Thursday, January 28, 2010
I wonder again what the recession is looking like to my friends across the country... here, every day I talk to bank customers who are out of work. One day last month, we opened 9 new accounts in one day. Only one of them had a job, and he was self-employed. Here, in the little strip mall where the former Circuit City used to be, I just learned that the Old Navy is closing. This is a small town with very few shopping options, so losing a major retailer is a big deal. Why is Old Navy closing? Not because of poor sales, but because the landlord of the shopping center insisted on raising rent to make up for the missed rent when Circuit City closed. So one person's greed caused at least two dozen people to lose their jobs. Great. Yesterday I had some errands to run before I went to work, and decided if I left a little early, I'd have time to grab some lunch on the way in--only to discover the restaurant I had hoped to visit emptied out and boarded up. A co-worker's family is on pins and needles waiting for The Layoffs next week. Rumors are abuzz that the Japanese manufacturer they work for is gearing up for a huge wave of layoffs, focusing on middle management and people with a history of poor attendance. Her husband is in middle management and her son, typical 19 year old, has poor attendance. Their company is in the news this week suffering from major recalls of it's biggest selling items, but they don't make anything for those items, it's a completely different line of products, but there's no telling how deep the current "crisis" will cut through the company.
At work, I took one of the most simultaneously hilarious and depressing phone calls ever. This lady wanted me to go over her account transactions because the available balance didn't make much sense to her, and she was unable to get online to see what had cleared. Had her direct deposit not made it into the account yesterday? Well yes, it had--approximately $450 was deposited just yesterday. She asked what her balance was before that. $24. So why does she only have $5 left? Well, in the past 24 hours, about 25 seperate small transactions posted. Could I go through the list for her?
"24.10 at Standard Liquors"
"[sarcasticly] Mmmmhmm."
"5.86 at Joe's Gas on Claremont Ave"
"OK."
"8.96 at Jerry's Liquors"
"[slow, controlled inhale]
"5.12 at Standard Liquors"
[slow, controlled exhale]
"12.97 at Texaco on Jefferson Street"
"ok."
The list went on... 25 transactions all at liquor stores and gas stations (in my state, gas stations can sell beer and cigarettes but not hard liquor). After each entry, she'd get more hopeless and more disgusted. I could almost hear her marriage break right before me. She eventually stopped me and said she'd wait til she could get back online for the rest--I guess she'd had all she could take.
Speaking of all a person can take... this Friday is J's last day. It's a testament to my patience that I haven't called her out and kicked her ass yet, and it's a damned good thing I don't work tomorrow, because I don't think I could take two more days of her bullshit. Now granted, they had a super-stressful, super-slammed day the day prior, so she earned a little bit of "take it easy". So slammed, in fact, that I had to come in an hour early to help catch up. S was the poor sap that was stuck with her yesterday, and he's not one to hold back on the Complaint button, so all morning I listened to him bitch about what a fuckup she'd been... lazy and slow and airheaded. All stuff I knew before. Her shift started at noon, and I was STILL wrapping up opening duties due to the backlog of work from the day before, so naturally, the first thing she needed to do is to log onto her email and send a handful of personal emails, then make a few personal phone calls, all just feet away from S and I manically trying to complete the backed up work AND help the customers who kept pouring in (the damned customers didn't get the memo that it's supposed to be slow in the mornings). Once again, she flatly refused to buy a drawer (i.e: open a new teller line), and continued on doing whatever it was she was doing that was obviously more important that customer service--even refusing to answer the phone. D-ball came in and I helped him buy a drawer and get started because I was THIIIIIS close to being done with the opening work, and then I was supposed to do some collections calls--and since I came in early, I'd have to leave early AND get lunch sometime soon. No sooner had he gotten settled in then a customer came in asking to open a new account. He took all of her information and then came to the desk area and asked in both my and J's general direction: "Can one of you do a new account?" I looked over at J, who didn't flinch. "Hey J," I asked, "Could you take that? I'm almost done with opening stuff here, and I really need to put it away." She continued on as if I hadn't spoken. "J?" She got up and walked toward D-ball. He opened the gate for her and asked again, "Could you do this account?" She continued to walk by him as if he hadn't spoken at all. He looked at me like, "Is this a joke??" I just shook my head, shoved the stacks of papers on my desk aside and took the customer. I had just finished her up and had rearranged my original work when another customer came in. The scene replayed almost identicaly. "J?" "J?" "J?" "Hey J?" "Yo J." "Your hair's on fire." Nothing. I told D-ball to seat the customer at J's desk. I wasn't about to play along with her childish bullshit. I finished my work, then negotiated with S about coordinating our lunch breaks, and went to the back to do my collections calls. Sure enough, neither S nor I could leave on time because J had refused to buy a drawer until the last second. Ugh. What a damned bitch. And we all have to meet tomorrow evening to have a Going Away Party for her because BossMan is pushing us to do it. I just laughed with D-ball--"I'll bet if you told BossMan all the bullshit J's done today, he flat-out wouldn't believe you." "I'll bet you're right." It sucks, she's got him completely blinded. But luckily, there's only two more shifts and she's GONE.
