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Today was the worst day I've had in a long time...
Given the number of complaints that are about language I'd just like to say that most people who speak another language are sensible, and come in with someone to help them if needed, or contact us to ask if we can interpret. A small number of people genuinely can't get any help (like a woman who I advised who spoke no English and was being prevented from making any contacts outside the family who were effectively holding her hostage) and we'll pay for an interpreter if it's something like that. I'd also say there are more people who try and claim they can understand when they're struggling than pretend they can't. These are a small majority of idiots.
I get that you don't like the answer but...
Sometimes I get to tell people things that they don't like. I have no control over what I tell people really - I tell them what the law is, or what helps available for them, I don't decide what they can get.
In this case the news was that an employer :
dismissing you after 3 1/2 years off sick (unpaid - but still) and likely to be off for another 2 years
offering you 12 weeks notice pay which could almost certainly be legally avoided
offering to arrange a "gathering" so you can say goodbye to people
and telling you to contact them if you do get better because they'll consider re-employing you
Is not just not illegal it's a bloody good offer !
Now if you don't like what I'm saying then you can leave and seek a second opinion.
What I can't stand is people who :
This woman did all 3. She got annoyed with me, she stared intently and then she said she couldn't understand English. I've advised her 2 or 3 times before.
There is someone who speaks her language though he does a different job - he agreed (after saying "but I know this woman, she speaks perfect English") to come and "interpret" and she looked pretty disappointed when he told her the same thing.
If you don't know what the problem is, I don't
Guy came in with a whole bunch of papers. He was really angry about something. I have no idea what. He couldn't say, he didn't speak English and appeared to be pointing at things at random. When I understood what he said (about 1/3 maybe) I still didn't get what was wrong and he couldn't answer any questions.
He's coming back with a family member who does speak English.
The basic skills of an interpreter
I'm really, genuinely, grateful to those people who will give up there time to come in with friends and family and interpret. It makes it possible for us to do our job.
However when I ask you questions about what happened to your friend and everytime you say "I don't know, I wasn't there" I start to think you miss the point of interpreting.
He's right there ! You speak English like me, and Polish (I think) like him ! ASK HIM !
That is all.
I just hate
...any enquiry about Parking Penalties.
It's not the customers fault (well, accept for getting the tickets in the first place) it just annoys me.
Well, at least nobody....
Arghh
So there was one thing missing to make my day complete. Nobody had attempted to strip off and show me an injury.
Until the last client. A very wound up man trying to get housing, and with paperwork showing all sorts of behavioural and mental health issues (though apparently not quite enough issues to have got him into any housing projects).
Right at the end he starts telling me how someone else at the hostel he's been staying at has stabbed him. Then he pulls his shirt right up to show me the hole in his side.
Which reminds me of one of the quiz questions I had for my protege - our young volunteer adviser. All her tests are based on actual experiences I have had :
Question : What do you do when a client pulls down her trousers and shows you the bruise on her bottom caused by an accident.
Her answer : Well, I'd explain that I'm not medically trained. She should discuss the matter with her doctor, and if she sees a solicitor they may want evidence such as a medical report or photo's, but I just need her to tell me what happened.
Correct answer : Close your eyes. Fast.
Of course it could be worse. It always could. No one was sick. Another adviser got the 3 screaming children in the room. No one cried. no one showed me photo's of their fences or walls. No one showed me photos of damp. The stab wound was on the torso...
ETA :
it's not just the customers who annoy me.
The volunteer receptionsist from hell struck again.
We see people on a first come first served basis with the hi-tech appraoch of giving out raffle/cloakroom tickets, and writing the numbers on a list so advisers initial and tick when they take people. If someone's been here before they might ask to see a specific person and then that person's initials go next to their number to be ticked off.
So then we go out and call the next number on the list because we don't want to be yelling out names...
It works OK until something goes wrong, then one thing leads to another which leads to chaos.
In this case Adviser1 has someone waiting for them, but the rest of us are further down the list. Adviser1 goes out, signs for the person at the end of the list - but the missed person objects and she takes him instead. So now someone has been signed for while they're still sitting out there.
So I go out and sign the next number and call it - but the person before objects and after a minute or 2 we work out what's happened.
Now I'm sensible and I want to make sure it doesn't happen again - so I start changing the sheet and crossing out the wrongly signed/ticked one that will be called next.
Receptionist from hell literally knocks my pen out of the way with hers and takes over. She says she'll do it.
I look at the mess we've created and say I'll go and get tippex and we'll do it properly. She says she'll sort it all out. We've got as far as changing the sheet for the person I'm taking.
Next time I go out Adviser1 is trying to work out why someone has been missed out again. Receptionist from hell hadn't crossed the mistake out at all.
Grrr.
You don't have to work here either.
We share a building with other organisations and companies. We're the biggest office and we have a whole lot of exclusive connected rooms, but also have some "loose" office rooms in the rest of the place. The other organisations have single rooms, or multiple unconnected rooms. We have our own entrance, everyone else uses a different main door.
I was advising today in an unconnected room which is near the main entrance to the building. Outside the door there is a whole bank of bells - people ring the bell for their organisation and then wait in a little lobby area to be collected. There is a big sign to that affect just inside the door.
(Someone altered it so it reads "Wait here to be collected by your ghost").
So I do not expect visitors to the building to wander through 3 sets of doors and stick there heads into my interview room. I may be happy to share unidentified and untracable stories with people but I do actually take confidentially quite seriously. GET OUT !
