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Why I Hate Calling Social Security for Customers

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  • Why I Hate Calling Social Security for Customers

    This guy wasn't that sucky, but he asked for my help when there really wasn't anything I could do. He wanted my help transferring his direct deposit for his pension and social security to his checking account with us. On the plus side, he called ahead of time and made an appointment, so at least I wasn't in the middle of something else. I tried to beg off, saying that they're going to want to talk with him anyway, and especially with social security we'll probably stay on hold half an hour or more. But he insisted, so I played good CSR and made time for him.

    The call for his pension didn't take long, but as soon as I said he wanted to change his direct deposit, they asked to speak to him. What am I here for, again? And his pension administrator said they had to mail him a form, so he couldn't even get that done today.

    The call to social security was even worse. 40 minutes on hold, while he tries to make awkward small talk. Then they ask to talk to him, of course. They ask for the account information where his deposit is going now, which he doesn't have with him, before he can change it to a new account. After he hangs up the phone, he says he was going to bring his checkbook for the old account, but forgot it.

    He made arrangements to come back another day to have me help him with his call to social security again.

    Add on top of this that the reason he gave for needing my help was that he could barely see, and yet he drives. When he opened his account a month ago, he was on his way back to a southern state because he was closing on his house sale the next day.
    "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
    -Mira Furlan

  • #2
    On the Not Always Right site, I've read a few stories of officials demanding to speak to a DECEASED person ... even after being told the person is deceased. It often sounds to me as if they've been reading from a script so long they can no longer manage to do anything else.

    That is SCARY that that guy is driving and yet he can't see!! I hope he's not driving any great distance at any point ...
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero

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    • #3
      Quoth Pixelated View Post
      That is SCARY that that guy is driving and yet he can't see!! I hope he's not driving any great distance at any point ...
      The big question is whether he's short or long sighted. If he's short sighted, then no, he shouldn't be driving. If he's long sighted then the only thing it will really affect is his ability to work out how fast he's going.

      There's also the fact that I can see perfectly well to drive, but my eyes don't always focus very well for close work any more. Really tiny print (such as the type you often get on cheques) would be difficult for me if I didn't have a magnifying glass around. I have one at work and one at home, but not everyone thinks of something like that.
      "It is traditional when asking for help or advice to listen to the answers you receive" - RealUnimportant

      Rev that Engine Louder, I Can't Hear How Small Your Dick Is - Jay 2K Winger

      The Darwin Awards The best site to visit to restore your faith in instant karma.

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      • #4
        Quoth greek_jester View Post
        The big question is whether he's short or long sighted. If he's short sighted, then no, he shouldn't be driving. If he's long sighted then the only thing it will really affect is his ability to work out how fast he's going.

        There's also the fact that I can see perfectly well to drive, but my eyes don't always focus very well for close work any more. Really tiny print (such as the type you often get on cheques) would be difficult for me if I didn't have a magnifying glass around. I have one at work and one at home, but not everyone thinks of something like that.
        This.
        As someone who recently graduated to bifocals, I can totally understand seeing well enough to drive but not seeing well enough to read a typed letter.
        I have one set of glasses with the bifocal and one without. The ones without are perfect for driving as they offer a wide field of view and the numbers on my speedometer are large. I also were them at work, as again the register uses a large font and I can even read text messages just fine.
        But at home watching TV I cannot read web pages on my phone with my glasses on, and thanks to astigmatism can't really see anything without them. So a small blurry spot in the bottom of my field of view is a small price to pay for the ability to read.

        And I can totally identify with someone who hasn't had their prescription updated lately and/or can't pay the difference for bifocals (more than $100 extra in my case, which is why I have two pair: $89 for singlevision to replace my broken glasses, bifocals came later when I could afford it).



        I have also known people deeply in denial about how bad their vision had gotten, and how much they really couldn't see, I may even have been such a person.

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        • #5
          Quoth SpyOne View Post
          I have also known people deeply in denial about how bad their vision had gotten, and how much they really couldn't see, I may even have been such a person.
          I was the opposite. When I was in junior school I was given reading glasses and I drove mum nuts as I flat-out refused to take them off! It's just that I was an intensely curious child, and being able to see into the distance to work out what I wanted to investigate next was a revelation.
          "It is traditional when asking for help or advice to listen to the answers you receive" - RealUnimportant

          Rev that Engine Louder, I Can't Hear How Small Your Dick Is - Jay 2K Winger

          The Darwin Awards The best site to visit to restore your faith in instant karma.

