Horror Story from the Post Office? Not really. More like a rant from the Post Office.
You know there are times when I just HATE working at the post office...mainly because I end up getting the most temperamental customers who want me fired the minute I make a mistake. They probably have the right, but I bet if someone got pissed at them and wanted THEM fired I bet THEY wouldn't feel so hot.
1. Madame Quebecois
About a month ago I was working and this lady came in. I was pretty tired that day, so my ability to translate from French to English and vice versa wasn't working just yet. It was, like, 9 in the morning when this lady came in. We exchanged greetings, smiled, I placed the stamps and rung her up. She asked me a question. I didn't understand, so I asked her to repeat herself. I still didn't understand. Now, this USUALLY would have been a problem back in the day when I started out, but the thing is...she was speaking in slang. FRENCH slang to boot. So, little ol' me who only understands PROPER FRENCH, didn't know what she was saying. She gets offended by my lack of French skills and tells EVERYONE in the bloody pharmacy about it. Not one person didn't know about her complaints about me. When my boss comes back with her and she starts complaining to her about me she decides to test me (i.e. try to make me look stupid) and, guess what? She speaks in proper French this time so I knew what she was saying! And since I responded to her this time, she goes on to saying how rude I am as well and wants to make a formal complaint about me to Canada Post, the official company I work for, technically. My boss is awesome and says, go ahead, she had nothing really. All of the workers understand PROPER FRENCH and if she spoke in slang or something, it's no fault of the workers if they don't understand. And then she storms off, threatening to make sure I get replaced. Yeah. Whatever. A lot of the other clients there who had seen it were pretty damn awesome with me, saying I shouldn't mind her since I gave THEM perfect service in English AND in French (as well as a few other languages since I'm not only bilingual) and if someone says that I can't speak French I should turn around and ask them 'well, do YOU speak English?'.
The moral of this story is: Some people in Quebec are language snobs and refuse to learn a second language at all.
2. This couple is cursed.
I swear...every time I see them SOMETHING inevitably goes wrong. And it happened TWICE with me. Not at the same time, but apparently they never forgot about the first time that WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT. I just happened to be there so they could yell at me. That was the only time in the history of my working at that post office...that I went home in tears. This time round I made a mistake of putting n the wrong country for a Moneygram. Fine. I admit the mistake. I tried to fix it. I made a lot of phone calls to fix the error, but they were impatient, so my boss got called out. Long story shot, they made complaints and want me fired for imcompetance. One little mistake and I get the whole 'she must be fired' schpiel. And the first time really wasn't my fault. The computer system was having technical difficulties and there was NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT IT. When a computer gives you a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH there's really nothing a person can do except restart. D= And they had it tagged as MY fault. I was a newbie. I had no idea what I was doing. And now when I'm not a newbie and trying to fix things for them with the of my ability, they get impatient and start yelling. At least the wife was understanding this time. She was looking at me in sympathy. I mean it wasn't as if we kept their money. We gave them a full refund and they still got to do what they wanted in the end anyways. And yet her husband was still yelling at me, demanding I get fired. *sighs* Some people are just fire happy.
Moral of this story: Some people are just...not nice. D=
I mean...if you make a MILLION mistakes within the same month, whatever...but the mistakes I made were spaced at least 7 months apart. And in between I hadn't done anything else wrong. Sure I was a little quiet, but I generally got the job done. People got what they wanted, paid and left. Some even laughed and joked around with me like the awesome people that they are.
Gah...why are people just so damn awful? I mean...if someone wanted to fire THEM they'd protest it. In my case I just sucked up the verbal abuse because both of these cases ended up with me being called lots of nasty names and told that I am, in not quite exact words, that I am stupid. I said nothing and just allowed them to yell at me. At least I was able to steel myself the second time round as to not cry while going home...
Yeah...I'm going to go cry in a corner now, because I realize I'm still pretty useless at times. I guess if I had been more careful none of these things wouldn't have happened in the first place. I KNOW I did something wrong and I DID do my best to fix things. It wasn't as if I ignored them or anything. But I guess 'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it. *siiiigh* But still...I don't think it warrants them asking me to get fired. It's not as if they lost any money. We gave it back to them and everything....