Victoria J
Given the number of complaints that are about language I'd just like to say that most people who speak another language are sensible, and come in with someone to help them if needed, or contact us to ask if we can interpret. A small number of people genuinely can't get any help (like a woman who I advised who spoke no English and was being prevented from making any contacts outside the family who were effectively holding her hostage) and we'll pay for an interpreter if it's something like that. I'd also say there are more people who try and claim they can understand when they're struggling than pretend they can't. These are a small majority of idiots.
I get that you don't like the answer but...
Sometimes I get to tell people things that they don't like. I have no control over what I tell people really - I tell them what the law is, or what helps available for them, I don't decide what they can get.
In this case the news was that an employer :
dismissing you after 3 1/2 years off sick (unpaid - but still) and likely to be off for another 2 years
offering you 12 weeks notice pay which could almost certainly be legally avoided
offering to arrange a "gathering" so you can say goodbye to people
and telling you to contact them if you do get better because they'll consider re-employing you
Is not just not illegal it's a bloody good offer !
Now if you don't like what I'm saying then you can leave and seek a second opinion.
What I can't stand is people who :
- get angry with me as if it's my fault
- just STARE at me when I'm talking as if they can will me to say something different
- pretend they can't understand as soon as they hear something they don't like
This woman did all 3. She got annoyed with me, she stared intently and then she said she couldn't understand English. I've advised her 2 or 3 times before.
There is someone who speaks her language though he does a different job - he agreed (after saying "but I know this woman, she speaks perfect English") to come and "interpret" and she looked pretty disappointed when he told her the same thing.
If you don't know what the problem is, I don't
Guy came in with a whole bunch of papers. He was really angry about something. I have no idea what. He couldn't say, he didn't speak English and appeared to be pointing at things at random. When I understood what he said (about 1/3 maybe) I still didn't get what was wrong and he couldn't answer any questions.
He's coming back with a family member who does speak English.
The basic skills of an interpreter
I'm really, genuinely, grateful to those people who will give up there time to come in with friends and family and interpret. It makes it possible for us to do our job.
However when I ask you questions about what happened to your friend and everytime you say "I don't know, I wasn't there" I start to think you miss the point of interpreting.
He's right there ! You speak English like me, and Polish (I think) like him ! ASK HIM !
That is all.
I just hate
...any enquiry about Parking Penalties.
It's not the customers fault (well, accept for getting the tickets in the first place) it just annoys me.
Well, at least nobody....
Arghh
So there was one thing missing to make my day complete. Nobody had attempted to strip off and show me an injury.
Until the last client. A very wound up man trying to get housing, and with paperwork showing all sorts of behavioural and mental health issues (though apparently not quite enough issues to have got him into any housing projects).
Right at the end he starts telling me how someone else at the hostel he's been staying at has stabbed him. Then he pulls his shirt right up to show me the hole in his side.
Which reminds me of one of the quiz questions I had for my protege - our young volunteer adviser. All her tests are based on actual experiences I have had :
Question : What do you do when a client pulls down her trousers and shows you the bruise on her bottom caused by an accident.
Her answer : Well, I'd explain that I'm not medically trained. She should discuss the matter with her doctor, and if she sees a solicitor they may want evidence such as a medical report or photo's, but I just need her to tell me what happened.
Correct answer : Close your eyes. Fast.
Of course it could be worse. It always could. No one was sick. Another adviser got the 3 screaming children in the room. No one cried. no one showed me photo's of their fences or walls. No one showed me photos of damp. The stab wound was on the torso...
ETA :
it's not just the customers who annoy me.
The volunteer receptionsist from hell struck again.
We see people on a first come first served basis with the hi-tech appraoch of giving out raffle/cloakroom tickets, and writing the numbers on a list so advisers initial and tick when they take people. If someone's been here before they might ask to see a specific person and then that person's initials go next to their number to be ticked off.
So then we go out and call the next number on the list because we don't want to be yelling out names...
It works OK until something goes wrong, then one thing leads to another which leads to chaos.
In this case Adviser1 has someone waiting for them, but the rest of us are further down the list. Adviser1 goes out, signs for the person at the end of the list - but the missed person objects and she takes him instead. So now someone has been signed for while they're still sitting out there.
So I go out and sign the next number and call it - but the person before objects and after a minute or 2 we work out what's happened.
Now I'm sensible and I want to make sure it doesn't happen again - so I start changing the sheet and crossing out the wrongly signed/ticked one that will be called next.
Receptionist from hell literally knocks my pen out of the way with hers and takes over. She says she'll do it.
I look at the mess we've created and say I'll go and get tippex and we'll do it properly. She says she'll sort it all out. We've got as far as changing the sheet for the person I'm taking.
Next time I go out Adviser1 is trying to work out why someone has been missed out again. Receptionist from hell hadn't crossed the mistake out at all.
Grrr.
You don't have to work here either.
We share a building with other organisations and companies. We're the biggest office and we have a whole lot of exclusive connected rooms, but also have some "loose" office rooms in the rest of the place. The other organisations have single rooms, or multiple unconnected rooms. We have our own entrance, everyone else uses a different main door.
I was advising today in an unconnected room which is near the main entrance to the building. Outside the door there is a whole bank of bells - people ring the bell for their organisation and then wait in a little lobby area to be collected. There is a big sign to that affect just inside the door.
(Someone altered it so it reads "Wait here to be collected by your ghost").
So I do not expect visitors to the building to wander through 3 sets of doors and stick there heads into my interview room. I may be happy to share unidentified and untracable stories with people but I do actually take confidentially quite seriously. GET OUT !
Victoria J
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