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#131
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
"toypup" wrote in message ... On Wed, 12 Sep 2007 20:32:59 -0400, Aula wrote: That wouldn't be a problem if there was a live person to talk to when the initial call was made. Banty's reason for disliking machines is my second reason for not liking those machines. Well, we could ensure someone was available to callers at all times if the taxpayers were willing to fund those positions. Since that isn't happening, v/m needs to be left because the workers in my office are running case loads of 300-400 people/month [much higher in some offices around the state] and they simply cannot be sitting by their phone waiting for it to ring and doing nothing else all day. And, while they are talking with person one, persons three through seven call, so they still have to go to voice mail. Someone is going to have to leave a message. And, this is not just the case working in state government. I knew it to be true in the private sector when I was there as well, and I'm sure it continues. Those folks who continue to call and try to find a live person are adding to the work load of the receptionist, which has at least contributed to more than a few companies to fully automate the phone answering system so that the person can spend their time at their other functions. I understand that people want the information/answers to their questions the minute after they dial the phone. What those same people need to understand that their desire for immediacy does not constitute an emergency on the part of the concern they are contacting in about 97% of the situations I can think of. A return call within 24 hours is more than reasonable. Aula |
#132
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:00:48 -0400, Aula wrote:
What those same people need to understand that their desire for immediacy does not constitute an emergency on the part of the concern they are contacting in about 97% of the situations I can think of. A return call within 24 hours is more than reasonable. Aula When I'm at the pharmacy, I do not want to wait 24 hours for the doctor to call back. I'm sick. I'm vomiting so much I am weak from dehydration. I already waited at the ER. They rehydrated me and let me go. I got a prescription that he messed up on. He'd better get back to the pharmacy in minutes, not make the pharmacy staff leave a voice mail that takes 24 hours to get back on. Refills are a different matter. I don't mind waiting a few days for that. |
#133
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
"toypup" wrote in message .. . When I'm at the pharmacy, I do not want to wait 24 hours for the doctor to call back. I'm sick. I'm vomiting so much I am weak from dehydration. I already waited at the ER. They rehydrated me and let me go. I got a prescription that he messed up on. He'd better get back to the pharmacy in minutes, not make the pharmacy staff leave a voice mail that takes 24 hours to get back on. Refills are a different matter. I don't mind waiting a few days for that. Excellent example of the different situations. From my work: caller from pharmacy who was just told that their Medicaid isn't going but they believe they have active Medicaid should be dealt with then and there by whomever can be placed on the phone but the person calling wanting to know if their worker has processed their food stamp application yet can go to voice mail and reasonably expect a return call within twenty four hours. Aula |
#134
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:11:00 -0400, Aula wrote:
"toypup" wrote in message .. . When I'm at the pharmacy, I do not want to wait 24 hours for the doctor to call back. I'm sick. I'm vomiting so much I am weak from dehydration. I already waited at the ER. They rehydrated me and let me go. I got a prescription that he messed up on. He'd better get back to the pharmacy in minutes, not make the pharmacy staff leave a voice mail that takes 24 hours to get back on. Refills are a different matter. I don't mind waiting a few days for that. Excellent example of the different situations. From my work: caller from pharmacy who was just told that their Medicaid isn't going but they believe they have active Medicaid should be dealt with then and there by whomever can be placed on the phone but the person calling wanting to know if their worker has processed their food stamp application yet can go to voice mail and reasonably expect a return call within twenty four hours. Yeah, but if the pharmacy always has to leave a voice mail, it may be a long while for both situations. |
#135
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
In article , Aula says...
"toypup" wrote in message . .. When I'm at the pharmacy, I do not want to wait 24 hours for the doctor to call back. I'm sick. I'm vomiting so much I am weak from dehydration. I already waited at the ER. They rehydrated me and let me go. I got a prescription that he messed up on. He'd better get back to the pharmacy in minutes, not make the pharmacy staff leave a voice mail that takes 24 hours to get back on. Refills are a different matter. I don't mind waiting a few days for that. Excellent example of the different situations. From my work: caller from pharmacy who was just told that their Medicaid isn't going but they believe they have active Medicaid should be dealt with then and there by whomever can be placed on the phone but the person calling wanting to know if their worker has processed their food stamp application yet can go to voice mail and reasonably expect a return call within twenty four hours. Assuming they *do* call back. And that callback isn't at 4:55 pm where your office closes at 5:00, and my callback gets the off-hour recording, and I'm back at the beginning I fully understand that people can't all be lined up to receive ever call right then and there. But, for a lot of agencies, it's gone from occassionally needing to leave a message, to needing to leave a message about half the time, to *nearly always* needing to leave a message, and longer and longer callback delays. It's really a matter of extent that's gotten so bothersome. And have driven basically honest people like me to try to game the system a bit to get a live person. Else I'd have to wait days for a resolution, or other prioirites pop up and I end up giving up on the whole thing (which does decrease your workload). Yeah I know taxpayer money and all that. It's just a part of the creeping crud, where I have to wait to purchase an item because the cashier now has three other roles and I need to get her attention to have the checkout counter manned, the recursive unending ambigious telephone message menus, the power company help number that has no path to get info about an electrical power outage unless I go to the "I smell gas" part of the message menu and get a person, etc etc. People are just getting fed up. I know people getting around it adds to the workload, but then maybe it's time to do the calculus as to what the crossover point is, where adding a few staff would give enough responsiveness to lessen that problem. Banty |
#136
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
"Banty" wrote in message ... I know people getting around it adds to the workload, but then maybe it's time to do the calculus as to what the crossover point is, where adding a few staff would give enough responsiveness to lessen that problem. and all of us understanding what price tag is involved with that. either out of pocket costs go up for all of us or wages go down if we want more staff in positions to respond to customers. i don't disagree with the need. we're in real need of at least one more, if not two more positions at our office and i know just about every place i've worked could have put a few more folk to work without batting an eye. the problem is that those using those very services don't want to pay more than they already are, but they want a++ services. if folks want the latter, then they had better be prepared to pony up the dollars. and, for those of us who work in jobs where unions are involved in the equation need to get a grip on how much they want to make v. how much they/we want more help on board. while i appreciate the union-assisted public sector job pay i get [and i'd like a higher salary, too!], i must recognize that i cannot get the same pay for similar work in the private sector - and many of those private sector jobs are based on government contracts with the government setting the salaries, at least in part. iow, we can't have our cake without paying for it. if you want superdelux be prepared to dig deeper. aula |
#137
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:44:04 -0400, Aula wrote:
iow, we can't have our cake without paying for it. if you want superdelux be prepared to dig deeper. aula You know those supermarkets with really low prices but very, very long lines? I don't shop there. I pay the premium for the ones where three is a crowd. Similarly, I don't patronize businesses where I can only speak to a machine. I don't care how much I save doing business there. It's just not worth it. Sometimes, I don't have much choice, but it do vote with my dollars whenever I get frustrated enough. |
#138
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
In article , toypup says...
