Everyone has bad days ... it's just part of being human. I felt like I had a pretty good handle on the world in general ... until the phone call.
A customer service rep (CSR) called to ask me to pull an order. It was my co-worker's order ... but he was away from his desk. Things had changed and the rep promised the client we would get the docs within the hour ... and so she asked me to step in and pull it immediately.
When I tried the website, the state (whose name I'll withhold to protect the innocent) said they couldn't provide the documents ... and if I had any questions, to call their Secretary of State's office.
So ... I did.
I spent approximately twenty minutes on hold ... listening to an orchestral version of the Blue Danube played at volume guaranteed to cause hearing loss. Just when I literally thought ... this couldn't get any worse ... the music was turned up to eleven. I thought I might stroke out ...
While that's going on, I'm in constant communication with the CSR ... "I'm on hold with the state. Please ask the client to be patient." Finally I get through to someone who explains to me that they can provide the documents ... but not online. This particular entity has to be hand-ordered. This is no big deal. We have vendors who do this. Easy peasy. Problem is ... it takes time. At least 24 hours ... sometimes 48.
I call the CSR to tell her this news in person. It seemed the more ... professional ... thing to do? She immediately starts grilling me. What did they say? Why? What did they mean? Why? We can get it in person though? Why? Why? Why?
I finally told her, "I've told you everything I know. Would you like the Secretary of State's phone number?" She said yes ... then proceeded to not only grill me ... but to berate me about how the state was wrong ... and went into great detail about why they were wrong. She finally snapped at me, "I'M calling them ... and I'M going to FIX this."
It was unprofessional ... it was wrong ... but I laughed ... out loud ... hard. Then I said, "Okay then ... you do that. You fix it ... good luck with that.." She angrily huffed at me and hung up.
She queued me fifteen minutes later with a one sentence message ... order the documents through the vendor. Not ... sorry for being a raving bitch. Not ... thank you for trying to take care of this. Nothing ...
For whatever reason the whole incident put a cloud over my entire afternoon. On lunch I took my car to the back of the lot ... parked it ... put the seat down to take a nap ... and had a good cry instead.
I took a massive pay cut ... just to have a job with insurance. For this? Really??
In October, my severance will be paid out from the government ... and my cousin will get her referral bonus. At that point I can think about going somewhere else ... doing something different. Or maybe by then I'll be numb? I'll be used to being yelled at ...
What a world ...
How much do you
Commit yourself?
Talk Talk - It's My Life
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