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Another bad day. And apparently I'm in a Carry On film to boot.
Background : I work for a charity. I give people advice to try and sort out their problems. I don't see a lot of people as we can spend quite a bit of time on each client, keep very detailed records and are frankly abysmal at time management and setting up sensible ways of working. When I'm seeing people who just walk in I normally see 8 a day. Today I saw 6 and still finished an hour late - so relieved that the school holidays have led to a quiet patch.
Aaarrrgghh
^
There are no words to describe it.
I saw this SC last week. She's off to a bad start because she was on benefit for years and years, then briefly got a very insecure job. She immediately took out a whopping great second mortgage. Then she lost her job. She is in constant danger of losing her home. (And apparently spent 1/4 of it making changes to the house, then 1/4 of it putting the changes back because she'd failed to get planning permission),She's had a lot of help from us over the years - and it's getting more and more impossible to do anything because (a) she's made such a huge mess, (b) she can't account for half the whopping great loan, and (c) she can't give us the same information twice about who's living in the house and what money we have.
So last week she came in, and wanted me to do X which I flatly refused, Y which I said we'd look into if she made a phone call and got some paperwork, and Z which I suggested an alternative too - which involved her filling out a form.
She then wanted another thing - saying that she's paying back one of the small loans people on benefits can get from the government but the deductions from her ongoing benefits are too high. I draw the line at dealing with XYandZ in one go and tell her to come back this week.
She hasn't got the paperwork I asked for. She says she showed it to me last week. I point out that it didn't even exist last week (and apparently still doesn't).
She's filled out the form so badly it's insane. I have no problem with some mistakes given English is her second language. that's why I'm helping her with it. But she's indicated she both lives alone AND with someone - and can't tell me which is true. None of her financial details are correct. In one place she records a debt as being called "£60000 loan" but under amount owed she states "£2000".
I ask if she still wants help with trying to reduce payments on this little government loan. She says she wants help to get another government loan - the last one didn't pay enough to get the cooker etc. she needed. I suggest that this isn't a good idea if she can't afford the one she has. She denies she's making any payments and says she hasn't had any recent goverment loans and has paid off the old ones. I point out she's just said she had one and it wasn't big enough - she tries to look confused.
We have maybe a handful of customers this bad - but the time they take. One of our senior workers (on a project which can fund interpreters removing about 5% of the difficulty of communicating with this woman) gets to see her.
It hurt !
Ooh,er Matron
So I got another repeat customer. He's in every few months having failed to pay his bills - and can be pretty frustrating. But he's nicer, and he's transparent with us, and he has real mental and physical health problems leading to the problems. The sort of person we don't mind going out of our way for really.
However the funding for our specialists thinks we should sort out people's problems once, and never again.
So my manager has told me to put the letter the customer showed me onto the specialist file as evidence of the reality of what we deal with.
The customer had a To Whom It May Concern letter explaining that when admitted to hospital (and kept in for some days) he had lost his trousers, and other clothing. (The trousers are singled out for some reason).
The letter is signed [name], Matron
This one only isn't titled aaarrrggghh because I already used it...
There are 4 people here doing the same job I do - seeing customers who walk in off the street rather than appointments already filtered out etc. Apparently I'm the last one to see this gem.
I liked feeling left out.
Apparently this customer and the benefits agencies have had a bit of a disagreement as to whether she has been lving with her husband. She claimed he was living "with his other wife" - a possibility as he comes from a country that does recognise polygamous marriages.
This led to the benefits people asking for nearly £20000 (yep - that much) back. And that was just the start.
We tried to look into it - but between the week we booked her a specialist appointment and the week the appointment happened she decided he was now living with her. Unfortunately he has more money, and this meant she was no longer on the low income required for the appointment she'd been booked.
At this time the benefits people said he'd been there for years, the council said 3 months, she told us 1 week...
Today they came back. Both of them - we've not seen him before.
The customer herself speaks only limited English. She is also amazingly rude and angry all the time. Her husband seemed quite nice and has good English. She stomped into the room, flung herself into the chair sitting like a sulking teenager with arms dangling and legs stretched out - and glared at the wall without acknowledging me at all. He did all the talking.
In the course of getting them an appointment with someone with less strict rules about income I discovered :
That the people who provide assistance with the rent think he moved in 1 month after the date they told us.
That the tax people still don't know they live together. Leading to a debt growing at around £200 A WEEK because they're getting assistance they shouldn't.
That he hasn't paid any rent because he's waiting to here what part of the rent will be paid through government assistance. I did the calculation there and then - the answer is none of it!
That they are now threatened with eviction because they haven't been paying the rent.
He doesn't seem to know any of the things she's previously told us (yet she brought him with her and put her name down to have everything done on the existing file
) He looked shocked about the big debt.
When to get a new job
Not me !
Yesterday was better. No nightmare customers (and they really are the exception, I just wish they wouldn't clump). Less people than normal, and lots of odd but quick questions.
One person wanted to know how to get his finger prints taken. Apparently he needed a criminal record check from another country and they required him either to go in person (kind of expensive) or send finger prints.
And apparently the police do this. (Thank you google - who needs knowledge when you can bluff it with a search engine) There's a special service which does it for a fee.
I'm slightly jealous because it's done in New Scotland Yard, and I've never had an excuse to go in there though it's really familiar from the television (and I've walked past and seen the weird rotating sign).
But their information states that they provide this service for all kinds of identity, licensing, emigration, work abroad purposes etc. All fine. Except the last which states : For part of an evidence kit for people working in countries with unstable regimes.
Which I think means you have your fingerprints taken and put on file in case they find you dead and mutilated.
