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OK, I’ve just about had it with this two-bit system.
It needs to either start working properly, (more accurately, the foks responsible for it need to get it fixed), or we need to be allowed to deal with it in some other way than repeatedly asking callers to hang on while the damn thing decides what it’s going to do.
Christ on crutches, can anything just simply work around here?

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I’d really like to shoot the last two callers in the head.
The first one was a grumpy old woman who wanted to jump back and forth between records for herself and her husband, and bitch at me because her doctor wrote her prescriptions “do not substitute,” (meaning we can’t substitute a generic for a brand, even if it’s cheaper, usually for medical reasons), and then she wanted to bitch because she had prescriptions she had no refills on.
The next one was just incredibly stupid.
I’m getting tired of people going “Do you mean the … (insert piece of information: account number, prescription number, order number, ETC.)” when I ask for the ID number.
Is it really that hard to at least act like you’re intelligent?
That’s the easiest part of the call!
Just give me the information I’m asking for, and don’t ask me to jump all over the screen, and then go “wait, I have the ID now” when I’m in the middle of doing a name search or something like that.
Jesus God!
People get on my nerves!
You have to try to be that stupid.
There’s no possible way you just are that way.
I wish this day would hurry up and end.

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It’s gotten really cold here really fast.
Yesterday, we were up in the 70’s.
It was warm enough to have the windows open so that the resh air could come in.
Today, we’re supposed to have a high in the upper 50’s, and tomorrow, in the lower 50’s.
Lows in the 30’s and 20’s.
And from the looks of the forecast, it’ll be that way at least until next Wednesday.
No watch it jump back up just in time for Thanksgiving.

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I’m not sure what to think of that last call.
A fellow customer servant called, thinking I was a pharmacist.
I’m not sure whether I should take that as a complement or not.
The only thing I discussed with her was whether or not a prescription is in the system, and I had to ask who she thought she was talking to.
I told her she had reached customer service, and offered to transfer her to the pharmacy.
I could have actually passed as a pharmacist, which is scary.

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I just got back here from lunch.
It’s extremely cold in here, and I’ll bet we’re still in cue like we have been all morning.
At least half the day is over and I can start working my way to its end.
When I get home I’ll attempt to finish the laundry.
A piece on the drier broke, and until I can get something to stick it back on, I’ll have to limp along without it.
It’s the piece in front of the lint screen, and I imagine the thing will be OK until I can get it fixed.
Nothing should get caught.
I’m applying for the support position that just became available today.
It won’t be any extra pay, but it’ll be something different, and I think I’ll actually be in a position to do something if something gets screwed up.
I’m aware though that it won’t be a bowl of peaches and cream.
They get a lot of crap, but so do I as a regular agent, so it’s pretty much six of one half a dozen of the other as far as I can see.

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I had a really hard time getting up this morning.
The alarm went off at 5, I got up at 06:15.
They’ve fixed the ‘Net problem at work, so I should be able to post, or at least read blogs on my spare time.
Yesterday was really bad.
We had constant cue, and my schedule was 09:45 first break, 2PM lunch, and 4PM last break, which I didn’t get to take until 4:30PM.
Today’s didn’t look too bad though.
Lunch at 12:30 instead of 2.
At least having the ‘Net fixed means I can email S during the day, so that makes things a little better.

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I got back from the store not long ago.
Andrew was nice enough (as he always is) to take me shopping for food.
He’s one of those sighted people you can really count on.
Aftwerords we went to IHOP.
I had an omlet with onions, green peppers, corn-beef hash, hash browns, and cheese, along with pancakes.
I ate every last bit of it.
I was really hungry.
I’m not looking forward to going to work tomorrow, but I’ve already picked out what I’m wearing, so that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.
I’m looking forward to climbing into bed and going to sleep.
I plan to come in from work tomorrow and do some laundry, as well as give the kitchen a good cleaning.
No, it’s not a mess perse, but it does need to be straightened up, and I always love the way it smells in here when everything’s been wiped down.
I also plan to wash my sheets and blankets tomorrow night, since I didn’t get to do it today due to the lack of laundry detergent that was remedied tonight.
I can’t believe we’re already almost halfway through the month.
Where has this year gone?
I’m not sure what I’m doing for Thanksgiving yet, because I have to work the day before and the day after.
I might end up going to Andrew’s again this year.
I went last year, and had a good time.
And this year, I won’t have to come home to any roommates.