          Comment


          • #6
            When my husband was handling our friend's estate, he always told people he was the executor. Amazing how many people don't understand that means the subject can only speak to you through a Ouija board or tarot cards!
            My son thinks I'm Lucifer Morningstar. I'm not sure he's wrong.

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            • #7
              Quoth YamiNoHime View Post
              ... he always told people he was the executor. ...
              "You killed them?"
              I am not an a**hole. I am a hemorrhoid. I irritate a**holes!
              Procrastination: Forward planning to insure there is something to do tomorrow.
              Derails threads faster than a pocket nuke.

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              • #8
                Quoth greek_jester View Post
                Really tiny print (such as the type you often get on cheques)...
                Threadjack: A coworker once pointed out to me that many of the lines on a black check (cheque) are actually writing. Very, very, very small writing. He could read some of the writing just by looking at it. I could manage a little bit with a magnifying lens...
                “There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged.
                One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
                The other, of course, involves orcs." -- John Rogers

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                • #9
                  Quoth dalesys View Post
                  "You killed them?"
                  I said Executor, not Executioner, Brat
                  My son thinks I'm Lucifer Morningstar. I'm not sure he's wrong.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Quoth YamiNoHime View Post
                    I said Executor, not Executioner, Brat
                    That's one of them fancy Pokemon from the first edition, right? Wow, famous and vintage.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Quoth YamiNoHime View Post
                      When my husband was handling our friend's estate, he always told people he was the executor. Amazing how many people don't understand that means the subject can only speak to you through a Ouija board or tarot cards!
                      Ran into that same thing when I was my late aunt's executor. Got a call from the local newspaper after I'd canceled her subscription. I explained that she'd passed away and her house was being sold. So the person asked me if I wanted to take over her subscription, and I said no, as I live 6 hours away. Then she wanted to know if the people buying her house wanted a subscription, and I told her that if they did they could get it themselves.

                      I was being driven crazy by people who wanted to know when the estate sale was being held and/or if they could come in and look around. The lady who did the estate sale had warned me about this, so I put signs up on both doors,

                      NO, I DON'T KNOW WHEN THE ESTATE SALE WILL BE HELD. IT WILL BE POSTED IN THE LOCAL PAPER.

                      NO, YOU CAN'T COME IN AND LOOK AROUND.

                      YES, I'M RUDE.

                      Got lots of laughter from the ladies who were setting up the estate sale.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        After my best friend's mother died (shortly after her father died, too), she and her family were cleaning out the house. A door to door cable salesman was walking by and asked who their cable provider was, and my friend explained that the parents were deceased so they were canceling the cable package.
                        Then the salesman came up with this gem:
                        Do you know what provider they're signing up with?

                        *snort* Whatever they do, I suspect it's a 'cloud' carrier.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Quoth Ghel View Post
                          The call to social security was even worse. 40 minutes on hold,
                          Wow, Ghel. How did you get through that quick. I've been a hour or longer on hold with the IRS (granted it was during tax season, but still).
                          Was this their national office or a local one?
                          I'm trying to see things from your point of view, but I can't get my head that far up my keister!

                          Who is John Galt?
                          -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

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                          • #14
                            Astigmatic, and old enough that I am nearsighted as well. I absolutely detest bifocals, because of body issues, I spend a lot of time lying on my side nested in heaps of pillows supporting various body parts and reading ebooks on my android phone. I can manage reading on my phone with no glasses, and because the TV is all of 10 feet from me, I can watch TV with reading glasses, I really only need distance glasses when driving, when I use bifocals so I can read the dash. Oddly, I can drive in reading glasses as long as I don't need to read the signs.
                            EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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                            • #15
                              Quoth taxguykarl View Post
                              Wow, Ghel. How did you get through that quick. I've been a hour or longer on hold with the IRS (granted it was during tax season, but still).
                              Was this their national office or a local one?
                              That was the national office. When the guy came back the second day, I had found the number to the local office. Got through to them without having to wait on hold and took care of his direct deposit right away.

                              I made sure to add the number to local office to my contact list.
                              "I look at the stars. It's a clear night and the Milky Way seems so near. That's where I'll be going soon. "We are all star stuff." I suddenly remember Delenn's line from Joe's script. Not a bad prospect. I am not afraid. In the meantime, let me close my eyes and sense the beauty around me. And take that breath under the dark sky full of stars. Breathe in. Breathe out. That's all."
                              -Mira Furlan

                              Comment

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