How about.. "It's the law"?

[ShadedWings]

I haven't posted in a while, but I think this one seriously made me go.. what the heck... and still is.

Me = you guessed it.
EW = embarrassed woman (ew also describes her sense of honesty!)

Me: Good afternoon, my name is ShadedWings, may I have your account number please?
EW: ... <states number>
Me: Ok, and your name please?
EW: ... well.. it's complicated.
Me: (Your name is complicated? So many replies to that thought... gotta love sarcasm.) Alright, I'll see what I can help you with... may I just have your first name then?
EW: Mary. (Not actual name... but for sake of conversation, lets go with it)
Me: Ok Mary, what can I try and help you with?
EW: Well, I'm actually very embarrassed... when I get my mail I usually just open them all up at once and sort through them after. And. Well. Iaccidentallyopenedmyneighbor'smail.
Me: Hmm. I do see that we do have this person's mailing address slightly off for some reason. That can happen due to typing error sometimes on the representative's part when changing mailing addresses or opening accounts.
EW: I'm so embarrassed though, because (whispers) now I know he has a past due amount on his electric!!
(gasp, horrors, oh the world will end!)
Me: I see where that could be a bit embarrassing...
EW: Yeah, well, can you just fix it?
Me: (Uh huh, here's the snag.) Mmm... I'm afraid not. We cannot change any information on an account without the account holder's permission. Unfortunately that still stands even if it's wrong information.
EW: But.. what... just send him another bill!
Me: If I do that, it will just go to you. All you have to do is maybe put a little bit of tape on the envelope, maybe a note saying sorry you opened it and -
EW: I CAN'T DO THAT!!!
Me: Ok.. why not?
EW: I've SEEN his BILL! I'm too embarrassed to do that! I'm NOT giving him his mail! Just send him another!
Me: (At this point, I can see it's going downhill... and it would be easy to fix, and an understandable thing to fix since it's an obvious mistake... but laws are rules.) Give me a moment to chat with my supervisor and see if there's anything I might be able to do here.
(I get a sup on the secondary line...)
Sup: Nope, can't do it. Not unless he calls in himself to change it. It's stupid but it's his info not hers.
Me: *sigh*
(Goes back to EW.)
Me: I'm really sorry ma'am, but there's nothing I can do until he calls in himself. All you have to do is maybe just stick it in his mailbox, even without a note -
EW: NO!! This is BULL****!! I am NOT giving him his MAIL, it is NOT MY responsibility!! I've spent 20 minutes of MY TIME to try and fix this and I just CAN'T do that, I WON'T!
Me: I'm really sorry, but there's honestly nothing we can do until -
EW: I'm NOT. GoodBYE. *click*
Me:...

To make a long story slightly shorter than it would be otherwise, I called the sup back and explained the end of the call, and she gave me permission to give the account holder a call out. Unfortunately, no one answered and I had to just leave a message on the machine. I never even got to the part to explaining to the lady that it's a federal offense withholding someone's mail from them, much less tampering/opening when it's not yours. I'm sure someone could overlook opening - I know I have - but flatly refusing to hand over something that's both your property and time-sensitive as well? Gah. As far as I know the guy hasn't called in yet to find out what the message on his machine was about, but I have a feeling that he'll be more pissed off to find out that she refused to hand over his mail that had a disconnection date on it than just the fact that she had opened it. I'm just waiting for the lovely notes on his call-in.

[mattm04]

I would be more pissed if a neighbor go my mail and decided not to give it to me, regardless of what it was. Sometimes a neighbors main will accidentally get stuck in with ours. All I do is walk over to their house and put it in the mail box or bring it to the door if they are home and have gotten the mail already.

[ShadedWings]

Exactly! I'm just waiting for the proverbial manure to hit the fan on her part.

[JustaCashier]

Can you imagine, if she'd gotten up the nerve to deliver it to him in person, and he answers the door in his underwear (or nekkid)?

".....I've seen him in his Underwear!!" (or Nekkid!!)

Mike

[Anastriel]

I'm sick right now so my apologies if I'm being dense. But why couldn't you just send out a new bill? Then she could have taken the new unopened one to her neighbour. Then he could have called to fix the address issue, she wouldn't have to let him know she knew he was in arrears and there would have been less stress all around.

[powerboy]

If and when I get a neighbors mail, I will walk it too them. If I get another persons mail, that lives on another street. Then I will drive to the post office and or, just put it back in the box, stating he doesn't live here.

