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(Names and all significant/identifying details have been changed)
Sooo....
I got a call transferred to me from Jeanie, one of my level 2 workers (high-level processing, not-quite-supervisors) because the caller didn't like anything she had to say and therefore she wasn't "professional." Apparently a professional would understand the caller's questions (read: give him what he wanted to hear) instead of providing accurate/displeasing information.
I work in a particular government agency that has to do with professional licensing and regulations; as such, our requirements are laid out in state law and cannot be waived or amended. There is a time limit that an applicant must have completed certain related requirements; the time limit can be extended under one circumstance only, otherwise they have to repeat the requirements to bring them within the right time frame.
Let's say you get one full year to wash the windows, sweep the floors, and take out the trash. If you don't finish them all in a year, you can get an extra six months to catch up if you also mow the lawn.
This Sucky Caller took 15 months to wash the windows and sweep, and hasn't even tried to take the trash out. So he can either take the trash out and then mow the lawn to qualify for the extra 6 months exemption, or he can take the trash out and then re-wash and re-sweep before another year is up.
Me: The easiest way for most people to qualify is to mow the lawn and get an extension. (long explanation of exactly why)
SC: But I don't know how to mow the lawn. Does that happen automatically when I finish cleaning the house?
Me: No, it's a voluntary process that isn't required, but provides a way for some poeple to be exempted from certain requirements.
SC: Okay, set it up for me.
Me: I can't do that. You need a lawnmower, and the only way to get that is to go to the store.
SC: What store do I go to? And what kind of lawnmower do I get?
Me: What store will depend on what lawnmower you pick; we can't decide that for you. (long explanation about the different kinds of lawnmowers and what factors go into choosing one)
SC: But when somebody came to my house last week, they said there were two other options I could finish with - that I could get a lawnmower and cut the lawn, or re-clean everything so it would be done in the same year. So there's really three options.
Me: Well, the mowing is what we just talked about, so there's really only two options -
SC: BUT you didn't even tell me I could re-clean!
Me: Right, that's the second option we hadn't gotten to yet.
(Long, repetitive, much-interrupted explanation of exactly how to re-clean everything)
(Long, repetitive, much-interrupted discussion of what order things have to be cleaned in)
(More arguing about how he gets a lawnmower if we won't buy it for him)
(More explanation about we can't determine the outside time frame of when his year starts/ends until he takes the trash out once successfully, because doing it wrong will mean it doesn't count)
(More discussion of what order they have to be cleaned in)
And then, he tells me he started washing windows at the house next door, changed his mind, washed the windows and swept at the new house, and how does he combine them?
I don't know how I eventually got him off the phone. I'm pretty sure he still didn't understand (or want to understand) anything I told him.
And is it wrong that I really hope he never gets the trash taken out, so we don't ever have to deal with him again?
Sooo....
I got a call transferred to me from Jeanie, one of my level 2 workers (high-level processing, not-quite-supervisors) because the caller didn't like anything she had to say and therefore she wasn't "professional." Apparently a professional would understand the caller's questions (read: give him what he wanted to hear) instead of providing accurate/displeasing information.
I work in a particular government agency that has to do with professional licensing and regulations; as such, our requirements are laid out in state law and cannot be waived or amended. There is a time limit that an applicant must have completed certain related requirements; the time limit can be extended under one circumstance only, otherwise they have to repeat the requirements to bring them within the right time frame.
Let's say you get one full year to wash the windows, sweep the floors, and take out the trash. If you don't finish them all in a year, you can get an extra six months to catch up if you also mow the lawn.
This Sucky Caller took 15 months to wash the windows and sweep, and hasn't even tried to take the trash out. So he can either take the trash out and then mow the lawn to qualify for the extra 6 months exemption, or he can take the trash out and then re-wash and re-sweep before another year is up.
Me: The easiest way for most people to qualify is to mow the lawn and get an extension. (long explanation of exactly why)
SC: But I don't know how to mow the lawn. Does that happen automatically when I finish cleaning the house?
Me: No, it's a voluntary process that isn't required, but provides a way for some poeple to be exempted from certain requirements.
SC: Okay, set it up for me.
Me: I can't do that. You need a lawnmower, and the only way to get that is to go to the store.
SC: What store do I go to? And what kind of lawnmower do I get?
Me: What store will depend on what lawnmower you pick; we can't decide that for you. (long explanation about the different kinds of lawnmowers and what factors go into choosing one)
SC: But when somebody came to my house last week, they said there were two other options I could finish with - that I could get a lawnmower and cut the lawn, or re-clean everything so it would be done in the same year. So there's really three options.
Me: Well, the mowing is what we just talked about, so there's really only two options -
SC: BUT you didn't even tell me I could re-clean!
Me: Right, that's the second option we hadn't gotten to yet.
(Long, repetitive, much-interrupted explanation of exactly how to re-clean everything)
(Long, repetitive, much-interrupted discussion of what order things have to be cleaned in)
(More arguing about how he gets a lawnmower if we won't buy it for him)
(More explanation about we can't determine the outside time frame of when his year starts/ends until he takes the trash out once successfully, because doing it wrong will mean it doesn't count)
(More discussion of what order they have to be cleaned in)
And then, he tells me he started washing windows at the house next door, changed his mind, washed the windows and swept at the new house, and how does he combine them?
I don't know how I eventually got him off the phone. I'm pretty sure he still didn't understand (or want to understand) anything I told him.
And is it wrong that I really hope he never gets the trash taken out, so we don't ever have to deal with him again?
Turn the mower on and push the damn thing. Even a baby can push those little mower things with the balls in them that bounce around inside. Does it happen automatically is like asking does a haircut happen automatically.
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