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Saturday, December 18, 2010

i was lied to the other day...

This was going to be a random post about everything in my head. But then one of the points turned out to be LONG so it is just going to be its own little post. :)

WORK STUFF.

My job is getting better. I am liking it lately. Yes, it is a stressful job & yes, there are challenges. But i have a great boss who LOVES me & HER boss is fantastic...she is kind & truly cares about us, i think. We are getting a Christmas bonus next week! Which has never happened since i've been there (this is my 3rd Christmas with them)! And i have some wonderful coworkers, too. :) 

When i complain about my job, it is rarely about the people i actually work with. It is usually about the "higher-ups" (who are not actually a part of our company but who set the rules & such since we are government funded) & about the provider companies. I am constantly amazed (in a bad way) at how just ANYONE can open a provider company. These are the companies that provide the long term care for the clients in their homes. Let me just say. They often do not pay their workers on time. They have very poor management skills. They cannot follow simple directions. And THEY are usually the ones i am angry at when i post vents here or on facebook. I do not mind blogging about them. MOST of them should be shut down (& some of them have been...due to FRAUD).

Please know that when i say this, i am not talking about ALL of them. Of course there are good companies, companies who work hard to provide good care & companies who THANK ME for a job well done (most of them gripe & complain not even realizing all i do! Or that their complaints have nothing to do with ME or my job.). But these good companies are the exception, not the rule. 

A conversation earlier this week with one company... she was mad that they didn't have something they were supposed to have on November 5th. Now it's a long complicated story, but trust me... i was doing my job correctly. She thought i wasn't. BUT - why did she wait until 12/16 to call me and ask about this?! I let her know i would try to help her...but then i said, "and...i'm sorry...but have you called me about this before now?" i was trying to say in a nice way that helping her would be better if i knew about the problem right away...she said, "no..." & then she changed her mind & said, "ACTUALLY, i have left NUMEROUS messages for you on your voicemail AND i even CAME BY YOUR OFFICE!" 

Um...wow...that was the most blatant in-my-face lie i have ever heard! My mouth dropped open & i just sat there & said nothing. I do not know if i have been lied to THAT blatantly before. Because seriously... i get a LOT of voicemails at work. But everyday i go through them all. i have a notebook & i write EVERY SINGLE voicemail down. And i call EVERY SINGLE person back (unless it is not something i handle - in which case i forward it to the right person). I have NEVER gotten a message from this woman or from her company. In fact, i was sending a letter out this week to the companies i know we use the most...and i started to not send her company one because i didn't recall the company name. Meaning SHE NEVER CALLS ME! I remember names well, people. Even company names. 

And if she came by my work, the receptionist would have called me to come up front! Unless she HAPPENED to come on my 30 minute lunch break?! Or one of the few days of work i missed? I doubt it. And if she had, the receptionist would have told me when i came back. She is LYING.

LIAR LIAR LIAR. I told her i found that very hard to believe since i check every message & call every person back. But she insisted. She was quite adamant. She was also quite a B**ch. (Sorry.)

She may have left SOMEONE a message, but it wasn't me. And i even doubt that, because everyone knows i deal with the providers & they would have forwarded her call to me!

I still can't believe she lied to me like that.

And i did end up helping her. Fixing the problem. I told her i would. I just had to confirm something first. So then i had to call her BACK to tell her that she WOULD get what she needed. And i was so nice. 

She doesn't know it, but that was called GRACE. Because i SHOULD have told her...

well. i will just shut up & forgive her already. :)

While i'm at it, i will share another work story. Last week a worker called me FURIOUS about not being paid correctly. NOW. First off, I do not pay these workers & neither does my company. All i do is issue the payment authorizations to the companies. Then the company knows they can pay the worker (which, as mentioned above, they sometimes DON'T. Which is basically stealing from the government). So basically i have nothing to do with the company paying the worker. HOWEVER, i was going to do whatever i could to help her.

BUT. She would not stop yelling. I mean, i couldn't get a word in edgewise EXCEPT to tell her to CALM DOWN.


I have been told that this is how you handle situations like this:

"Maam, i am very sorry you are upset. But i need you to speak calmly. If you can't do that, then we cannot have this conversation."

Something along those lines. Well. i told her that not once. Not twice. But at least 5 times. I said it very calmly & kindly. I was impressed with myself haha. She continued to yell.

At one point she said, "MAAM!!!! I AM NOT YELLING! I SPEAK WITH AUTHORITAYYYY!"

No.... you speak like someone who has lost all CONTROL.

I was actually the one speaking with authority.

Anyway, i hung up on her. The call was getting NOWHERE, i couldn't even let her know that i would help her & i could be doing other things instead of getting yelled at.

AND...i DID warn her that the conversation would have to end if she didn't stop the yelling.

Side note about Mel: Yelling at me will NOT EVER work with me. It only makes me VERY mad. There are more effective ways to communicate.

I warned my boss because i expected her to call back asking for my supervisor. Since i hung up on her. But she never called back. I DID fix her problem & called the provider company to let them know. So they let her know.

Well, she called me yesterday. And she never mentioned me hanging up on her. And she was totally nice. She had another problem & we fixed it like two adult human beings.

Maybe she was just having a bad day before (no excuse, but i'm just saying). Or maybe she realized yelling is not that effective with me. I don't know. But i'm glad it didn't end like the last conversation we had! :)

Ok, work rants over. And i'm sure i should keep ALL of this info to myself. But i'd rather not. Maybe i will delete it later, but for now, it's staying. I don't really care who reads it!

3 comments:

  1. Did she really truly say "I'm not yelling. I speak with authority!"???? Because if so that is just the most awesome story ever haha. I'm dying!

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  2. It is amazing to me how people can act like 2 year olds and think they can get away with it. And I don't mind reading "work horror stories" ... it just makes me glad to be a SAHM at this point in my life. :)

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  3. Ohhhh goodness, I deal with this ALOT with my job. I can't tell you how many times I've called to let someone know their insurance policy will be canceling for non-payment and they SWEAR that they mailed the payment WEEKS ago and are SHOCKED that I haven't received it yet. Then, it miraculously it comes 2 days later. I'd buy the "it got lost in the mail" story once, MAYBE twice...but when it is the SAME people every month, not so much. Highly aggravating.

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