I need time to assemble it.

7. You're an ass and I'm going to make you wait.

Plus many, many more reasons that even I can't predict!

[MoonCat]

First, you did not wait 20 minutes on hold. It was probably more like two. How do I know? Because I've been sitting here 15 minutes without a call, just like everyone else in the dept., and I only had ONE call right before you.

Stop saying you "couldn't get through." You DID get through and you got the same recorded greeting that everyone else gets, which gave you a choice of which button to push based on what you wanted to do. When it gives you the option to leave a message, DO THAT and we'll call you back if you can't be patient enough to wait for a few minutes longer. You will never call our dept. and immediately be connected to a person, it doesn't work that way. There's a recorded greeting for a reason!

It's busy because: It's Monday; or it's the day after a major holiday; or a bunch of people didn't get their paper due to the weather and you're just ONE of them; we are understaffed and they will hire more people when hell freezes over, in other words, never.

Lastly, I've said it before and I'll say it again and again and again: EVERYBODY CAN'T BE FIRST IN LINE!!

[Slave to the Phone]

Thanks everyone, you are sure making me feel better. I've worked retail almost all my life and should be used to the complaints, but it seems as though I'm running into more entitlement whores nowadays.

WishfulSpirit I sure do wish we had more clients like you. Most of the folks we see are not first time customers. They have been to the office often enough to know how it works. I guess those are the people who really get to me. They KNOW what to expect, so why to they complain to me that "Why is it like this every time I'm here? This is ridiculous!!!"?

I finally snapped today. Someone was complaining about how inconvenient the process was and that I should do something. I said in a very calm voice "There is nothing I can do about it. Perhaps you should write to the Governor." He's really lucky that his wife made him sit down and shut up, because Tank was getting ready to turf him.

For anyone here who is going to apply for the first time, read WishfulSpirit's post again. Its going to be a very long wait in uncomfortable chairs, with lots of people crowded in and the AC cranked to the max level.

My office is in Phoenix and I work in long pants, long sleeves and closed shoes with socks. I also have a thick sweater that I usually put on as soon as I step into my cube and only take off when I'm going out for a break.