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My last call yesterday was probably one of the most original ones I’ve gotten yet, ranking it for now in the top sopt of the Pathetic category.
It was from a pharmacist at a retail store, who said I needed to talk to his customer because he was getting a rejection having to do with mail-order only coverage.
Then, he put me on hold, and put the member on the phone.
Apparently he didn’t tell the member who he was calling and having them talk to, because when I started asking for the usual information, the member said she had no idea who I was or what I was talking about, so I had to find a professional way to explain that pharmacist’s lack of competence, laziness, and rudeness.
For the record, if a member has mail order only coverage, then they can’t take that card to their local Walgreens and get a prescription filled.
Furthermore, there’s nothing we pukes on the phones can do about it.
You have to talk to your insurance company about that.
But we have to feed you a line of crap because that’s considered good customer service, and our jobs depend on it.
If we didn’t have to eat and pay bills like the rest of the country, we could give the company and the client a collective shove-off and stage a walk-out.
We’ve all talked about doing that several times, but we all know we won’t.
And it’s even worse when members start engaging in the same games that everyone else is.
Those are the ones who really irk me, and you wouldn’t believe how many calls like that we actually get.
In a lot of cases, the callers are just as unethical as the pharmacists, the company, and the client, along with the insurance companies and the doctors.
Remember that I’m speaking in general terms, and there are exceptions to the rule.
But I would advise that just because you’re having a bad day, or you’re angry at your insurance company doesn’t mean you should take it out on us.
Yours isn’t the first major problem we have to deal with on any given day, it’s most likely the one hundredth or two hundredth, and everybody’s problem is the most important.
After a while, we become embittered, and then it gets to the point where we just sort of treat everybody like you’re items on an assembly line, which means we’re going to do whatever it takes to get you off the phone so we can move on to the next person.
And some of us will even resort to just flat lying to you to get rid of you.
I don’t condone this at all.
But it definitely happens, and in a lot of cases, there’s a reason.

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I got home from work at around 6:00 this evening.
It’s been a very long day.
I got up at around 7:30 this morning, which was entirely too late.
Consequently, I didn’t have time to get any caffeine into my system before I left, nor did I get time to pack a lunch, which would have included more caffeine.
So it was a caffeine-free and food-free day.
It really sucked.
I hope that never happens again.
I guess I just must have been really tired.
My alarm went off at 6 like it normally does, and I hit the button, thinking I was going to get up in a few minutes.
That turned into almost two hours.
Dealing with the callers today was really way too much.
On top of that, I’m doing my best to keep on top of all these stupid rules.
They can take the one about not sitting at my desk during lunch or breaks and shove it.
If they ever get the internet problem fixed, I have every intention of reading the news or blogs while I’m on my time.
I shouldn’t have to go sit in the break room where it smells like a mixture of every food under the sun (we’ve even labelled the scent “Breakroom,” and would love to try to market it), and listen to all the other idiots squalk.
How about some peace and quiet, like a room where one can sit by oneself for a little while.
The employees of the client at least have that much, and free coffee and hot coco.
It’s not much, but like they say, every little bit helps.
It got really cold here really fast.
I left the apartment this morning, and it was in the 70’s.
Now, it’s in the upper 30’s, and it was 50 by sunset.
I’m glad there’s only one more workday left.

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I was serfing the web earlier tonight, and came across some posts on various blogs that were verry anti-Client. One of them is here. What I read was enough to make me sick.
As much as I hate the callers as a whole, and I hate being abused and insulted by them, I hate even more the lengths the client, and my employer, are going to (or not going to) in order to make a buck.
Let’s just say it really shows.
Give the above post a read.

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I’ve got a few minutes before I have to leave from work.
I really don’t want to go.
Not like I want to go any other morning, but I really would like some more sleep, and could do without being yelled at today.
I’d rather just stay home and watch Star Trek, or do house work, or just lounge, without hearing “You People!” all day long.
But, unfortunately, that’s not the way life goes.

