Everyone's got a sob story...and I don't care

[dalesys]

"Here's a goodie. Half of the family dying, the other half pregnant."

Because the first half caused the second.

[Racket_Man]

Back in the days of actually walking into a video rental store to actually rent physical tapes. One time I rented several movies from a local indie store, had some things come up with work (24/7/365 tech support) and my rentals were late.

I calmly walking into the store, placed my rentals on the counter and asked the clerk to check me in. Up front I informed them of the lateness of the rentals. You could almost see the clerk cringe but they stopped when I stated and I want to pay my late fees now please so I can get my account cleared up today.

The look of relief was very apparent. I still had to pay the fees but hey my fault pay the penality.

[Mr Hero]

"Here's a goodie. Half of the family dying, the other half pregnant."

Here's a newsflash. The entire family is dying. I'm dying, you're dying, everyone in the world is dying. It comes with being born.

[Seshat]

"Here's a goodie. Half of the family dying, the other half pregnant."

M*A*S*H, Colonel Blake (?) to Klinger. (The first of the Colonels, not the second)


I've always found that politely stating my reason - not wailing, not begging, just stating - and asking for an extension or to make a reasonable-for-both-sides payment plan has got me some sort of extension or payment plan or other assistance.

Once it was even the stupid reason of 'we've just had our wedding and we miscalculated our budget'. And the customer service person just laughed and worked with me. Maybe it was the surprising honesty. (I'd worked out that delaying paying that one place meant we could afford to pay everyone else.)

[thehuckster]

Working something out with a utility or creditor when falling to hard times is something that is often available (giving an extended grace period, or rearranging your payment plan, etc.) but only if those hard times are temporary (two months tops) and are relevant.

Losing your job affects your ability to pay, and thus is relevant. So are unforeseen medical bills, a crapped out furnace that you need to replace, or a broken down car. Either you get that temporary extension or you have to give up that service.

Losing your dog, breaking up with your significant other, or finding out a loved one is on their deathbed is tragic and sad, but is completely irrelevant to your ability to pay, and does not entitle you to anything by a CSR besides, perhaps, an "I'm sorry to hear that" in response.

[sms001]

For some reason this one in particular had me imagining a blues riff playing in the background.

I got them steadily depressin',
low down, mind messin',
husband left and dog died blues.

(w/ apologies to Mr. Croce.)

[amylouky]

I used to work for a retail finance company (jewelry stores, furniture, electronics, etc.) and we got some real doozies when trying to collect.
My favorite, though, was the call a coworker made. The guy's wife said he couldn't come to the phone.. when CW pressed, she got all upset and said he had barricaded himself in a closet and was threatening to shoot himself. CW didn't miss a beat, just asked, "Well, could you knock on the door and tell him it's (finance company) on the phone and we need his payment by tomorrow?"

[Lace Neil Singer]

Reminds me of the time when a noob on a forum posted a massive sob story, which I then deleted cuz it smacked of make up. The noob then PMed me and threw a hysterical fit, ending with "And I bet you don't know what it feels like to be depressed!" I informed them that I did know, seeing as I suffered from clinical depression, self harmed and ended up in Casualty a few times as a result. But they didn't see me posting hysterical outbursts on a public forum.

Thing is, a lot of people have trauma in their lives. But the vast majority of people tend not to spill it out to complete strangers... especially if all they want is either attention, or to get an extension on their credit card bill. The manager where I work has had the odd sob story thrown at her when she calls up people who need to come in and pay for their petrol (if you can't pay, we fill out a form and give you a week to return). The only people who get an extension are those who a) give their reason in a calm and collected manner and b) haven't ever pulled this before. One girl tried the dead father excuse twice; first time, she got an extension, second time, she got told to come in, cuz she'd done this before and my manager didn't believe her father could die twice.

[notalwaysright]

I love that some of these aren't even regarding the phone bill, but some sort of warranty issue. How does a bad home life mean you need a free phone? Oh, right. It doesn't.

At our store (possibly all stores?) if you bought something with a debit card which was run as debit, and you want a return you get it in cash. So to deter scammers, we limit cash returns to $100. Otherwise it's a gift card, or a check which will be sent to the customer after a corporate review. This lady comes in with a sob story about how her dog needs surgery, her credit cards are maxed, and the vet wants money up front. She had bought around $500 on a debit card. The manager at the time felt bad and did it. The weird thing is... I kinda believe her. If you were going to make something up, why would you make it about a dog?

[icmedia]

Either that, or they're just too much of a hazard to ever try and take on as a reliable customer. Some people's lives just are that chaotic, and from a purely pragmatic standpoint, it's a bad bet to rely on them in a financial capacity, especially when it's not that lucrative when compared to an average customer.

If given the choice, I'm going to choose the person who pays on time in money that's not covered in glue and bits of fuzz and leaves.... because I'd rather not have to wash it off before I take it...

I have some customers who have their service disconnected every damn month. They shuffle around promises-to-pay, partial payments, getting relatives to come in and pay, etc. Those are the customers who I try to help LESS, because they obviously are never going to get their shit together.

[wolfie]

I calmly walking into the store, placed my rentals on the counter and asked the clerk to check me in. Up front I informed them of the lateness of the rentals. You could almost see the clerk cringe but they stopped when I stated and I want to pay my late fees now please so I can get my account cleared up today.

That's a situation where I'm sure the clerk would have been tempted to give you a discount on your late fees.

Here's a newsflash. The entire family is dying. I'm dying, you're dying, everyone in the world is dying. It comes with being born.

Life is like AIDS - sexually transmitted and 100% fatal.

M*A*S*H, Colonel Blake (?) to Klinger. (The first of the Colonels, not the second)

IIRC, it was Potter. Blake was too much of a pushover to keep track of Klinger's excuses, and Klinger wasn't a major character until VERY late in Blake's run.

[BPFH]

IIRC, it was Potter. Blake was too much of a pushover to keep track of Klinger's excuses, and Klinger wasn't a major character until VERY late in Blake's run.

Nope, it was Blake.

[morgana]

Odd, I also remember it being Potter. Oh, well.

[Kittish]

I think the reason so many of us are remembering it being Colonel Potter is that he and Klinger DID have a scene very similar to that, shortly before Klinger gave up trying to get that Section 8.

And the reason Blake was able to keep track of the excuses is that each 'letter from home' went into Klinger's file.

[Evannah]

I'm blessed to have not had any tragedy or crisis in my life, but, like everyone else in the world, I've had my hard moments where I just want to stay in bed all day and not deal with the world (deaths of pets, stress getting on top of me, things like that) and you're absolutely right - talking about that stuff to family and friends, let alone complete strangers, just chokes me. I don't want to talk about that stuff. When I do, the floodgates open. I know everyone is different and all that but it seems that most people act the same way that I do.

So yes, when someone gives me a sob story I'll make all the right sounds and nod my head and sympathize but deep down there's a part of me that's saying, "You're probably making that up so you can get a £10 gift card or something".