Victoria J
Background : I work for a charity. I give people advice to try and sort out their problems. I don't see a lot of people as we can spend quite a bit of time on each client, keep very detailed records and are frankly abysmal at time management and setting up sensible ways of working. When I'm seeing people who just walk in I normally see 8 a day. Today I saw 6 and still finished an hour late - so relieved that the school holidays have led to a quiet patch.
Aaarrrgghh
^
There are no words to describe it.
I saw this SC last week. She's off to a bad start because she was on benefit for years and years, then briefly got a very insecure job. She immediately took out a whopping great second mortgage. Then she lost her job. She is in constant danger of losing her home. (And apparently spent 1/4 of it making changes to the house, then 1/4 of it putting the changes back because she'd failed to get planning permission),She's had a lot of help from us over the years - and it's getting more and more impossible to do anything because (a) she's made such a huge mess, (b) she can't account for half the whopping great loan, and (c) she can't give us the same information twice about who's living in the house and what money we have.
So last week she came in, and wanted me to do X which I flatly refused, Y which I said we'd look into if she made a phone call and got some paperwork, and Z which I suggested an alternative too - which involved her filling out a form.
She then wanted another thing - saying that she's paying back one of the small loans people on benefits can get from the government but the deductions from her ongoing benefits are too high. I draw the line at dealing with XYandZ in one go and tell her to come back this week.
She hasn't got the paperwork I asked for. She says she showed it to me last week. I point out that it didn't even exist last week (and apparently still doesn't).
She's filled out the form so badly it's insane. I have no problem with some mistakes given English is her second language. that's why I'm helping her with it. But she's indicated she both lives alone AND with someone - and can't tell me which is true. None of her financial details are correct. In one place she records a debt as being called "£60000 loan" but under amount owed she states "£2000".
I ask if she still wants help with trying to reduce payments on this little government loan. She says she wants help to get another government loan - the last one didn't pay enough to get the cooker etc. she needed. I suggest that this isn't a good idea if she can't afford the one she has. She denies she's making any payments and says she hasn't had any recent goverment loans and has paid off the old ones. I point out she's just said she had one and it wasn't big enough - she tries to look confused.
We have maybe a handful of customers this bad - but the time they take. One of our senior workers (on a project which can fund interpreters removing about 5% of the difficulty of communicating with this woman) gets to see her.
It hurt !
Ooh,er Matron
So I got another repeat customer. He's in every few months having failed to pay his bills - and can be pretty frustrating. But he's nicer, and he's transparent with us, and he has real mental and physical health problems leading to the problems. The sort of person we don't mind going out of our way for really.
However the funding for our specialists thinks we should sort out people's problems once, and never again.
So my manager has told me to put the letter the customer showed me onto the specialist file as evidence of the reality of what we deal with.
The customer had a To Whom It May Concern letter explaining that when admitted to hospital (and kept in for some days) he had lost his trousers, and other clothing. (The trousers are singled out for some reason).
The letter is signed [name], Matron
This one only isn't titled aaarrrggghh because I already used it...
There are 4 people here doing the same job I do - seeing customers who walk in off the street rather than appointments already filtered out etc. Apparently I'm the last one to see this gem.
I liked feeling left out.
Apparently this customer and the benefits agencies have had a bit of a disagreement as to whether she has been lving with her husband. She claimed he was living "with his other wife" - a possibility as he comes from a country that does recognise polygamous marriages.
This led to the benefits people asking for nearly £20000 (yep - that much) back. And that was just the start.
We tried to look into it - but between the week we booked her a specialist appointment and the week the appointment happened she decided he was now living with her. Unfortunately he has more money, and this meant she was no longer on the low income required for the appointment she'd been booked.
At this time the benefits people said he'd been there for years, the council said 3 months, she told us 1 week...
Today they came back. Both of them - we've not seen him before.
The customer herself speaks only limited English. She is also amazingly rude and angry all the time. Her husband seemed quite nice and has good English. She stomped into the room, flung herself into the chair sitting like a sulking teenager with arms dangling and legs stretched out - and glared at the wall without acknowledging me at all. He did all the talking.
In the course of getting them an appointment with someone with less strict rules about income I discovered :
That the people who provide assistance with the rent think he moved in 1 month after the date they told us.
That the tax people still don't know they live together. Leading to a debt growing at around £200 A WEEK because they're getting assistance they shouldn't.
That he hasn't paid any rent because he's waiting to here what part of the rent will be paid through government assistance. I did the calculation there and then - the answer is none of it!
That they are now threatened with eviction because they haven't been paying the rent.
He doesn't seem to know any of the things she's previously told us (yet she brought him with her and put her name down to have everything done on the existing file
) He looked shocked about the big debt. When to get a new job
Not me !
Yesterday was better. No nightmare customers (and they really are the exception, I just wish they wouldn't clump). Less people than normal, and lots of odd but quick questions.
One person wanted to know how to get his finger prints taken. Apparently he needed a criminal record check from another country and they required him either to go in person (kind of expensive) or send finger prints.
And apparently the police do this. (Thank you google - who needs knowledge when you can bluff it with a search engine) There's a special service which does it for a fee.
I'm slightly jealous because it's done in New Scotland Yard, and I've never had an excuse to go in there though it's really familiar from the television (and I've walked past and seen the weird rotating sign).
But their information states that they provide this service for all kinds of identity, licensing, emigration, work abroad purposes etc. All fine. Except the last which states : For part of an evidence kit for people working in countries with unstable regimes.
Which I think means you have your fingerprints taken and put on file in case they find you dead and mutilated.
Victoria J
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