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I finally snapped and it worked!

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  • I finally snapped and it worked!

    For some reason, today was "Let's all of us crazy and angry people go down to the food stamp office and vent some rage" day. For the same strange reason, the tracking system decided that it should also be "give all the nuts to Slave" day.

    I walked into work hearing a woman yelling at one of the lobby folks, logged into my comp and claimed my first customer. Of course it was her. By that time, she had caused such a fuss that 3 security guards were standing by and all of the sups knew about her.

    She was angry and sarcastic from the start and after she took her 3rd verbal shot at me, I said "I really don't understand why you are being so mean to me when I am trying to help you."

    She said something about why did my feelings matter to her when she knew that her feelings didn't matter to me.

    Again, very calmly, I said "I have a choice when working cases. I can work the case correctly and as my job requires. Or, I can work the case correctly while cheerfully offering up helpful suggestions and going out of my way to complete your case and get you food right away despite what that would do to my times. You are the one who determines how I work your case."

    She apologized and calmed down. Due to her sudden decision to cooperate, I was able to make the determination.

    However, it didn't end there.

    Next caller was a person who applies every month with the same income to see if anything had changed. Polite enough, but I did have to use a translator which tends to keep people polite. Still crazy, I had talked to him 2 times in the last 6 months and had explained everything very clearly. He just seemed to think that doing the same thing over again would have a different outcome.

    Also overtime on the interview.

    I smoked about 97 cigarettes on my 15 minute break.

    Next one was someone who was disqualified because he was a drug related felon. He comes in and gets banned about every 6 months. I had spoken to him before, he just comes in to scream. When I called him, there were also security guards as well as management in the area because he is very well known.

    When he picked up the phone, he was already screaming at me, but because laws had been passed that made him potentially eligible again, I raised my voice to say "Mr Customer, if you would just settle down and listen to me...Mr Customer, I am trying to help."

    CUSTOMER, IF YOU WOULD JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME TALK I MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP!!!

    Nobody was around to hear that.

    He did shut up and sit down and stop arguing with me. I was able to get a homeless man food and tell him how to get it continued.

    Then I went to lunch and bought a couple of cartons of cigs to get me through the day.

    More crazy, but workable people until I claimed my final customer.

    Another one who had guards and lobby folks talking to sups. When he picked up my call, he was in the middle of arguing with a lobby rep and was on speaker phone. From what I was hearing, he was insisting in a face to face interview or using speaker phone because of his hearing loss and PTSD. I certainly wasn't going to bring him into my cube and I didn't want to move to one of the open desks in the lobby, so I ignored that and just started asking questions.

    As I started asking the interview questions about living arrangements, he started screaming at me that I was discriminating against him because his wife was a man who doesn't live with him.

    That's when I lost it and quietly said "could I tell you something personal in confidence?" He picked up the phone.

    Unbeknownst to me, one of the sups was coming to my cube to not do a cube interview and to be careful because he had been throwing the D word around. So, he got close enough to me to hear me say:

    "I have been over 50 for so long that I forgot how young that felt, but the big thing I remember is how freeing it was. I stopped caring. Quite frankly, I could give a flying f*** who you sleep with. At my age, I'm barely able to care who my cats sleep with. All I care about is your living arrangements and how you are paying your bills. "

    Sup accidently yelped laughter and ran into the conference room and slammed the door so he could go out the other door and walk back around to listen to what was going on.

    Client suddenly turned from screaming refusing to cooperate to very polite. I told him that we had to work fast because I was going to be facing disciplinary action due to a sup hearing me swear at him.

    His case was actually pretty easy, except for the part when he started telling all of the lobby reps that he wanted to talk to my sup. Poor sup was ready to get yelled at because of the way he had heard me talking to the client even though he had walked back up behind me to hear that the interview was going smoothly and the guards and lobby folks had told him that I had managed to get my customer to sit down and use the phone.

    My client put us back on speaker phone and apologized to my sup and the lobby folks for his behavior and demanded that I not face disciplinary action.

    Sup gave me a hand made medal and told me that it was OK to ask for a mental health day off tomorrow if needed.

    Nah. I'm over 50. I don't care. Disciplinary action would be inconvenient, but I'd get over it by my next break. Fifty is Freeing.

  • #2
    Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
    I walked into work hearing a woman yelling at one of the lobby folks, logged into my comp and claimed my first customer. Of course it was her. By that time, she had caused such a fuss that 3 security guards were standing by and all of the sups knew about her.
    So wait...people have to come down to your office to talk to you on the phone?

