Just a random WTF?

[Slave to the Phone]

Not my customer, my cube neighbor's, but I got the complaint so I'm not sure where to put this. Mods, I'm sorry for the bother if you have to move it.

So, I'm on a phone interview with my customer and I slipped and said a bad word at the computer. (I called it a poopy-head.) Of course, I instantly apologized to my customer about the language and he started laughing at me because he had much stronger words to say to computers. Despite the rather long interview due to the computer caused delays, we were able to joke and laugh with each other during the down time.

Apparently, this offended my cube neighbor's customer and she demanded to see a sup on her way out. She was offended because:

1. She didn't actually hear me say a bad word, but she knew that I had because she heard me apologize.

2. I seemed to be making fun of my customer by joking and laughing.

3. Even if my customer was on board with the joking and laughing, how could I have gotten any work done?

4. If I had finished his interview that quickly, why did hers take so long?

Sup was required to take this seriously, a complaint that I was witnessed being abusive to a customer is a firing offense.

This resulted in the sup calling my customer, telling him that she was doing a random check on my customers to ask how I had treated them during our interview. He loves me, he thinks I should get a big raise, he thinks that he's never been treated nicer when renewing his food stamps and wants me to be his permanent case-worker.

Did I swear at any time during the interview? No! Did I apologize for swearing? Well, yeah, but he thought it was because I had young grandchildren. Who else would apologize for saying poopy-head at a computer?

This went up several levels of the chain-of-command and then back down. Today I got a verbal warning when I promised that there would be no more poopy-head language.

[Minflick]

You actually said "poopy-head"? No wonder your client laughed... Next cube client needs to, erhem, remove the stick!

[bloo]

Your cube farm neighbor's SC is a....poopy-head!
(ducks and runs)

[Slave to the Phone]

Well, dang it! I knew I shouldn't have confessed to the bad word I used because my street cred here just went out the window!

I actually felt really sorry for the sup who heard the complaint. He told me he wanted to tell the SC that she was being rude and invasive by listening to my conversation with my customer. When he came to me about it, I openly confessed to calling the system a poopy-head. He rolled his eyes and told me that he was going to have to start an investigation even though he knew that the SC was really the one in the wrong.

My monthly evals always put me at exceeding expectations or just barely under that. One of the metrics they use is how I interact with my customers. They love walking behind me while I'm in interview and hearing me laugh and having fun. Everyone knows that I would never swear at or berate a customer.

When our big boss called me in to talk about it, she mentioned that the case my cube neighbor was on was much more complicated than the one that I was on. She apologized to me but said that due to the nature of the complaint, it would have to be elevated. Then she looked at me and said "I've never once had to elevate a customer complaint over saying poopie-head and/OR laughing and joking. Never."

It only took 2 days (really fast for government actions) for the decision on me to be made, I got a verbal warning (with appropriate signed documentation) to not call the system a poopie-head in front of customers again.

There was actually a new update for this today. I have heard that this complaint was so serious that there is discussion amongst the policy writers about adding poopy-head to the official list of Words Which Must Never Be Spoken.

[notalwaysright]

There was actually a new update for this today. I have heard that this complaint was so serious that there is discussion amongst the policy writers about adding poopy-head to the official list of Words Which Must Never Be Spoken.

This actually makes me pretty angry... What next? You get a list of words that you are allowed to say, and a specified tone in which to say them? Might as well replace you with computers. This complaint should have been thrown out.

[Slave to the Phone]

This actually makes me pretty angry... What next? You get a list of words that you are allowed to say, and a specified tone in which to say them? Might as well replace you with computers. This complaint should have been thrown out.

The whole thing makes me pretty angry as well, but for different reasons. We actually do have a script and certain words to use while asking the questions. That's fine with me, I will either apologize for the questions "I'm sorry, but I have to ask everyone these questions" or I'll joke about using a script. I can work with that, my priorities are to make my customer comfortable and to finish the case. If I have to drop a "p bomb" at the computer I will.

What makes me angry is the wasted resources caused by one nosy busybody who got offended because her case worker was working so hard to do other things to finish her very complicated case got offended because a different case worker who didn't have any work to do while waiting for the computer to move on chose to joke and laugh with her customer.

I'm on the bottom of the food chain at work. My direct sup is only 1 step above me. This whole thing should have only taken half an hour at our level, but it had to go 3 steps up and is now being looked over by another committee. The hours and tax payer money being wasted by adding yet another word to The List really does upset me.

