Exchanges with People that Make Your Brain Hurt

[RebeccainGA]

Had one yesterday with my boss. We're going over a group of data points for a new database we're deploying, and part of the data included is survey data (physical surveys of structures). We had two measurements we were discussing that were measured in AMSL terms (above mean sea level, as opposed to AGL, above ground level, like many measurements are taken). He argued (and won, since he's my boss) that the term AMSL was jargon and confusing - but it's one that is an industry standard, and we are dealing with people who work in this industry exclusively for this data, and it's a description of measurement for pete's sake! That's like saying feet square or degrees below zero is confusing.

We ended up describing what went into the measurement instead of saying total height AMSL (which is ground elevation + structure height + appurtenance height).

[Margo]

I had one with my phone company recently.

The phone line went dead, so I contacted the company via their website and booked for an engineer to come out. This involved giving them contact details, so of course I changed the contact number to that of my mobile phone, rather than the landline which wasn't working.

I then got a confirmation e-mail which confirmed that the engineer would phone when he was on his way (the booking was for a 4 hour slot)

What made my brain hurt was that in the e-mail, which had the subject line "Problem with you phone line" and which appeared to have been written by a human being not a robot, included the line
"I notice that you have given a different contact number from the number you have with us. Are you sure you don't want us to call you on your land line number?"

My sister had a similar situation with the same company. In her case they kept not turning up for appointments because she had not re-confirmed the appointments with them, as requested in the voice-mails they had been leaving her. On the phone which she had reported to them was not working at all. In any way.  They also managed to disconnect her internet when fixing the phone, at which point they started sending the appointment confirmations by e-mail. To someone else's e-mail address.
I think they ended up giving her a free upgrade and 6 months free contract as a result of that one.

[White Dragon]

Lots of pain to go around on this one!

I needed to sign out some documents from a vendor.
I needed new documents so we could add content and then sign the documents back in.

I carefully filled out the request form and triple checked it to make sure I had the data right.
(I'm on a bit of a personal mission to improve my accuracy.)

So I emailed my request, mentioning several times that I needed them to please create *new* documents for us.

The very polite reply was:

"I'm sorry, we can't sign these out to you as they are already signed out to you." 

Ummm...huh? How can we already have these if they don't exist yet?
Double checked the form - yes, it clearly asked for new documents.
Checked all the hidden sections and other pages. Nope, nothing.
Had my supervisor check the request form. Yes, it was 100% correct.

By now, we were going "What on earth are they smoking over there???"

I sent a very polite email back:

"I’m sorry, but I’m really confused.
We are asking for new, not existing documents.

Did I fill out the request incorrectly??"

And I re-attached my request form. (You see where this is going, don't you?)

Shortly I got my reply:

"The attachment on the first email was very different than this one." And she sent back the form I *originally* submitted.

Which was, of course, the wrong one. 
It was a completed request (even said so in the name!) so yes, of course we already had the documents. 

My response was a very humble apology for wasting her time and a polite request to please pretend it never happened and could she please process the *correct* form for me? 

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!
My zeal for accuracy got the form right, but I selected the wrong file. 

[Midnight Kitty]

My zeal for accuracy got the form right, but I selected the wrong file. 

Are you my sister?  I do stuff like that with embarrassing frequency. 

(I'm on a bit of a personal mission to improve my accuracy.)

Me, too.  For the same reasons.

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!

I'm a plum.

[Black Delphinium]

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!

I'm a plum.

I'm a peach.

[Lady Snowdon]

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!

I'm a plum.

I'm a peach.

I'm your huckleberry! 

[Diane AKA Traska]

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!

I'm a plum.

I'm a peach.

I'm your huckleberry! 

::Blows a raspberry::

[mmswm]

Some days, I look in the mirror and remind myself that sometimes, I'm a maroon!

I'm a plum.

I'm a peach.

I'm your huckleberry! 

::Blows a raspberry::

I'm the strawberry

[ladyknight1]

I'm a blackberry! 

[afbluebelle]

I'm a snozzberry!!!!


They taste like snozzberries, you know

[Lady Snowdon]

Short BG - my DH works in inventory and purchasing for a local chain of grocery stores, and as such has lots of contact with receiving and shift supervisors.

