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I've been here for years, but just haven't had a whole lot to post. Well, things have changed haha.
Background: I work in benefits. Health, pension, retirement, and life insurance to be exact. I'm on the front lines, highly trained (higher than anyone else at my level) and have been recognized numerous times for my excellent customer service and problem solving abilities. I love my job, I do! But I've noticed myself getting a little....sassier lately, perhaps due (in part?) to all of the nincompoopery I've dealt with lately.
If you'd shut up for 3 seconds, I can answer your questions!
I work on the phones. Benefits are "broken"? They call us. They have questions about their insurance? They call us. They want to start a retirement? They call us. You get the idea....
One BIG question we get all the time is about Medicare. (For those across the pond, Medicare is the US Medical program for folks over 65 and disabled people. People always always have questions about big, bad Medicare. Medicare happens to be one of my specialties, and I'm glad to explain it to people. If they'd just. Shut. Up. Sometimes. This one lady in particular, we'll call her R, for Rude: (this is paraphrased, of course)....
Me: Good afternoon, my name is ________.
R: I'm turning 65 and going on Medicare. Can you help me?
Me: Absolutely, let's-
R: Well, so-and-so told me that [some random untruth about coverage].
Me: I'm sorry ma'am, that's not actually how---
R: But I don't get it. Can you explain it to me?
Me: Sure! So there are two major parts--- (getting a little annoyed)
R: What do I need? What plans?
Me: Ma'am. I'm trying really hard to assist you, but it's very difficult for me to answer your questions when you continue to interrupt me. I can help you with any questions you have, but we're not going to get anywhere if you don't let me talk and give you answers. Okay?
R: (meekly) ...okay
Me: Okay, so Medicare is.....
For real? You're 65, retired (with benefits, which means you worked for a LONG TIME WITH THE SAME COMPANY!), and you still haven't learned the mechanics of a conversation? I talk, you talk, I talk, you talk. Simple.
Being rude won't work. Sorry.
One major hiccup we have right now is retirement. We just had several thousand people retire. At the same time. There are about 30 (maybe) people who handle retirements. I'm one of them. A few unlucky souls have to have theirs done entirely by hand. Which, when we have this many, creates quite a backlog. Things that used to take a week are now taking 3, you get the idea....
We'll have people call in and try to bully us into "complete it TODAY or else!" and try to intimidate us. I'm sorry, that's not going to work. You have to wait in line...like everyone else.
It's even better though when everything is finally finished and ready for them to sign off on (literally, sign off on). They can't seem to follow a simple instruction: mail the whole thing back. No, not just the signature page. We need the whole entire thing, and everything has to be right or you won't get your money right then. Sorry.
One gem today (we'll call him B, for Bully wanna-be)
B: But we got married FOUR YEARS ago and I tried to change her last name (wife's last name in our system was different than how she signed it) but you guys did it wrong!
Me: I do apologize, but I don't see a record of you calling in requesting us to change it for her. It's a very simple process, it will take just a moment. (It's important to mention here that we also do chat-support, but we can't process ANYTHING via chat. This conversation happened to be on chat). I can assure you that once we correct her name and send you a new document with the correct name to sign and return, the process will be smooth.
B: You guys never do anything right! I said I've tried it and every time you said it would be done, it wasn't! [Company] sucks!
Me: I understand your frustration, but unfortunately we cannot accept this document as-is. Please contact the benefits center at [phone number] so we can correct her name and send you a new document.
B: Oh yeah, and they'll say it will be done again and it won't be. I called yesterday and was on hold for thirty minutes waiting to talk to someone!
Me: I apologize, our volumes have been very high. However, we're not very busy right now, you'll be able to get straight through to someone who will be able to assist you.
B: What, just to tell me something will be done again when it won't? Send me a new document with her name on it immediately!
Me: I do apologize, I'm not able to process transactions via chat [we had this discussion earlier]. You will need to call into the benefits center to get this taken care of.
B: Fine, I'll call now. Thanks for nothing, you've been no help at all.
Me: [thoroughly annoyed at this point] You're very welcome. Have a great day.
I checked his account this afternoon. He never called in..... Guess who won't get his money?
Be mean. See if that makes me want to help you.
Sometimes we make mistakes. There's a lot going on, it happens. And we try to make good when that happens. This one guy in particular? There was an account number entered wrong in part of the process. Which delayed his payment possibly a month, maybe longer. Because it was our error, I'm going to try to get an off-cycle payment for him (which takes essentially an act of congress).
He's gonna be S, for sarcastic.
He had already rambled on about how much we suck, how much we don't care, etc for like 5 minutes while I was working on a solution.
Me: I do understand where you're coming from, Sir. I can hear that you're frustrated. This was our error, I'm going to see what I can do to remedy this for you. [establishes a time to call back with more info]
S: Oh, sure...see what you can do. [Company] doesn't care about the little people, [company] doesn't want to give us the money.
Me: I understand your frustration, I'm going to see what I can do. I'll call you back--
S: What, to tell me that I won't have my money for another month? [Company] surely cares about us! (sarcastically). They want to help us!!
Me: [annoyed] Sir, I understand your frustration, but I won't tolerate sarcasm, and being sarcastic isn't going to solve this problem any faster. I'll work on a solution and call you back by Thursday. Okay? Can I help you with anything else today?
S: Uh, no...that's it. *click*
Me: 1, him: 0.
Of course there are various other gems, but the best ones are always the ones I have to take control of because the person is so off-base. I get that I deal with these people's money and health insurance...two hugely important things in their lives. BUT....it doesn't give them a right to treat me (or anyone else) like a steaming pile of crap when all I'm trying to do is help them. I'll take some abuse if they're frustrated or whatever, but there comes a time when I'll put my foot down and allow no more.