Oh well, I can laugh or I can cry. I choose to come here and mock.

[Food Lady]

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Your conversation with your client is none of her business! I'm so angry because even though your bosses see how ridiculous this is, you still got a warning. It is a huge waste of time. That nosy client would be perfect as one of our quality assurance people because they're just as nitpicky. ugh

[Slave to the Phone]

(still up and checking email over the ongoing family health crisis)

Thank you, Food Lady, but you don't really have to be angry about that. I'm not. I signed a paper that said that I was verbally warned to not say poopy-head in front of a customer again. I wasn't told to not swear in front of customers, just to not say poopy-head.

I work for the government, this sort of verbal warning will just tell anyone who reads it that someone got their panties in a wad over nothing. If I ever get a new sup who reads it, it will be cause of much discussion and laughter between us.

Its actually a point of pride. As far as I know, nobody else who has ever worked for this state has ever been written up for saying poopy-head in front of a customer. I can't imagine anyone who hears about it taking it seriously. Its just an example of how silly things can be for government workers.

Yeah, that's it, I'm no longer upset at all. For the rest of my time working for the state, when we do those introduction things before a training session, I can stand up and proudly say "Hi! I'm Slave, I'm from site 123 in town X. I'm the reason that Poopy-Head is a banned word!"

I love it, thanks guys for helping me work this out in my head.

[kibbles]

Am I the only one who thinks that if the nosey idiot has their case denied, it would be karmic justice!!!

[An Haddock]

This means cubicle war.


I say start small with whoopee cushions and taping down the receiver on her phone.


Then escalate to dead fish and sneezing powder.

[flyonthewall]

I think someone's jelly.

[raudf]

Today I got a verbal warning when I promised that there would be no more poopy-head language.

That's right! Around here, we use GROWN UP WORDS, DAMN IT!!!

I would like to believe that his interview was short because he wasn't dropping eaves on other people's conversations and missing his own questions. The Eaves shoulda kept her mind on her own matters, because getting Food Stamps requires a hella lot of questions and for some reason, slow computers

[Slave to the Phone]

Nothing moves faster than office gossip. I am already famous! If the policy committee does decide to act on my very bad word, nothing will happen for months, but word has gotten around.

My old sup (in the Valley of the Sun) emailed me to say "Did you really call your computer a poopy head? I thought I taught you better than that!"

My case reader (who I have never met and who works way down south where the gila monsters roam) "Please don't say "interview was long because the computer was a poopy head" in your notes." (That's what passes for case reader humor, its actually very funny coming from a no-nonsense professional stick up the rump QA person.)

A Fair Hearing specialist I know casually who works in downtown Valley of the Sun "Dude! You totally rock! I didn't know you had to go that extreme to have people notice. F*** is hereby out of my vocabulary and I'm going to start taking notes when my 3 year old nephew gets upset."

Ya know, I used to be cool. Now my life is reduced to this. *Sigh* I sure don't know what happened. My sweetie must be a worse influence than I thought!

[Argus]

That's not going away anytime soon...

[Slave to the Phone]

^^^ OUCH!!! A mortal wound! Clutches heart and falls to the floor, cut to the heart by such an unexpected mean streak in someone who appears to be so nice

Yeah, yeah...I've noticed that I've become pretty invisible lately, but denial isn't just a river in Egypt.

raudf, while I would never wish that anyone is in such straits as to end up talking to me, I sure do wish that everyone understood that getting food stamps involves many questions, some of which are rather personal.

Many food stamp workers used to be on food stamps in the past. We don't judge because someone is having a hard time, but we do need certain information.

Anyhow, Karma has stepped in. I have been assigned to document verification for the next month. This is the most boring task ever. Everyone hates it. Even the office kiss ups don't raise their hands when this task is discussed. Its tedious, boring and involves little to no customer contact, but lots of sitting on hold. This is not punishment, its just my turn in the barrel.

My cube neighbor has been assigned to another task which keeps her away from her cube for the month and other cubes are empty as well.

What this means is that I will be spending all day, every day for the next month sitting in my cube, fighting the system that caused me to say the bad word, but there will be no customers to hear it.

So, if a food stamp worker says poopy-head and there aren't any customers around to hear it, did it really happen at all?