Applying for government assistance is a process and usually involves waiting in line and rather lengthy application interview.
Many of our clients are patient and understand that they will be spending at least half a day to apply, but there are some who are not. For the most part, they don't work and don't have anything else to do, but they are far too special to waste their time getting their food stamps/cash/medical processed.
Some of the specialist ones will get impatient after 10 minutes and start asking other workers to check on us and see how much longer it will be. This tends to annoy me, so after someone interrupts me while I am working on the case, i will call my client back, explain that I was interrupted and forgot some details, so we need to go over it again to be sure that i get it right. We then spend 5-10 minutes going over the details again before i restart work. (I haven't really forgotten anything, I am just annoyed enough to be petty.)
Some people figure it out, most don't.
Today, I had someone do this to me FOUR times and then complain to the office manager that she needed a new worker because I was taking too long. It took the office manager almost 20 minutes trying to get the client to understand that yes, being interrupted while working can make someone lose their train of thought and need to refresh their memory about dates and details.
Of course, I wasn't doing anything during this time but standing around in plain sight (well, quietly chatting with co-workers, but in plain sight) waiting to know what I was going to do.
When the client finally seemed to understand that people who worked needed to be able to maintain their focus without interruptions because these can cost time, it was agreed that I would finish up. Time now...2 hours 20 minutes. Normal time for a case like her's would be about 45 minutes.
So, I went back to my desk, called her and said "I'm sorry, that rather lengthy interruption made me forget what you said about X, Y and Z. Can we go over that again?".
For some reason, this caused her to throw the phone receiver at the floor and run out the door screaming very rude words.
Shame her interview wasn't completed, she's going to have to start all over when she comes back.
Many of our clients are patient and understand that they will be spending at least half a day to apply, but there are some who are not. For the most part, they don't work and don't have anything else to do, but they are far too special to waste their time getting their food stamps/cash/medical processed.
Some of the specialist ones will get impatient after 10 minutes and start asking other workers to check on us and see how much longer it will be. This tends to annoy me, so after someone interrupts me while I am working on the case, i will call my client back, explain that I was interrupted and forgot some details, so we need to go over it again to be sure that i get it right. We then spend 5-10 minutes going over the details again before i restart work. (I haven't really forgotten anything, I am just annoyed enough to be petty.)
Some people figure it out, most don't.
Today, I had someone do this to me FOUR times and then complain to the office manager that she needed a new worker because I was taking too long. It took the office manager almost 20 minutes trying to get the client to understand that yes, being interrupted while working can make someone lose their train of thought and need to refresh their memory about dates and details.
Of course, I wasn't doing anything during this time but standing around in plain sight (well, quietly chatting with co-workers, but in plain sight) waiting to know what I was going to do.
When the client finally seemed to understand that people who worked needed to be able to maintain their focus without interruptions because these can cost time, it was agreed that I would finish up. Time now...2 hours 20 minutes. Normal time for a case like her's would be about 45 minutes.
So, I went back to my desk, called her and said "I'm sorry, that rather lengthy interruption made me forget what you said about X, Y and Z. Can we go over that again?".
For some reason, this caused her to throw the phone receiver at the floor and run out the door screaming very rude words.
Shame her interview wasn't completed, she's going to have to start all over when she comes back.
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