Pete's Liver Store.

Gah...I hate working Saturdays, and today was no exception. We had someone call in sick, so we were a person short most of the day, and tho it wasn't a typical busy as fuck Saturday, we could really have used the 3rd person.

I was doing some thinking today, inspired mostly by some of the rude and stupid people that I have to deal with on a daily basis, and I finally decided to codify a few things.

There are things that happen with alarming frequency, and I've decided to bitch about them here.

Because I can.

They are in no particular order, just how they came to me as I was jotting them down.

I call them:

The Rules

1. When calling to request a phone/fax number, have a piece of paper and a working writing implement of some kind handy. Don't ask me for a number, then ask me to hold on while you get a pen. Get a fucking pen first!!

2 If you are calling a business you know to be closed to leave a message for them to get during business hours, or to have an on call doctor/nurse call you back, know your own FUCKING phone number. And don't use the excuse "heh...I never call myself." Yeah, I don't call my house much either, but I know my fucking number.

3. Do not talk over the person trying to take the message. I know what you are trying to tell me is important, and I promise, if you just let me get some basic information out of the way, I'll take down anything you have to say, trivial as it may be.

4

LISTEN

to me. If I ask for your name, do not, I repeat, do not tell me the patients name. I'll get to that, but whoever I get a hold of for you is going to want to know who to ask for.

5. When you are asked for a contact number, it is NOT necessary for you to tell me if it is your home number, your mobile number, or your brother's best friend's cousin's pager number. I don't give a fuck. Just give me the bloody number.

6 If you have AAA and find yourself in a situation where you need assistance, whether it be for a tow, a jumpstart, or a tire change call AAA. That's why you pay them 49 bucks a year.

7 When I tell you that I don't know anything about a company's policies, practices, or rental properties, please do not take that as an invitation to go ahead and ask a question about same. I really don't know.

8. Don't be rude. I honestly don't care how upset you are at the company or it's employees. I don't work for them, and your yelling at me only decreases what little sympathy I may have for you, and makes it less likely that I'll go the extra mile to try and get your issue resolved.

9. When you ask who's on call for an office and I tell you do not, at that point, ask me if I can get ahold of soandso. I can't. I have to get the person on call. That's what on call fucking means. Deal with it.

10. Make a choice, why don't you. If you call and get me, and I say "well the office is closed, I can fax a message over for them, or you can call back during business hours" don't say "ok" as your response. Give me something to work with.

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Ok....That's all I have from today, but I'm sure that there will be more. I'm going to show my notes to the other operators and see if they have anything to add.

In other news, I talked to Tammy today, and I got some very sad news. I'm still trying to process it so it will be a bit before I post about it. Besides, it deserves a post all it's own.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, the title of this post is directly related to Rule # 4. We dispatched a tow today, and the driver called back to say that he did not know where 'Pete's Liver Store' was. We called to get clarification of the location, and discovered it to be in front of 'Pete's Liquor Store.'

Now, I don't know if it was the roadside service company, the driver, or my operator that got that wrong, but it all amounts to the same.

Anyhoozle, hope you all had a good Sunday.

T.