Thursday, May 17, 2012

Patience is a Virtue

Ah, patience, how you sometimes elude me.
My mother would say that is my father coming out in me.
I don't know who to blame, but I wanted to share a brief story on a recent trial of patience.

I have been trying to clear up an issue at work.  It has to do with access in a computer system that would allow me to see all of my pay stubs, hours, personal info, etc.  I have been trying to get into the system for over two months.

That two months has been filled with lots of phone calls and lots of emails.  All of those inquiries was answered with something like, "Well that's an interesting problem."

I thought so, too.

And then they would say, "I'm not quite sure who can help you with that."

Me neither.

"But let me transfer you to _____"

And then the cycle would start over again.

And sometimes it would end in an email like this:
  
I know you can't read this, but suffice it to say that in their directions for helping solve the problem, they recommended using two different online systems, three different login/usernames, five emails to contact, and five phone numbers.

I took a little break from my quest after that.

After a few more tries, and about six phone calls today (not counting transfers) I finally talked to the most helpful person so far.  He was very pleasant, seemed to understand my problem, and wanted to help.  Unfortunately, he had no idea what to do.

So I tried another number, and after only one transfer, talked to someone who knew what to do.  
Her solution?  I needed to come in to her office in person to fill out a form.  Her office is three hours away.

I asked for a fax instead.

It took two phone calls to get the fax.

Do you know what the fax needed from me?
Name. Date. Signature.

That's it.

I don't want to know how much time was wasted on this simple answer.

I filled it out, and sent it back.

Now the real trick will be if the changes are made and if I can achieve the original goal.

I guess is will have to work on my patience and wait and see. :)

1 comment:

  1. Are you serious? Of course you're frustrated! This isn't an illustration of you lacking patience, Katie! Oh goodness...

    ReplyDelete