A Story
Once upon a time a very put upon bank teller person was minding her own business, writing down things to do, when the Customer arrived. This particular Customer was a right P.I.T.A.* always bitching and moaning about her account. Now the bank teller had no idea what the problem was this time, but nevertheless listened to the bitching and moaning. At which point the Customer pulled out what she considered to be her 'trump' card - she'd called and discussed her account with the Boss Man.
...the teller had a momentous thought before all hell broke loose. She leaned over the counter, her dark eyes very angry and looked squarely at the customer. Her voice never rose at all, her hands never moved from where they were placed, and she smiled very politely. "I'm sorry, Customer, I'm not sure I understand. You want the bank, who has made no error, to reverse all the fees that you incurred when you let your account go overdrawn?"
"But I called and told the Boss Man I would be in to pay on Friday! I can't afford this!"
"Yes, but simply because you called does not mean that we can stop the charges from coming through."
"But he told me, he told me that if I stopped using my card and came in right away I wouldn't get any more fees!"
"He was incorrect. He obviously did not see these two preauthorized charges that would be coming through two days ago."
"But he promised!" Customer was most annoyed. It was then that teller let the P.I.T.A. have it.
"I don't give a rat's ass if he promised you the fucking moon. You're the one who decided to go spend money you didn't have. You're the one who quite obviously can't keep track of a relatively simple exercise in math. And you're the one who's already had almost five hundred dollars in fees reversed already. Now I suggest you take this nice little register, learn to write your shit down in it, stop going to the liquor store every day, and get your fucking act together before your account ends up in collections." With that the teller put up her 'next window please' sign and stalked away to the glorious sounds of the Customer sputtering in disbelief and anger.
- what actually happened is that the teller did her best to defuse the situation, called the Boss Man, called the Boss Man's Boss Man, and ended up accomplishing nothing because the Customer simply could not understand why no more fees would be reversed and why the whole world was being so mean.
...the teller had a momentous thought before all hell broke loose. She leaned over the counter, her dark eyes very angry and looked squarely at the customer. Her voice never rose at all, her hands never moved from where they were placed, and she smiled very politely. "I'm sorry, Customer, I'm not sure I understand. You want the bank, who has made no error, to reverse all the fees that you incurred when you let your account go overdrawn?"
"But I called and told the Boss Man I would be in to pay on Friday! I can't afford this!"
"Yes, but simply because you called does not mean that we can stop the charges from coming through."
"But he told me, he told me that if I stopped using my card and came in right away I wouldn't get any more fees!"
"He was incorrect. He obviously did not see these two preauthorized charges that would be coming through two days ago."
"But he promised!" Customer was most annoyed. It was then that teller let the P.I.T.A. have it.
"I don't give a rat's ass if he promised you the fucking moon. You're the one who decided to go spend money you didn't have. You're the one who quite obviously can't keep track of a relatively simple exercise in math. And you're the one who's already had almost five hundred dollars in fees reversed already. Now I suggest you take this nice little register, learn to write your shit down in it, stop going to the liquor store every day, and get your fucking act together before your account ends up in collections." With that the teller put up her 'next window please' sign and stalked away to the glorious sounds of the Customer sputtering in disbelief and anger.
- what actually happened is that the teller did her best to defuse the situation, called the Boss Man, called the Boss Man's Boss Man, and ended up accomplishing nothing because the Customer simply could not understand why no more fees would be reversed and why the whole world was being so mean.