At work, I took one of the most simultaneously hilarious and depressing phone calls ever. This lady wanted me to go over her account transactions because the available balance didn't make much sense to her, and she was unable to get online to see what had cleared. Had her direct deposit not made it into the account yesterday? Well yes, it had--approximately $450 was deposited just yesterday. She asked what her balance was before that. $24. So why does she only have $5 left? Well, in the past 24 hours, about 25 seperate small transactions posted. Could I go through the list for her?
"24.10 at Standard Liquors"
"[sarcasticly] Mmmmhmm."
"5.86 at Joe's Gas on Claremont Ave"
"OK."
"8.96 at Jerry's Liquors"
"[slow, controlled inhale]
"5.12 at Standard Liquors"
[slow, controlled exhale]
"12.97 at Texaco on Jefferson Street"
"ok."
The list went on... 25 transactions all at liquor stores and gas stations (in my state, gas stations can sell beer and cigarettes but not hard liquor). After each entry, she'd get more hopeless and more disgusted. I could almost hear her marriage break right before me. She eventually stopped me and said she'd wait til she could get back online for the rest--I guess she'd had all she could take.
Speaking of all a person can take... this Friday is J's last day. It's a testament to my patience that I haven't called her out and kicked her ass yet, and it's a damned good thing I don't work tomorrow, because I don't think I could take two more days of her bullshit. Now granted, they had a super-stressful, super-slammed day the day prior, so she earned a little bit of "take it easy". So slammed, in fact, that I had to come in an hour early to help catch up. S was the poor sap that was stuck with her yesterday, and he's not one to hold back on the Complaint button, so all morning I listened to him bitch about what a fuckup she'd been... lazy and slow and airheaded. All stuff I knew before. Her shift started at noon, and I was STILL wrapping up opening duties due to the backlog of work from the day before, so naturally, the first thing she needed to do is to log onto her email and send a handful of personal emails, then make a few personal phone calls, all just feet away from S and I manically trying to complete the backed up work AND help the customers who kept pouring in (the damned customers didn't get the memo that it's supposed to be slow in the mornings). Once again, she flatly refused to buy a drawer (i.e: open a new teller line), and continued on doing whatever it was she was doing that was obviously more important that customer service--even refusing to answer the phone. D-ball came in and I helped him buy a drawer and get started because I was THIIIIIS close to being done with the opening work, and then I was supposed to do some collections calls--and since I came in early, I'd have to leave early AND get lunch sometime soon. No sooner had he gotten settled in then a customer came in asking to open a new account. He took all of her information and then came to the desk area and asked in both my and J's general direction: "Can one of you do a new account?" I looked over at J, who didn't flinch. "Hey J," I asked, "Could you take that? I'm almost done with opening stuff here, and I really need to put it away." She continued on as if I hadn't spoken. "J?" She got up and walked toward D-ball. He opened the gate for her and asked again, "Could you do this account?" She continued to walk by him as if he hadn't spoken at all. He looked at me like, "Is this a joke??" I just shook my head, shoved the stacks of papers on my desk aside and took the customer. I had just finished her up and had rearranged my original work when another customer came in. The scene replayed almost identicaly. "J?" "J?" "J?" "Hey J?" "Yo J." "Your hair's on fire." Nothing. I told D-ball to seat the customer at J's desk. I wasn't about to play along with her childish bullshit. I finished my work, then negotiated with S about coordinating our lunch breaks, and went to the back to do my collections calls. Sure enough, neither S nor I could leave on time because J had refused to buy a drawer until the last second. Ugh. What a damned bitch. And we all have to meet tomorrow evening to have a Going Away Party for her because BossMan is pushing us to do it. I just laughed with D-ball--"I'll bet if you told BossMan all the bullshit J's done today, he flat-out wouldn't believe you." "I'll bet you're right." It sucks, she's got him completely blinded. But luckily, there's only two more shifts and she's GONE.
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