I know I tend to lurk more than post, but I had to post this one.
For a bit of background, I work in a call center; it's not your normal everyday call center, as I work in social services. As a consequence, I'm dealing with a lot of very angry people who feel they have very little control over their lives. I used to be convinced that the people I deal with need more hand-holding than most, but after reading all your stories on this website, I'm not so sure that's entirely true anymore. Anyway...
In July 2009, my home state decided to stop funding several "optional" services through Medicaid (for those of you not in the U.S., it's government-funded health care intended mainly for the very poor). These services include such "non-essential" health services as dentistry, vision care and podiatry. There are some very limited resources for obtaining dentistry and vision care (I'm still trying to figure out how those two things are non-essential, but that's neither here nor there). However, we have NO referrals for podiatry services. The SC in question was calling for...you guessed it...podiatry services.
She was an older lady, who initiated the call by admitting that she knew the state had stopped paying for podiatry services, but she now needed services and wanted to find out how she could go about getting services without paying for them because she could not afford to pay for them. Unfortunately, as I've said, none of the community organizations we've been dealing with for the last 7 months provide podiatry services. I don't have a single referral in any of my resource guides; if it was out there, it would be in my guides.
When I told this lady the above, she was less than pleased. "You HAVE to have something!" she cried. When I informed her that I, indeed, did not have anything, she became increasingly agitated. "Come ON! You have to have SOMETHING. You just need to find it!" The conversation went something like this:
Me: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't have any referrals to those services. I have plenty for other kinds of services the state has stopped funding, but none for podiatry. If -"
SC: "But you HAVE to have SOMETHING! What am I supposed to do now?! Where do I go? What do I do?!!!!!1eleventy!!!11!!! I'm going to be crippled! I'm poor! I can't pay for those services! The state referred me to a program that I have to pay for and I'm poor!"
Me: "As I was trying to say, if you receive Medicare (gov't funded healthcare for people over 65), maybe -"
SC: "I'VE ALREADY TRIED THEM!! I'VE BEEN EVERYWHERE! I'VE CALLED THE STATE AND THEY HAVE NOTHING! NOTHING!!!!!!!!!ELEVENTY!11111111!!!!!"
Me: "Well, ma'am, if Medicare has nothing and the state has nothing, I'm sorry, but we don't -"
SC *in that "knowing" tone*: "Oh, you KNOW you have referrals! You're just lazy! You know you can just get on your little computer and press a button and have a bunch of referrals for me! Computers can work miracles!!!" (note: The "you're just lazy" comment was Strike One).
Me: "Ma'am, I'm sorry, we have -"
SC: "Stop playing games! Stop passing the buck! STOP PASSING THE BUCK! You just don't want to help me because it's almost time for you to go home (note: it's 3 pm. I still have TWO HOURS to go) and God forbid you should have to actually DO SOME WORK!" (Strike Two...) "Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I'm going to be crippled, and you don't even CARE! I'm poor! I'M POOR!" (tell me about it, lady. So's everyone else I work with)
Me: "Ma'am, if you'd only let me fini -"
SC: "Oh, stop passing the buck! Get on your little computer and work a miracle for me! You don't want to help me because I'm poor (whaaaat? I work with poor people ALL DAY, lady!) and I'm the wrong color! All these blacks and Mexicans -" (Strike Three; I'm not going to sit here and listen to racist BS on top of the crazy....YOOOOOUUUU'RRRRRRRE OUT!)
Me: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm going to have to terminate this call." *click*
After this call, I was FUMING. You call KNOWING that you're trying to obtain a service that is no longer available to you. You state you have called places that, logically, would have more information than I would, and yet you expect me to pull a "miracle" out of my ass. And then, when I have the temerity to tell you that I can't actually pull miracles out of my ass, call me lazy and a racist? You have some fucking nerve. Yelling at me and accusing me of racism, in fact, are bound to make me LESS inclined to help you.
I very, very rarely use my call-termination prerogative. Nine times out of ten, I can get a screamer calmed down enough to stop swearing and screaming and let me help them. It might take a fair amount of time, but unless they're drunk or on drugs (which happens exactly as often as you'd think in a social services setting), I can usually turn the call around enough to accomplish something. In the three years I've been working in my current position, I've only had to terminate maybe 2-3 calls, which is a fairly good average, considering.
However, if you're going to spew racist garbage at me, or otherwise be harassing, threatening or in any way abusive, you can bet I am going to terminate the call, no questions asked. I don't have time for you to sit there and argue with me about the finer points of my job description (note: "miracle worker" isn't on there); I have other calls waiting and when a call degrades to a point where I can clearly no longer help you, I'm hanging up.
It's one thing to be agitated and upset, because social services are labyrinthine and confusing enough, but it's inexcusable to play the race card regardless of your race. It upsets me, because I happen to be a minority from an immigrant family, and I've never used that as an excuse for poor behavior or as a free pass for any kind of public entitlements.
I did feel pretty bad initially telling her there was no way I could help her, but once the call degraded to the point it did, I felt fully justified in hanging up. Looking back on it, I should have told her to hold on a few minutes so I could "look it up in my little computer" and gone off to get some water, use the bathroom, read my email or something, just long enough to let her think I was actually looking, and then come back on the line with the "bad news," but I didn't think of it at the time. She had me agitated enough as it was.
