For the millionth time today

6 Responses to For the millionth time today

1. David says:

   May 3, 2011 at 4:17 pm

   You’re not making this up?!

   Reply
2. Erin says:

   May 3, 2011 at 4:51 pm

   No, definitely not. To be fair, Sydney is the only one who is on the books for a lot of things here: he has an employment number, and I don’t. But for a country that seems awfully concerned that women get maternity leave (a full year!), and that stay-at-home moms get social security funds, they definitely make you feel a bit second-class in everyday dealings.

   Erin

   Reply
3. Heidi says:

   May 3, 2011 at 5:25 pm

   Mark and I have a great arrangement for dealing with utilities: he pays the bills and I make all the hostile complaint calls about service/billing. Except he forgets to add my name to the account when we startup service, so in the middle of getting hostile, the service rep suddenly realizes they’re “not authorized to speak to me and must get my husband on the phone.” Nothing makes me want to smash the phone on the brick wall more than being mid-rant about horrible service and being told they have to speak to my husband first.

   Also, derivative/dependent immigration status sucks. Sorry you have to deal with that hassle.

   Reply
4. Mother-of-the-bride says:

   May 3, 2011 at 7:31 pm

   In all fairness to the persons on the other end of the phone, they’re doing their job 🙂 When dealing with irate folks in my past life – or needing info on which I am not legally signed , I have finally developed a work-around that is generally effective from either point of view. If I am the caller, I own up to the fact that I know I don’t have access. Next, I present the person with a couple of scenarios “…for example, if…how might I get that corrected?” No information has been disclosed, but usually I can obtain the information I need to move forward. Perhaps less hostility and ranting and more covert manipulation…?

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   • Heidi says:

     May 3, 2011 at 10:26 pm

     Now now, mother of the bride… I’ve grown up a teeny bit since high school! I generally try to be nice, and usually try to say things like, “I know you’re just doing your job, but can you explain why X isn’t possible or suggest an alternative course of action? Is there someone else who could authorize this action for me?” However, when I was writing this, I was thinking of a particular cable company who had not added my name after repeated requests and a series of incidents that was finally resolved after a lobbyist intervened on our behalf when they turned over a bill to a collection agency for “cable equipment” that had been returned months prior and insisted we were lying despite showing carbon copies of our receipts…

     Reply
5. Mother-of-the-bride says:

   May 4, 2011 at 10:12 pm

   Good heavens, you out there in D.C.! That was a rather extreme case! I presume you check your credit bureau records every now and then – I trust no collection agencies to do ‘the right thing’ when asinine charges are made!

   Reply