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It’s been a very long last two days.
The calls have been outrageous.
I had one before leaving work today from some woman who said she didn’t like my tone because I couldn’t give her the answers she wanted.
The pharmacy was squobbling over how a script should be entered into the system, and that’s not something we can divulge to members.
Inside baseball, you know.
So she got mad and said “How about you transfer me to someone higher than you, like your supervisor.”
So I told her I’d be more than happy to transfer her to my supervisor, and I tried to sound as cheerful as possible.
You know, the customer is always right, and since I committed the unforgivable sin of offending a customer, I must pay!
She told the Support member she talked to (they play the role of supervisor when it comes to taking calls) that I was being extremely sarcastic.
I told him she could kiss my rear end, and for the sake of this discussion, we’d even be nice and say I have two rear ends just to make it easier.
Customers suck.
I hope to be able to post more often than I have lately.
They didn’t actually fix the serf control system at work.
They set my IP up so that it had internet access, and then gave my IP to someone else, so one of the wonderful (I really mean that) network administrators is looking into it and says he’ll have it fixed.
Those people are really great people.
They get to put up with all our crap, and then take the rap when the system fails, and they have no control over the system.
They’re just the high-tech shepherds.
I wrote some entries late last week, and will get them posted sometime soon.
I also have some articles I’m working on, and they’ll be posted as well, when I get them finished.
Hurray for being able to back date posts in WordPress.
They pertain to news items posted months ago.
I also hope to try to find ways to get the site to make a little extra change for yours truly soon.
I don’t expect to get rich off of it, but a little extra would be nice.
I can’t believe I still have three days left in the work week.
Days take way too long to pass when I’m working in that hell hole I call a job.
Everybody pray, or cross your fingers, or chant, or whatever you do for me to get a new job.

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I got in this morning, and found that they’ve fixed the surf control (that which allows us to surf the ‘Net or not), so I can now post and email from work again.
That’s good.
I was starting to miss it.
I mean, I’m not going to avoid work to do it or anything, but it gives me a window to the outside world and keeps me from being totally sucked in to the cue continuum, even if it doesn’t help me avoid getting screwed.
I should be posting more from this point, until something else goes wrong.

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted.
I haven’t done much over the last week except work, and that’s been a total disaster.
It was OK the first part of the week, (excluding all the system problems, and rude callers and administrative crap that’s the usual fair), and I even had a funny call, from some guy who wanted to know if he could donate his medications to someone else because he was no longer taking them and didn’t tell us before we sent him the order.
Of course, I told him he couldn’t.
Absolutely nothing’s happened on the accessibility front, which tells me everybody who’s been promoted according to the level of their incompetence feels that they’ve fixed the problem.
Not good.
On top of all the system lock-ups, Jaws crashes, and screens that aren’t accessible to begin with, yet another problem has surfaced.
Since Thursday morning, it now takes my system literally twenty minutes to start.
There’s a start-up script (actually a series of them) that runs every time we log on to our systems.
One of them in particular has started taking a very long time to run.
I’ve reported it several times, with no result, except that I’ve been suspected of extreme work avoidance, (at least three hours worth for Thursday alone), and generally brushed off, as if everybody’s annoyed because there’s yet another problem developing around the blind person.
Here lately I feel like all I manage to do is cause problems, mixed in with the little bit (compared to everyone else) of money I manage to bring in for the company and the client.
All I seem to be doing is adding to everybody’s problems, and since I don’t have any solutions that are immediate and don’t require any work, it’s somehow my fault.
And there’s no end in site.
We’re due for another upgrade of the database interface in a couple of days, and by January, I’m expected to utilize certain features that come with the new upgrade that aren’t available in the old version of the interface.
It doesn’t matter whether or not any of this has to be as difficult as it is.
The simple fact is that it’s being made difficult, therefore it is.
I’m finding it really hard to keep a sense of humor throughout all this.
All of this is way past the point of ridiculous, and the worst part about it all is that there’s nothing I can do about it.
They say they’re supposed to have the surf control crap fixed sometime this week, so hopefully I’ll be able to post and check my email from work again.
I also hope to post more frequently.

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