On Thu, 13 Sep 2007 21:44:04 -0400, Aula wrote: iow, we can't have our cake without paying for it. if you want superdelux be prepared to dig deeper. aula You know those supermarkets with really low prices but very, very long lines? I don't shop there. I pay the premium for the ones where three is a crowd. Similarly, I don't patronize businesses where I can only speak to a machine. I don't care how much I save doing business there. It's just not worth it. Sometimes, I don't have much choice, but it do vote with my dollars whenever I get frustrated enough. Yeah, I'm not an anti-tax person either. But Aula, aside from being a misdirected on the tax thing, one of the thing that's just sooo frustrating (speaking in general too) is that it can ALWAYS be said "no money, too busy". It's like those who oppose any building that goes up anywhere - "traffic more traffic, traffic bad". Well, there will always be traffic. So the traffic complaint is there in their tool box, to pull out whenever they don't like something. (And leave in if they support something.) So whenever there is a problem with service, the retort is "people, money" and "taxes" in your case as a public employee. Of course I don't know the details, but I think a lot of these things (which I think is more widespread) have a lot to do with PRIORITY. A partial solution to customer service, like a telephone menu, gives those who manage an operation (public, private) a reason to deploy people elsewhere, or just plain cut back. Never mind that that's only a *partial* solution, and there's a big hole left in one of their functions. I recall when my son was younger and going to an after school program, and I nearly missed the very early (April 1 of the previous year) deadline to set up bus transportation from the local school district to there in the afternoon. I recommended to them that they send out flyers, or a mailing, as that deadline is easy to miss. Their answer: (you can guess it....) money money time people money time people taxes. Lo and behold, the next school bond vote came up, and I got: 1. Two automated telephone messages to remind me of the election time and date 2. One mailing with bulk rates 3. Two take-home reminders from my son's class. Hmmm. :-/ It's *priority*, not money-people-money-time-time-people-taxes-taxes-blah-blah-blah. Banty |
#139
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Cell phone for a second grader (and FAO Nan)
"Banty" wrote in message ... It's *priority*, not money-people-money-time-time-people-taxes-taxes-blah-blah-blah. You make a good point. Sometimes it is hard to pick some of these knots apart to figure out which is the real issue, or the larger impacting one anyway. The 'old' make more with less mantra has been rolling around these hills for at least 20 year that I can recall. To be fair, and potentially accurate, a number of businesses have downsized, some so far that there has been an obvious negative impact to customers and staff alike. While I believe my staff could handle slightly higher case loads, I have to couch that by noting they are all very experienced. If several were new they'd be floundering at levels lower than what we currently expect as the norm. And, considering the aging of the staff, that is going to happen sooner than later as a large number of folks, statewide, retire. I also know that at my last place I saw the contract we worked on continue cost neutral [ain't that a lovely term], but demanding higher numbers of clients served and giving us less money to use to serve them as well. On top of that we lost all our support staff [all two], although the agency retained a receptionist. Staff had to perform all their own clerical duties. Money, you know, at least that's what we were told. Turn over went from nearly nothing to about 50% annually as staff left for higher paying jobs that didn't leave them in the position of working on their own time in order to finish required tasks because they were not yet adept at juggling tasks and determining which could be put off reasonably. In fact, that was a large contributing factor to my decision to leave: I was tired of constantly interviewing, hiring and training new staff only to see them depart without even finishing out a year. Clearly, in that place, at that time, the priority was pleasing the contractor, not the staff [and sometimes not the clients, imo]. I fear I'm rambling so I'll try to wrap this up. Priorities for line staff are different from middle management are different from top and may well be different from the official clients. For those who rely on tax dollars to fund their programs/agencies there is a clear disconnect between voters voting their pocketbooks and the [same?] voters complaining about the poor services they receive. Private for profit industry may have an entirely different set of circumstances and I am not familiar with them, having never worked in that sector [I always worked in non-profits prior to this state job stint.] -Aula |
#140
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Cell phone for a second grader
Nan wrote:
LOL. People with these names have their career destiny already spelled out for them :-) Nan Gay Sparrow sells real estate in Alexandria, Louisiana |
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