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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I knew there was a reason to tell Embarq, (Sprint’s latest incarnation), to bite me.
I’m having problems with my earthlink mail, and since Embarq provides their email through earthlink, I figured I’d have to call them.
The “tech” who picked up the phone asked me four times what my phone number was, then if I could connect to the internet, then was I sure I could connect, then was I *sure* I could connect, before telling me that I had to call Earthlink because they’re not responsible for the mail side.
I wonder if Embarq uses Convergys to outsource their calls.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they do.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

Today will most likely be very long.
I was up and down all night blowing my nose and coughing, (yes, I know, not the most pleasant thing to read about), and have been up since about 04:00 this morning unable to fall back to sleep.
I hope I don’t get very many calls today, and I probably won’t.
I also hope to post more today than I have in the last little while.
Lately I just haven’t felt like posting any of my own work, and am thankful for the blogburst material to keep the pings coming from this blog to Technorati and the fifty or so ping services I have listed for that purpose.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I just had an agent come to me with a situation in which a member received some medication from us on June 15th, and who says they’re concerned because some of the pills look different, yet neglected to call us about it until this morning.
It’s now August 9th.
Obviously you weren’t that concerned.
I let it through, because if a member calls and says their meds look different, then we have to transfer it just to avoid liability.
I can’t say I wasn’t tempted to deny it though.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I’m going into this weekend with a full paycheck, two extra days off thanks to PTO (or however John ends up putting it in, but either way, they’ll be company-free), and my guest will be here by 14:00 tomorrow.
Consequently I’ll be incommunicato after that point, until Tuesday morning.
I’m glad for this weekend.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

It looks like I didn’t manage to miss Ghetto Idol, the May/June/July Edition.
The prizes?
The lucky winners get their own parking space, their own work station, (yes, they’re at a premium), a certificate, (probably printed in black and white on regular paper because the company doesn’t want to spend much money on such things as color paper and color printing), and a $15 Target gift card.
I have to give Merick credit, he’s really trying to boost the morale.
I just hate spectacles, especially the ghetto kind.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

Apparently people have been transferring callers to the pharmacists without submitting an alledged errors referral.
It’s been stated since day one of this project that, whenever you transfer a call to the pharmacy, an alledged error referral has to be submitted.
Yet these people need to be told to make sure they submit the referral.
When will evolution take its course?

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I didn’t realize that Greenville has an authentic Middle Eastern restaurant.
I love Middle Eastern food, and when I found the listing on the Restaurant Runners site, and started looking through the menu, my mouth started watering.
The restaurant is called The Olive Grove.
They have Schwarma, and falafel, and hummus, and a whole bunch of other mouth-wattering foods.
Definitely yum, and definitely part of tonight’s menu.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I just finished setting up an account at Flickr, and the thing that struck me about it is how accessible it is.
Now I just have to get around the issue of people uploading photos and not adding descriptions, but at least I can say that’s the users’ problem and not the actual company’s problem.
I hope to be able to use the service to find some photos for the site, as well as pass on photos, since I probably won’t be taking any pictures myself, although I know blind people who are photographers.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

At least that’s what it feels like.
This cold’s doing its best to stick around, and if it weren’t for the fact that I’m taking time off next week when Ze’evi’s coming down, I’d say to hell with it and stay home today.
I’m in even less of a mood to deal with copious amounts of stupidity today than I usually am.
However, on top of not needing to miss the time for the reason mentioned above, there are some things I need some clarification on for what I’m currently doing, and it would be best if I’m at work so I can get that as soon as possible.
I suppose I could just call Merick and ask my questions, but there are other people relying on me, however minor my task, so I’ll just suck it up and go in.
I just need to remember to stop and get some Bennadrill on the way home, and hopefully knock myself out for the entire weekend.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I got a call a short while ago from someone who had a member on the phone who wanted to use our pharmacy as their personal medical support line.
I use medical support in the same way you use technical support.
It’s just like calling your computer’s manufacturer, except this is dealing with your health.
You should get the picture.
If not, pay really close attention to the rest of this.
Anyway, the member’s insurance provider has a step therapy program in place.
That basically means that the insurance company is going to try to get you to try cheaper generics instead of the brand med the doctor originally prescribed to see if that will work first.
They’re playing doctor, which is controversial enought without the freaky implications being thrown in.
They pretty much have no qualms about second-guessing the decisions of the actual doctors if they think it will save them some dough.
In this case, he who pays the piper shouldn’t be calling the tune.
So, this member is being told to take the generic of his med instead of the brand, and wants to call our pharmacy to discuss side effects, and all the jazz that goes along with it.
Well, our pharmacy isn’t an on-call medical helpdesk.
They’ll discuss any side effects members are experiencing from prescriptions in a case where the member wants to switch a generic to a brand, or tell the member how to destroy pills and other medications in the event they’ve been damaged or have expired, but they won’t give members general medical advice.
I told this particular caller to have the member call either their doctor or their local retail pharmacy for medical advice, and that I wasn’t aproving the transfer.
The caller asked what they should say to the member.
How about a paraphrase of what I just told you?
I didn’t realize call scripting was in my job description.
Sometimes I wonder how these people manage to get out the door in the morning, let alone drive a vehicle.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