For a bit of background, I work in a call center; it's not your normal everyday call center, as I work in social services. As a consequence, I'm dealing with a lot of very angry people who feel they have very little control over their lives. I used to be convinced that the people I deal with need more hand-holding than most, but after reading all your stories on this website, I'm not so sure that's entirely true anymore. Anyway...
In July 2009, my home state decided to stop funding several "optional" services through Medicaid (for those of you not in the U.S., it's government-funded health care intended mainly for the very poor). These services include such "non-essential" health services as dentistry, vision care and podiatry. There are some very limited resources for obtaining dentistry and vision care (I'm still trying to figure out how those two things are non-essential, but that's neither here nor there). However, we have NO referrals for podiatry services. The SC in question was calling for...you guessed it...podiatry services.
She was an older lady, who initiated the call by admitting that she knew the state had stopped paying for podiatry services, but she now needed services and wanted to find out how she could go about getting services without paying for them because she could not afford to pay for them. Unfortunately, as I've said, none of the community organizations we've been dealing with for the last 7 months provide podiatry services. I don't have a single referral in any of my resource guides; if it was out there, it would be in my guides.
When I told this lady the above, she was less than pleased. "You HAVE to have something!" she cried. When I informed her that I, indeed, did not have anything, she became increasingly agitated. "Come ON! You have to have SOMETHING. You just need to find it!" The conversation went something like this:
Me: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I don't have any referrals to those services. I have plenty for other kinds of services the state has stopped funding, but none for podiatry. If -"
SC: "But you HAVE to have SOMETHING! What am I supposed to do now?! Where do I go? What do I do?!!!!!1eleventy!!!11!!! I'm going to be crippled! I'm poor! I can't pay for those services! The state referred me to a program that I have to pay for and I'm poor!"
Me: "As I was trying to say, if you receive Medicare (gov't funded healthcare for people over 65), maybe -"
SC: "I'VE ALREADY TRIED THEM!! I'VE BEEN EVERYWHERE! I'VE CALLED THE STATE AND THEY HAVE NOTHING! NOTHING!!!!!!!!!ELEVENTY!11111111!!!!!"
Me: "Well, ma'am, if Medicare has nothing and the state has nothing, I'm sorry, but we don't -"
SC *in that "knowing" tone*: "Oh, you KNOW you have referrals! You're just lazy! You know you can just get on your little computer and press a button and have a bunch of referrals for me! Computers can work miracles!!!" (note: The "you're just lazy" comment was Strike One).
Me: "Ma'am, I'm sorry, we have -"
SC: "Stop playing games! Stop passing the buck! STOP PASSING THE BUCK! You just don't want to help me because it's almost time for you to go home (note: it's 3 pm. I still have TWO HOURS to go) and God forbid you should have to actually DO SOME WORK!" (Strike Two...) "Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? I'm going to be crippled, and you don't even CARE! I'm poor! I'M POOR!" (tell me about it, lady. So's everyone else I work with)
Me: "Ma'am, if you'd only let me fini -"
SC: "Oh, stop passing the buck! Get on your little computer and work a miracle for me! You don't want to help me because I'm poor (whaaaat? I work with poor people ALL DAY, lady!) and I'm the wrong color! All these blacks and Mexicans -" (Strike Three; I'm not going to sit here and listen to racist BS on top of the crazy....YOOOOOUUUU'RRRRRRRE OUT!)
Me: "I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm going to have to terminate this call." *click*
After this call, I was FUMING. You call KNOWING that you're trying to obtain a service that is no longer available to you. You state you have called places that, logically, would have more information than I would, and yet you expect me to pull a "miracle" out of my ass. And then, when I have the temerity to tell you that I can't actually pull miracles out of my ass, call me lazy and a racist? You have some fucking nerve. Yelling at me and accusing me of racism, in fact, are bound to make me LESS inclined to help you.
I very, very rarely use my call-termination prerogative. Nine times out of ten, I can get a screamer calmed down enough to stop swearing and screaming and let me help them. It might take a fair amount of time, but unless they're drunk or on drugs (which happens exactly as often as you'd think in a social services setting), I can usually turn the call around enough to accomplish something. In the three years I've been working in my current position, I've only had to terminate maybe 2-3 calls, which is a fairly good average, considering.
However, if you're going to spew racist garbage at me, or otherwise be harassing, threatening or in any way abusive, you can bet I am going to terminate the call, no questions asked. I don't have time for you to sit there and argue with me about the finer points of my job description (note: "miracle worker" isn't on there); I have other calls waiting and when a call degrades to a point where I can clearly no longer help you, I'm hanging up.
It's one thing to be agitated and upset, because social services are labyrinthine and confusing enough, but it's inexcusable to play the race card regardless of your race. It upsets me, because I happen to be a minority from an immigrant family, and I've never used that as an excuse for poor behavior or as a free pass for any kind of public entitlements.
I did feel pretty bad initially telling her there was no way I could help her, but once the call degraded to the point it did, I felt fully justified in hanging up. Looking back on it, I should have told her to hold on a few minutes so I could "look it up in my little computer" and gone off to get some water, use the bathroom, read my email or something, just long enough to let her think I was actually looking, and then come back on the line with the "bad news," but I didn't think of it at the time. She had me agitated enough as it was.
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