Background: I work in benefits. Health, pension, retirement, and life insurance to be exact. I'm on the front lines, highly trained (higher than anyone else at my level) and have been recognized numerous times for my excellent customer service and problem solving abilities. I love my job, I do! But I've noticed myself getting a little....sassier lately, perhaps due (in part?) to all of the nincompoopery I've dealt with lately.
If you'd shut up for 3 seconds, I can answer your questions!
I work on the phones. Benefits are "broken"? They call us. They have questions about their insurance? They call us. They want to start a retirement? They call us. You get the idea....
One BIG question we get all the time is about Medicare. (For those across the pond, Medicare is the US Medical program for folks over 65 and disabled people. People always always have questions about big, bad Medicare. Medicare happens to be one of my specialties, and I'm glad to explain it to people. If they'd just. Shut. Up. Sometimes. This one lady in particular, we'll call her R, for Rude: (this is paraphrased, of course)....
Me: Good afternoon, my name is ________.
R: I'm turning 65 and going on Medicare. Can you help me?
Me: Absolutely, let's-
R: Well, so-and-so told me that [some random untruth about coverage].
Me: I'm sorry ma'am, that's not actually how---
R: But I don't get it. Can you explain it to me?
Me: Sure! So there are two major parts--- (getting a little annoyed)
R: What do I need? What plans?
Me: Ma'am. I'm trying really hard to assist you, but it's very difficult for me to answer your questions when you continue to interrupt me. I can help you with any questions you have, but we're not going to get anywhere if you don't let me talk and give you answers. Okay?
R: (meekly) ...okay
Me: Okay, so Medicare is.....
For real? You're 65, retired (with benefits, which means you worked for a LONG TIME WITH THE SAME COMPANY!), and you still haven't learned the mechanics of a conversation? I talk, you talk, I talk, you talk. Simple.
Being rude won't work. Sorry.
One major hiccup we have right now is retirement. We just had several thousand people retire. At the same time. There are about 30 (maybe) people who handle retirements. I'm one of them. A few unlucky souls have to have theirs done entirely by hand. Which, when we have this many, creates quite a backlog. Things that used to take a week are now taking 3, you get the idea....
We'll have people call in and try to bully us into "complete it TODAY or else!" and try to intimidate us. I'm sorry, that's not going to work. You have to wait in line...like everyone else.
It's even better though when everything is finally finished and ready for them to sign off on (literally, sign off on). They can't seem to follow a simple instruction: mail the whole thing back. No, not just the signature page. We need the whole entire thing, and everything has to be right or you won't get your money right then. Sorry.
One gem today (we'll call him B, for Bully wanna-be)
B: But we got married FOUR YEARS ago and I tried to change her last name (wife's last name in our system was different than how she signed it) but you guys did it wrong!
Me: I do apologize, but I don't see a record of you calling in requesting us to change it for her. It's a very simple process, it will take just a moment. (It's important to mention here that we also do chat-support, but we can't process ANYTHING via chat. This conversation happened to be on chat). I can assure you that once we correct her name and send you a new document with the correct name to sign and return, the process will be smooth.
B: You guys never do anything right! I said I've tried it and every time you said it would be done, it wasn't! [Company] sucks!
Me: I understand your frustration, but unfortunately we cannot accept this document as-is. Please contact the benefits center at [phone number] so we can correct her name and send you a new document.
B: Oh yeah, and they'll say it will be done again and it won't be. I called yesterday and was on hold for thirty minutes waiting to talk to someone!
Me: I apologize, our volumes have been very high. However, we're not very busy right now, you'll be able to get straight through to someone who will be able to assist you.
B: What, just to tell me something will be done again when it won't? Send me a new document with her name on it immediately!
Me: I do apologize, I'm not able to process transactions via chat [we had this discussion earlier]. You will need to call into the benefits center to get this taken care of.
B: Fine, I'll call now. Thanks for nothing, you've been no help at all.
Me: [thoroughly annoyed at this point] You're very welcome. Have a great day.
I checked his account this afternoon. He never called in..... Guess who won't get his money?
Be mean. See if that makes me want to help you.
Sometimes we make mistakes. There's a lot going on, it happens. And we try to make good when that happens. This one guy in particular? There was an account number entered wrong in part of the process. Which delayed his payment possibly a month, maybe longer. Because it was our error, I'm going to try to get an off-cycle payment for him (which takes essentially an act of congress).
He's gonna be S, for sarcastic.
He had already rambled on about how much we suck, how much we don't care, etc for like 5 minutes while I was working on a solution.
Me: I do understand where you're coming from, Sir. I can hear that you're frustrated. This was our error, I'm going to see what I can do to remedy this for you. [establishes a time to call back with more info]
S: Oh, sure...see what you can do. [Company] doesn't care about the little people, [company] doesn't want to give us the money.
Me: I understand your frustration, I'm going to see what I can do. I'll call you back--
S: What, to tell me that I won't have my money for another month? [Company] surely cares about us! (sarcastically). They want to help us!!
Me: [annoyed] Sir, I understand your frustration, but I won't tolerate sarcasm, and being sarcastic isn't going to solve this problem any faster. I'll work on a solution and call you back by Thursday. Okay? Can I help you with anything else today?
S: Uh, no...that's it. *click*
Me: 1, him: 0.
Of course there are various other gems, but the best ones are always the ones I have to take control of because the person is so off-base. I get that I deal with these people's money and health insurance...two hugely important things in their lives. BUT....it doesn't give them a right to treat me (or anyone else) like a steaming pile of crap when all I'm trying to do is help them. I'll take some abuse if they're frustrated or whatever, but there comes a time when I'll put my foot down and allow no more.
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