I still have this really bad cold, and my phone’s been ringing off the hook all day, with lots of stupid people calling.
I really wish I could leave and tell them to just forward the calls to my home number.
People refuse to read their memos, so I’ve been getting calls during my breaks and lunch as well.
They just ring the phone until it won’t ring any more, hang up, and start the process all over again.
I had one person call and let the phone ring for five minutes before one of the Asc Team members went and picked it up and told them I was on break.
The clients are out of the building, so that means tomorrow we get to dress casually again.
Hurray for that.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

Good news!
In two weeks, my sweetheart’s coming to visit me.
Everything suddenly seems so much better.
I’ll have to work out the details next week as to how I’ll be taking the days off.
It’s only two days I’ll need to take off from work, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.
He’s only coming down for a weekend, so things shouldn’t be so shaken that the company won’t recover.
If they don’t, Oh well, not my problem.
It’s not like I’m part of the actual cue, and at this point they haven’t made an actual decision as to what I’m going to be officially doing.
They’re just going to have to deal with it either way.
John and Merick are cool though, and it’s not like I miss every other day.
I was eating lunch with Marquis earlier today, and he said he was going out to dinner for some sort of appreciation thing put on by Mr. Frodo and the rest of upper management for the service level people and the TL Admins.
I feel sorry for him.
He has to sit at the same table and endure Mr. Frodo for an extended period of time.
Come to think of it, I feel sorry for all of them.
Shabbat shalom.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

It seems as though the esteemes developers working for the client have come down with a serious case of amnesia, and forgotten everything, (and I do mean everything) I’ve told them over the last eight, (well, I guess now it’s nine) months.
We’re back to defining what the word “focus” means.
Actually it goes beyond explaining.
It’s more like trying to verbally impart a frame of reference, and I mean the entire frame, not just part.
Yet these people refuse to make themselves familiar with the screen reader, (no, testing out certain functions running the screen reader while using the mouse to do everything doesn’t even come close to counting).
It’s like asking a smart person to explain to a retard what it’s like to be smart.
Just doesn’t work.
This is really stressful and frustrating to say the least, because I know where this is going.
It’s going the same way it has for the last nine months.
Round and round and round the hampster wheel.
And maybe if I do a good job, I’ll get a treat.
I hate stupid people.
Really can’t stand them.
I’m tired of dealing with ignorance that’s this pervasive, and yes, ignorance and stupidity are virtually synonymous, and even if they weren’t, no one reading this should expect me to take the time to point out the difference.
And, in case anyone’s wondering, I’m not bitter, I use salt.

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Originally published at customerservant.com. You can comment here or there.

At least I thought we had a sort of semi-solution.
The office harlot came to my desk and asked me to try out the brand new, extraordinarily exciting, just makes me want to wet my pants pilot for the DB_interface.
Supposedly three of the major issues have been fixed, not including the eight thousand pound ton elephant in the room, namely the standardization issue.
Man, I was actually looking forward to something resembling logic.
I’ve got to stop thinking like that!
Note to self: When confused, just repeat under your breath, “No logic, no problem,” until that mantra infuses itself with your soul, or whatever.