(I go online to make my cell phone payment. When I go to submit the payment, it takes way too long to process, but it shows the payment made. The next day I check my bank statement to reconcile my checkbook and see that the cell phone company processed my payment SIX TIMES. Thankfully, none other of my automatic payments have gone through yet, or it would have sent my account into the negative by several hundreds of dollars. I immediately call the cell phone customer service line, and after forty-five minutes on hold, I finally get someone and explain the situation.)

Rep: “Okay, yes, I do see where that happened. There must have been a glitch in the system. I will submit this to the department that handles this and they will refund the money.”

Me: “Great. How long will that take? I have bills that will be coming through.”

Rep: “It will take about six to nine weeks. Then they—“

Me: “WHAT?! No, I can’t wait that long. I have to have that money back now.”

Rep: “Well, I am sorry, sir. It will take six to nine weeks.”

Me: “No, that is not acceptable. Get me a supervisor, now. Please.”

Rep: “They will just tell you the same thing. You will be on hold for a while. You will get your money back; it will just take some time. You need to be patient.”

Me: “Listen. I am glad you have over $500 extra lying around. I don’t. I have to have that to pay bills. I can’t wait over a month for it.”

Rep: “Could you borrow it from a friend?”

Me: *stunned* “Get me a supervisor, now.”

(I wait another hour. Finally, I get one and explain to them that their online payment messed up.)

Supervisor: “It takes the department that handles this six to nine weeks to do all the research and make sure that your complaint is valid. But I am looking at this, and I don’t see it as a problem. I know it’s terribly inconvenient, sir, but please be patient.”

Me: “No, it is more than inconvenient. The bill was for $100. You took out $600. Now, my bank account will bounce and my bills will go unpaid because, unlike you, apparently, I don’t have that kind of money lying around so I don’t have to worry and be patient. I will come after your company for all of the bounced check fees, plus I will come after you for all the fees I will have to pay to reconnect my electric and water because I do not have the money to pay the bills now. Or, I can just call my bank and report the charges as fraudulent. Your choice.”

(I think the severity of my situation finally dawns on him.)

Supervisor: “Oh, I didn’t understand that. I thought it was just a double payment. I didn’t see where it was six times. Crap. Okay, I have to put you on hold for a minute.”

(After another thirty minutes.)

Supervisor: “Okay, sir, I am sorry for the hold. I took a chance and called our main office; surprisingly, someone was there. We are working on fixing this now.”

Me: “Forgive me for asking, but why would it be surprising? It’s 10:00 am.”

Supervisor: “Oh, our main calling center is in Florida.” *there is a major hurricane roaring through the state* “And all of the service rep calls have been forwarded to this office. The truth of the matter is…”

Me: “None of you are trained or have the authority to fix any problems.”

Supervisor: “You got it.”

Me: “I bet you are getting some mad customers.”

Supervisor: “You don’t know the half of it. But honestly, yours is the only problem that has come through that really could not have waited until next week when they think the call center will be back up and running.”

(He gave me his direct line and told me to call him back if the money wasn’t back by the next morning and if anything bounced. I checked that evening and everything was returned. I understand a company having issues due to a natural disaster, but what good does it do sending your customers to reps that aren’t trained to fix problems?)

(I work in a back office and process customer requests that our salespeople send. We are rolling out electronic systems soon, but we are very paper-based at this point. Today, I receive a request with special approval attached; a couple of email chains were printed in landscape orientation, one of which was at least seven pages. As I need to email finance, I email the woman who sent it and ask her to forward me the electronic copies.)

Sales: *via email* “I already printed the emails and attached them to the request.”

Me: *via email* “Yes, I received the paper copies. Please forward me the electronic copies so I can email them to finance.”

(She calls two minutes later and goes on, obviously upset at my request. Some samples of the conversation:)

Sales: *as part of a thirty-second rant* “I have all this other work to do and I don’t have time to look for that email.”

Me: “It usually takes me only a minute to search for an email if I type the subject in the search box. This seemed like a simple request to me, and I apologize if this is not the case.”

Sales: “This doubles my work!”

Me: “I acknowledge that you are busy. Since I can only scan the emails, what would that do to my workload? I also have other customers to serve.”

Sales: “Why can’t you just scan them?”

Me: “I am concerned that since they are printed in landscape, it will be harder for finance to follow along. I am trying to make their job as easy as I can.”

Sales: “They’ll just have to print it, too, and it will be in landscape! I’ll look for the emails, but I will have to forward you two emails, and finance will get two emails.”

Me: “I can attach those emails to my email to finance so that they will only receive one email.”

(She replied to my email with the two other emails I had requested attached within a couple of minutes of the phone conversation ending. She’d spent ten minutes complaining about it before that. She’ll probably be one of those people who prints and scans everything in the new system, too!)