Couldn't you just send out another bill. Maybe it will be delivered to the right person then.

[Sir Spaniard the 12th]

She could just stick it in the mailbox at night/when neighbour isn't home. How would he know who opened it? I know it's illegal since it's a sensitive document.. but still. Accidents happen.

[Barefootgirl]

What a silly woman.Obviously someone whose life is so empty of incident that they have to create dwama around themselves to feel important. I get my neighbours' post moderately often, and they get mine, we jsut pop it through each others letter boxes, no harm no foul !

[ShadedWings]

According to the company rules, I cannot do anything to/with a customer's account without the customer's permission or someone who he/she deems as a trusted contact's permission. This includes things as simple as sending out another bill. It's really stupid more than anything, but the rule has it's own points, especially when it comes to the more extreme side of the rule, such as changing passwords, making payment arrangements, etc. If a sup had told me I could do it, sure I would have done it. But I can't go around rules without permission myself. It's frustrating in cases like this, but if she had just given him his mail anyway it wouldn't be an issue. Since not giving him his mail is kinda against the law anyway. It also would be giving her an excuse not to do it.

addition: Also, if I had sent out another bill, which might taken a while to get there, it would be even longer until he gets that, and he does have a disconnection notice that is time sensitive. If she gives him his mail, like she's required to, he'd know when he was supposed to know. At this point, who knows when he will get that information, if he doesn't call us.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Can you imagine, if she'd gotten up the nerve to deliver it to him in person, and he answers the door in his underwear (or nekkid)?

".....I've seen him in his Underwear!!" (or Nekkid!!)

Mike

She'll probably require years of therapy and/or medication to cope, poor thing.

And then there are some of us who wouldn't be embarrassed to see another person nekkid . . .

and we'll leave that alone, as it would probably be a short subject.

[Boozy]

I've spent 20 minutes of MY TIME to try and fix this and I just CAN'T do that, I WON'T!

Now, here's what I can't figure out. It was entirely HER decision to spend 20 minutes calling you guys and panicking about the situation.

Whereas a mentally well-adjusted individual would have just sealed the envelope back up, stuck a note on it, and put it into the neighbour's mail box. All of which would have taken two minutes.

I've often wondered if SCs like this manage to hold down jobs.

[Becks]

I would be more pissed if a neighbor go my mail and decided not to give it to me, regardless of what it was. Sometimes a neighbors main will accidentally get stuck in with ours. All I do is walk over to their house and put it in the mail box or bring it to the door if they are home and have gotten the mail already.

Same here.

Honestly...what is wrong with some people?

[greensinestro]

I must be missing something here, but was this woman's name actually on her neighbor's mail? I can understand the incorrect address being on it, but did the name somehow slip by her as she was ripping the envelope open? I have received my neighbor's mail lots of times, and vice versa, but if it's a name I do not recognize, I leave it alone. I once got mail for someone on the next street over, who had the same house number as I did, yet the mail man left it for me. I simply took it over to this guy and did not care about what was in it.

[Dreamstalker]

Sometimes if it's paperwork in one of those window envelopes, it can shift in such a way that the street address is visible but not the name (so you don't know it's not for you until you open it).

I'm getting student-loan forbearance letters for the previous tenant (I have a current loan, and it wasn't clear what the letter was about so I accidentally opened the first one); I've walked them back to the post office and explained that the person no longer lives there, but I'm still receiving the things

[Anastriel]

According to the company rules, I cannot do anything to/with a customer's account without the customer's permission or someone who he/she deems as a trusted contact's permission. This includes things as simple as sending out another bill. It's really stupid more than anything, but the rule has it's own points, especially when it comes to the more extreme side of the rule, such as changing passwords, making payment arrangements, etc. If a sup had told me I could do it, sure I would have done it. But I can't go around rules without permission myself. It's frustrating in cases like this, but if she had just given him his mail anyway it wouldn't be an issue. Since not giving him his mail is kinda against the law anyway. It also would be giving her an excuse not to do it.

addition: Also, if I had sent out another bill, which might taken a while to get there, it would be even longer until he gets that, and he does have a disconnection notice that is time sensitive. If she gives him his mail, like she's required to, he'd know when he was supposed to know. At this point, who knows when he will get that information, if he doesn't call us.

Oh that makes it clearer. I'd be pretty angry if I was him and I got disconnected because she was too embarrassed to deliver the mail.
I thought you probably had a reason why you couldn't send out a new letter but in my flu foggy brain I just couldn't see it.