    She apologized and calmed down. Due to her sudden decision to cooperate, I was able to make the determination.
    I get people being upset/angry on this...but they should really realize that you hold all the cards.

    Next one was someone who was disqualified because he was a drug related felon. He comes in and gets banned about every 6 months.
    For what? Just ranting and raving at people? Threatening people? How's he get un-banned?

    I had spoken to him before, he just comes in to scream. When I called him, there were also security guards as well as management in the area because he is very well known.
    I suppose with someone like that, there's the potential that they could attack (verbally or otherwise) someone.

    Then I went to lunch and bought a couple of cartons of cigs to get me through the day.
    I hope you mean packs. Because doesn't a carton of cigarettes contain something like 200 cigarettes (20 x 10 packs)? 2 cartons would be 400...

    I understand a lot of these folks being down and out, but I don't think that's a reason to yell at someone who is trying (within the auspices of the law) to help you.

    I wonder how many of these folks have other problems.
    Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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    • #3
      Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
      Next caller was a person who applies every month with the same income to see if anything had changed. Polite enough, but I did have to use a translator which tends to keep people polite. Still crazy, I had talked to him 2 times in the last 6 months and had explained everything very clearly. He just seemed to think that doing the same thing over again would have a different outcome.
      Isn't this practically the textbook definition of insanity?
      Note to self: Hot glass looks like Cold glass.

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      • #4
        Quoth mjr View Post
        I hope you mean packs. Because doesn't a carton of cigarettes contain something like 200 cigarettes (20 x 10 packs)? 2 cartons would be 400...
        If the OP smoked 96 cigarettes in the lunch break, I guess 400 to get through the day is right.

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        • #5
          Quoth Slave to the Phone View Post
          Fifty is Freeing.
          That's for sure Are you in the KMA Club at your workplace as well, STTP?
          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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          • #6
            It's hyperbole. Like saying "There aren't enough cigarettes in the world for me to make it through today."

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            • #7
              I'm not going to do a bunch of cutting and pasting, but I will happily elaborate on some questions.

              I work in what is called a "kiosk" office. The plan was for clients to complete their application on the computer (with assistance if needed) and then for a EI worker to call them when they were done. It was supposed to be very efficient and would help speed up the interview process so that more clients could be served by the same amount of workers.

              Of course, this plan didn't work out like the PTB had hoped, due to the fact that the online application is so messed up that even the help desk people just sigh and apologize when I call them. It took 6 weeks of paid training before I was able to understand how to battle that POS, why would we expect our clients to be able to do it in a couple of hours? It totally did not work.

              So while many offices just went back to face to face interviews, our office didn't. I call my clients who are in the same building as I am. If/when I need signatures or to get copies of documents I go to their kiosk and get them. Otherwise, I never have to see them. If they insist on a face to face, I will go to one of the unused computers on the other side of the secure doors in the lobby and sit face to face with them if you don't notice that there is a barrier and 2 computer screens between us.

              I love it. I spent a year working in hell to get transferred to this office.

              Our regular drug felon is loud and threatening. He has been known to slam phones down so hard that they break. He is verbally abusive.

              He gets banned for 24 hours, so could potentially come back the next day.

              We all feel sorry for him, we know that the drugs killed his brain, so while we could ban him from the office forever due to his behavior, we choose to let him come back.

              I was actually happy to get him calling me because things had changed and I was able to help him. After yelling at him.

              At a guess, I would say that most of our clients are disabled in one way or another or are caring for disabled people.

              And yes, I do hold all of the cards. I can pend cases for nonsense as long as I document why I found it questionable.

              However, I really am there to help. I know that nobody comes to see me when times are good and I know that they are upset and afraid. I am able to give people a lot of slack because I am old enough that I am a duck. Everything just rolls off my back cause I'm over 50 and I don't care.

              I'm not quite in the KMA club (I remember reading that before and smiling and nodding last time, I'm sure grinning now that I reread it). 2 years and 3 months and 2 weeks left until I am eligible for that awesome club, but I might just take the retirement and not hang around.

              Also, I actually only smoked 3 cigarettes at lunch. That part was indeed hyperbole. However, I did compensate for the other 93 cigs by snarfing down a pint of Double Chocolate Ice Cream with chocolate chunks while I wasn't smoking. Sometimes a sandwich just won't do.

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              • #8
                I wish I could join that club. Unfortunately, with minor inconveniences like bills, and a mortgage, and on and on and on, that's not gonna happen any time soon...
                “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 Slave to the Phone View Post
                  2 years and 3 months and 2 weeks left until I am eligible for that awesome club, but I might just take the retirement and not hang around.
                  Less than 1000 days
                  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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