(I just began working at a new deli after some issues at a previous job. Starting out, the new job is great! I had fun coworkers and a nice manager, and even the higher-ups seem very kind and helpful. As time goes on, of course, some things start to seem off or annoying, but I let those go. It isn’t much to complain about. One night, I am closing and, unfortunately, I am running a bit behind. I was supposed to be out by 8:00, but it’s coming onto 7:10 and I’m not where I am supposed to be.)

Me: “Hey, [Manager], I’m running a little behind. Can you give me a hand, here?”

Manager: “Sorry, [My Name], I’m running behind on my own stuff, too. I don’t know if I’ll make it out on time myself.”

Me: “Oh, well… Okay. When you get the chance, I could really use some help.”

(I continue doing what I was doing. A few minutes later, I begin to filter our deep fryer. I still have other things I need to do, but I’m keeping calm so I don’t make any mistakes… That is, until my manager comes by and watches me work over my shoulder.)

Manager: “You’re not going to make it out on time, are you?”

Me: “Probably not… That’s why I asked for help before.”

Manager: “Well, I can’t help. I have stuff to do. Man, you’re not making it out of here until well past 10:00!”

(The deli closes at 10:00.)

Me: “Well… I still have quite a few things to do.”

(Once the fryer is done being filtered and has cooled down a bit, it’s about 7:50. I begin taking it apart to clean out the filter. My manager is close by, just watching me work.)

Manager: “Man, you are so behind!! I can’t believe it; how could you be so behind?”

Me: “I’m not sure… Look, if you’re just standing there, not busy, I could use a little help with something else.”

Manager: “I told you! I am not done yet! I’m going to be late, too!”

(A little annoyed, I continue with my work. My manager continues to watch me until the clock strikes 8:00, when she packs up her things.)

Manager: “You’re still behind? Good luck with that! I’m going home. Night!”

(And she left. I didn’t make it out until just before 10:00 that night. The next morning I came in for an earlier shift and my manager told me that I didn’t do anything right, and that I obviously needed to be retrained in closing. I’ve gotten better — and faster — at closing since, but that night just irked me enough to where I lost a little respect for my manager.)

(I work as a grocery delivery driver for a well-known UK supermarket. Once a year we cancel all the deliveries in the afternoon and have a training session. These sessions involve senior managers; they are also a chance for staff to relate issues they have. I’ve recently begun to get a little tired of management constantly ignoring complaints regarding the work we do.)

Me: “I mentioned this a year ago, but the vehicles we have are a complete joke; they break down frequently, are filthy inside, and are dented to hell. Most of them would probably not qualify as road legal. What are you going to do about it?”

Manager: *has repeated this to me several times now* “It’s up to you to ensure the vans remain workable; this means taking responsibility for clearing up and reporting defects and never taking out vans that are not road legal.”

Me: “Okay. So, to be 100% clear, if I get a van that is not road legal, I can refuse to drive it?”

Manager: “Well, of course. You are responsible for ensuring the vehicles are road legal.”

(Over the following two weeks I refused to take out five vans due to defects which were not road legal, and defected around eight more for various faults. This lead to several van trips being cancelled. A few weeks later the manager was back in the store. He was annoyed that we had had a sudden surge in cancellations and a bill for van damage that stretched into five figures. Turns out when the manager had said that I was supposed to take responsibility, he’d meant that I should just shut up and drive the garbage. Our store was put under review, and two months later our whole fleet was swapped out for brand-new vans. Sadly, the people I work with are morons, and in the space of a month all the vans had damage all over them.)

(At our reception, we work with a team; not everyone is working every day. We have a decent system, like a log, so people know what happened the day before. One of the team members, [Coworker], never uses the log and doesn’t do most of his responsibilities. He once left an accidental spill unattended for hours, instead of calling for cleaners or cleaning it up himself — regular cleaning mopped it up for us in the evening. We mentioned this to him and our manager, but there is little change. Because we are understaffed, management can’t let him go. One morning, I enter the building for opening up. The door is unlocked. The blinds are up. The heater –which should never be left unattended — is still blazing. Important documents are spread out over the table, right in the open. A few minutes after cleaning things up and checking the log — no entry — management comes in.)

Me: “Excuse me, [Manager], who was on duty yesterday?”

Manager: “[Coworker], why?”

(I manage to hold back a “Why am I not surprised?” and tell him how I found things. The manager sighs.)

Manager: “He already mentioned yesterday he wasn’t having his day. When I noticed [chore] hadn’t been done yet, I asked him if he needed help. I hadn’t seen him yet and boy, he looked awful. He got beaten up due to mistaken identity and he said he wasn’t feeling good. But even so, he should’ve done his standard chores.”

Me: “Or asked for help? Or mentioning it beforehand?”

Manager: “I’ll talk about it to him… again.”

(I know we are understaffed, but this is seriously not working. I’ve requested if he can be transferred to another department, with fewer responsibilities. You simply can’t leave an office unlocked, with a fire hazard burning!)