Forms For Dummies

[Sir_Lunchalot]

Okay. I work in financial services. No, not a bank, but oe of those cheque cashing payday loan places. Anyways, one of the services we offer is Western Union money transfers. In addition to the fairly regular internet scams, we get a few prized idiots. I'm talking people who ask me how to fill out the forms. Now, I understand if English is your second language, or if you can't read, that you'll need some help. What amazes me is the people like this SC.

SC: I want to send some money to Company X.
Me: Sure I just need you to fill out the blue form over there.
SC: <goes to get the blue form, comes back to the counter> How do I fill this out?
Me: You write what it says in the boxes.
SC: okay... so what do I put under Sender's Name?
Me: well, you're sending the money, right?
SC: yes.
Me: That would make you the sender...
SC: Ok... <pauses> So should I put company X because I'm sending the money to company X?
Me: No. You are the sender. The sender's name is your name. Write your name there.
SC: oh.

At this point my co-worker A, has to go to the back room because she can't help but laugh at this customer.

SC: So, where it says account number, should I put the account number from the bill or the Service number?
Me: Ma'am, I would assume your account number would be your account number.

Now my manager couldn't resst anymore and had to introduce his head to the desk before going off to the side to snigger at the SC>

SC finally fills out the form and hands it to me. I look for the company in western union's database and I can't find it. I ask her to pass me her copy of hte bill, jsut in case she mistyped something. Turns out she wasn't paying company X bu a collection agency for company X. Turns out she filled the form with wrogn info from her bill to. She managed to ignore the BOLDED AND CAPITALIZED text saying "If sending money through western union USE THIS INFO"

I can forgive ESL, and being a little bewildered because you've never sent money before, but seriously people, If you can obviously read the form, and english is obviously your native language, how can it be that confusing? Please, for the love of all that is sacred and holy, THINK!

[wanderingjoe72]

Asking people to read is like asking them to listen to the options on a phone menu. Never going to happen.

[HawaiianShirts]

Wow, that's sad. Makes me think of the time I worked in my university's testing center. For reasons unknown to me, when students wanted to take computer-based tests, they had to sign in on a sheet of paper before we could enter their information into the test administration computer. If they were taking a paper-based test, we skipped the paper sign-in. Anyway, the computer test sign-in sheet had columns for student number, last name, first name, professor's name, class name and number, test number, date, and time. Fairly simple.

Some students forgot the professor's name or the class name, which is dumb but somewhat forgivable. Many had to ask what the date was, which I could understand when they're the first person of the day or starting on a new sheet of paper. Most people who were unsure of the date just copied the date from the student who had signed in before they did. Then one guy, at about 8AM on a Monday, who was the first to sign in that day, not only copied the date from the previous student's line, but also copied everything except his own name. Including the professor's and class name, though he was taking a totally different test; the date, which was from the Saturday before; and the time, which was 4:30PM!

I made him redo the sign-in and had to walk him through the process. That was one time I wished I could have seen his test score.

Anyways, one of the services we offer is Western Union money transfers. In addition to the fairly regular internet scams, we get a few prized idiots.

No, I know there must be some people falling for the phishing and other scams. If nobody fell for it, the scams would go away after a while. But you used the word "regular" to describe that. For the sake of my sanity and remaining shreds of faith in humanity, I want you to tell me that "regular" means once a month or so. For the sake of my entertainment, I want you to tell me it means once a day and that you have stories to tell.