At least once a month, he'll have a version of the following conversation:

*phone rings on a Saturday or Sunday*

Random Guy (RG): LordSnowdon, we're out of *insert random ingredient here*!
DH: Are you sure?  I know we were supposed to get a shipment in yesterday.
RG: I'm sure!  There's none in *place ingredient shouldn't be*!
DH: Have you checked *correct place for ingredient*?
RG: No...
DH: Have you checked *other possible site*?
RG: Well, no.
DH: Why don't you check those places and see if you can find any.  If you don't find any there, send me an email, and I'll order more. 
RG: So...you think we might have some *ingredient* still? 
DH:    I know we have some, since we got a shipment yesterday.
RG: Oh.  Well, I guess I can look around some more...

I have no idea why these guys cannot think to *look* for something before they call my DH to complain that they don't have any of it!  I keep telling him he needs to record himself saying "Please check all the coolers and on the dock" and just play it on repeat when they call.  9 times out of 10, he comes home the next day, and when I ask if they had to order more *whatever*, he says "No, we had it.  It was in *correct place*". 

[blue2000]

Short BG - my DH works in inventory and purchasing for a local chain of grocery stores, and as such has lots of contact with receiving and shift supervisors.

At least once a month, he'll have a version of the following conversation:

*phone rings on a Saturday or Sunday*

Random Guy (RG): LordSnowdon, we're out of *insert random ingredient here*!
DH: Are you sure?  I know we were supposed to get a shipment in yesterday.
RG: I'm sure!  There's none in *place ingredient shouldn't be*!
DH: Have you checked *correct place for ingredient*?
RG: No...
DH: Have you checked *other possible site*?
RG: Well, no.
DH: Why don't you check those places and see if you can find any.  If you don't find any there, send me an email, and I'll order more. 
RG: So...you think we might have some *ingredient* still? 
DH:    I know we have some, since we got a shipment yesterday.
RG: Oh.  Well, I guess I can look around some more...

I have no idea why these guys cannot think to *look* for something before they call my DH to complain that they don't have any of it!  I keep telling him he needs to record himself saying "Please check all the coolers and on the dock" and just play it on repeat when they call.  9 times out of 10, he comes home the next day, and when I ask if they had to order more *whatever*, he says "No, we had it.  It was in *correct place*". 

We get the opposite brain hurty conversation at our store with some of the supervisors (not supply chain management).

"We are out of X. There is none on the shelf, and none in the storage bins. We need to order some."
"The computer says we have lots! You need to go look in the bins!"
"We LOOKED in the bins. We have none. They are on sale. We need to order some."
"Well look again! We are supposed to have five thousand!"
"Buddy, if we had five thousand they would fill the whole twelve-foot bin and then some. Do you SEE twelve feet of X product?"
"...Oh... OK, we'll order some..."

Or another conversation, just as fun -
 
"We are out of X. We need some, since it is on sale this week."
"We have lots in the back!"
"Where in the back?? They aren't in the bins or in Receiving."
"They are in the back corner of Y. We had to put stuff back there to make room for the sale items."
"That IS a sale item."
"...Oh... right."

[Reika]

I have no idea why these guys cannot think to *look* for something before they call my DH to complain that they don't have any of it!  I keep telling him he needs to record himself saying "Please check all the coolers and on the dock" and just play it on repeat when they call.  9 times out of 10, he comes home the next day, and when I ask if they had to order more *whatever*, he says "No, we had it.  It was in *correct place*".

Sounds like a good chunk of the people I work with. I work for a competitor of Aflac, and in my call center I do internal helpline as well as escalation. Most of the time the reps would get their answers if they just looked at the policy benefits, or the claims system, or the system that has electronic images of documents we've gotten on policies. Then they get annoyed when we asked them if they did their research before calling us, then verbally pout when we make them actually look stuff up instead of spoon feeding them the information.

[ladyknight1]

When I am training new staff, I...

Give them a very concise manual
Show them what to do
Watch them do it
Then let them practice on their own

This is a time consuming process, but the results are worth the time. New location manager does not agree. She things I am taking too long to train her staff person and that the training is unnecessary. My boss and I beg to differ.

[Reika]

When I am training new staff, I...

Give them a very concise manual
Show them what to do
Watch them do it
Then let them practice on their own

This is a time consuming process, but the results are worth the time. New location manager does not agree. She things I am taking too long to train her staff person and that the training is unnecessary. My boss and I beg to differ.

Having been dealing with the horrible combination of lazy people who haven't had proper training, I have to support you and your boss.