Drowning In Complaints

(Our state has recently been impacted by a hurricane. Our office headquarters is in the western part of the state, so we got some pretty bad rain but no flooding or power outages. Some of our eastern locations were hit pretty hard and many are still closed or recovering. For the last week I’ve gotten at least a dozen calls that went something like this:)

Me: “Thank you for calling [Office]. How may I direct your call?”

Caller: “Yes, I want to know why my [Office] location isn’t open.”

Me: “Which location would that be, ma’am?”

Caller: “In [City affected by the hurricane].”

Me: “Well, ma’am, that area was hit pretty hard by the hurricane, and many of our locations are still recovering.”

Caller: “But the storm is over! Why aren’t they open?”

Me: *quickly checking the map location online* “Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure that location is still inaccessible.”

Caller: “What the h*** does that mean?”

Me: *pause* “It’s still underwater, ma’am.”

Caller: “Well… they… they should still find a way to be open!” *hangs up*

Me: *head-desk*

(Don’t get me wrong; I’m very concerned for the people still dealing with the effects of being hit by a storm that severe, but you would think that a building still being nearly submerged in flood water is a good reason for that business to not be back open yet.)