I am not looking forward to going back to work next week. I feel awful and sad and stupid. Go ahead and tlel me you agree with them. I'll just be sitting in the corner of woe bemoaning my existence.
1. Madame Quebecois
About a month ago I was working and this lady came in. I was pretty tired that day, so my ability to translate from French to English and vice versa wasn't working just yet. It was, like, 9 in the morning when this lady came in. We exchanged greetings, smiled, I placed the stamps and rung her up. She asked me a question. I didn't understand, so I asked her to repeat herself. I still didn't understand. Now, this USUALLY would have been a problem back in the day when I started out, but the thing is...she was speaking in slang. FRENCH slang to boot. So, little ol' me who only understands PROPER FRENCH, didn't know what she was saying. She gets offended by my lack of French skills and tells EVERYONE in the bloody pharmacy about it. Not one person didn't know about her complaints about me. When my boss comes back with her and she starts complaining to her about me she decides to test me (i.e. try to make me look stupid) and, guess what? She speaks in proper French this time so I knew what she was saying! And since I responded to her this time, she goes on to saying how rude I am as well and wants to make a formal complaint about me to Canada Post, the official company I work for, technically. My boss is awesome and says, go ahead, she had nothing really. All of the workers understand PROPER FRENCH and if she spoke in slang or something, it's no fault of the workers if they don't understand. And then she storms off, threatening to make sure I get replaced. Yeah. Whatever. A lot of the other clients there who had seen it were pretty damn awesome with me, saying I shouldn't mind her since I gave THEM perfect service in English AND in French (as well as a few other languages since I'm not only bilingual) and if someone says that I can't speak French I should turn around and ask them 'well, do YOU speak English?'.
The moral of this story is: Some people in Quebec are language snobs and refuse to learn a second language at all.
2. This couple is cursed.
I swear...every time I see them SOMETHING inevitably goes wrong. And it happened TWICE with me. Not at the same time, but apparently they never forgot about the first time that WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT. I just happened to be there so they could yell at me. That was the only time in the history of my working at that post office...that I went home in tears. This time round I made a mistake of putting n the wrong country for a Moneygram. Fine. I admit the mistake. I tried to fix it. I made a lot of phone calls to fix the error, but they were impatient, so my boss got called out. Long story shot, they made complaints and want me fired for imcompetance. One little mistake and I get the whole 'she must be fired' schpiel. And the first time really wasn't my fault. The computer system was having technical difficulties and there was NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT IT. When a computer gives you a BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH there's really nothing a person can do except restart. D= And they had it tagged as MY fault. I was a newbie. I had no idea what I was doing. And now when I'm not a newbie and trying to fix things for them with the of my ability, they get impatient and start yelling. At least the wife was understanding this time. She was looking at me in sympathy. I mean it wasn't as if we kept their money. We gave them a full refund and they still got to do what they wanted in the end anyways. And yet her husband was still yelling at me, demanding I get fired. *sighs* Some people are just fire happy.
Moral of this story: Some people are just...not nice. D=
I mean...if you make a MILLION mistakes within the same month, whatever...but the mistakes I made were spaced at least 7 months apart. And in between I hadn't done anything else wrong. Sure I was a little quiet, but I generally got the job done. People got what they wanted, paid and left. Some even laughed and joked around with me like the awesome people that they are.
Gah...why are people just so damn awful? I mean...if someone wanted to fire THEM they'd protest it. In my case I just sucked up the verbal abuse because both of these cases ended up with me being called lots of nasty names and told that I am, in not quite exact words, that I am stupid. I said nothing and just allowed them to yell at me. At least I was able to steel myself the second time round as to not cry while going home...
Yeah...I'm going to go cry in a corner now, because I realize I'm still pretty useless at times. I guess if I had been more careful none of these things wouldn't have happened in the first place. I KNOW I did something wrong and I DID do my best to fix things. It wasn't as if I ignored them or anything. But I guess 'I'm sorry' doesn't cut it. *siiiigh* But still...I don't think it warrants them asking me to get fired. It's not as if they lost any money. We gave it back to them and everything....
I am not looking forward to going back to work next week. I feel awful and sad and stupid. Go ahead and tlel me you agree with them. I'll just be sitting in the corner of woe bemoaning my existence.