More bullshit from Massive Shithead

[rohina]

No, but it was an academic position, and it was in Australia, where the snowflakes aren't quite as special as they seem to be in North America.

[witch]

That's pretty much the job I do, except I mostly cover computing with some generic thrown in. I would be in deep guano if I refused to see a student as you did Ro. I must take my revenge in much smaller, more petty ways. Like a recent student who has been resident here for 10 years but uses her 'lack of language' to do the rounds of the learning advisors. I play mind games with her, every question she asks me about what she should write, I rephrase and return to her. As in, 'no, I'm not going to tell you the answers to write'! She pretends I've misunderstood her and I continue to pretend to misunderstand her, still at least she only books me now when no-one else is available. 

[rohina]

Well, I think part of it was that I hated the job and didn't give a shit, and University policies at the time (budget cutbacks) meant that every term certain academic was on a 2-week contract. You never know what you can get away with until you have nothing to lose, I guess.

[witch]

Yeah, I'd hate it too if that was all I ever got to do, but I do projects - currently a careers/CV/Personal Development Profile website also I'm in a group to revamp our four websites into one portal driven one, plus some teaching and next year some research so I do get variety. I also work on two campuses. I think I'd go nuts if I had to sit and do the same thing over and over.

Yeah, I guess you can have a lot of fun when you've nothing to lose. 

[Jelenedra]

Rohina-

For all your speshul snowflakes:

[Lorelei]

My biggest gripe when I was in a service position is being told the policies, abiding by them, taking the shit from customers, and then having management do a 180 and approve something I had been told I was never to do for a customer. I had several managers who would do this to their staff members.

In other words, management rewarded assheads and towed the line when polite customers had a genuine complaint more often than I care to recall, and made the customer think I was being difficult for kicks. Way to go!

On commission jobs, this really shot me in the foot, as those customers would then go to management and ask them to serve or ring them up, and the tips / credit went to them rather than the low level employees who actually needed the bennies to make ends meet.

I have also been management, and I was careful not to let the customer go away angry with the employee for doing as he/she was told if I had the power to tweak a certain policy or offer freebies. I made sure not to reward assheads, too.

[KatEnigma]

At least the form in the US for the Do Not Call List violators is short and easy to fill in- basically my number, their number and/or company name, and time of call. We also pay AT&T for Privacy Manager, which doesn't let blocked numbers ring through unless they identify themselves- but in CA, it's by voice. Nothing irritates me more than some idiot Telemarketer who has the nerve to actually identify themselves so that it rings through.  Like I pay for this service for no real reason, I really want to hear about THEIR product.  Then they get bitched at. For everyone else- usually 1-800 service numbers, as they try to get around the program- I just cut them off and tell them that the # is on the do not call list and to remove me from their calling list immediately.  Then I report them. I just wish the FTC had a spot to report charities, surveys, etc who are exempt from the Do Not Call list, but still are required to remove you if you ask them to do so. The same with companies you've done business with within 12 months.

My biggest phone annoyance right now, though, is creditors calling for the person who had this number before us. Grrr. Ever try convincing a creditor that the person they are looking for doesn't live there?  Creditors are legally required to stop calling if you ask them to, as well, but try to get that to happen without a lawyer! Bah! It's bad enough when they are your own creditors, but at least then you've done something to "deserve" it.

[neriana]

My biggest phone annoyance right now, though, is creditors calling for the person who had this number before us. Grrr. Ever try convincing a creditor that the person they are looking for doesn't live there? 

YES.

We have told them about 4 times now that there is no Arthur Winjay Moose here. And that the name doesn't sound real anyway. When we actually manage to get hold of a real person, the calls stop for about 3 weeks, then start again. It makes me consider supporting Pescado's rocket launchers for all stance.

At least the people trying to sell us satellite dishes and claiming they have a great way to refinance our house have stopped. "We live in an apartment, take us off your list," didn't work, but the Do Not Call list did. So far, anyway.

[Lorelei]

If you hate someone, put their mobile phone number on a GNC Gold Card list. Someone put my number on there, probably to get a 5% discount or something. Robots call very EARLY in the morning. It sucks.

I do not shop at GNC and live seven hours away from the branch that is calling me. I've been on the DNC list since 2003.  I've reported them, emailed them, called several rungs up the ladder, called corporate, and tried to block the number, which rotates each month. I've been treated rudely by meatheads, given a porn 800 number supposedly belonging to corporate, and have spoken to some of the biggest cretins on Earth.

Fucking GNC.

[morriganrant]

Friends of mine get so many bill collector calls they have started to tell them that the person they were calling for is dead. They give this big sob story about a plane crash or some such. "Oh, I'm sorry, but they are dead, it was very tragic."

[Kyna]

My grandfather had a store credit card, and my grandmother had a second card on my grandfather's account.  After his death, my grandmother continued to use the card.  It was easier than applying for one in her own name (since she had no credit history of her own).  One month she forgot to pay the bill and fell into arrears.  They rang my grandmother and asked to speak to my grandfather about the arrears.  My mother was the one who answered the phone, and when they asked to speak to my grandfather she answered "He can't come to the phone right now, he's in the garden and not to be disturbed".  She was right, too.  His ashes were in the garden.

As for recycled phone numbers, it seems my phone number belonged to a hooker before I was given it.  In the first few months of having the phone number, I got quite a few calls after midnight requesting her services.  Fortunately the number didn't belong to this address, otherwise I'd have had them turning up on my doorstep as well.

[J. M. Pescado]

How much were they offering? Enough for you to acquire a hooker to pimp out?

[Liz]

...Ever try convincing a creditor that the person they are looking for doesn't live there?  ...

Yep, had that one for a while too. Loved how when I told them that Tiffany didn't live there, they'd always ask, "Are you sure?" Guh. Am I sure? Yeah, I'm reasonably sure who does and does not live at my house.

Quickly got tired of Tiffany's pissed off creditors and changed our number. The new number clearly used to be for some after-hours animal rescue hotline - oh, the fun of being nerve-jangled over to the phone at 3.30am to have some poor, panicked soul start shouting at me, "My dog's having a stroke! What do I do?!" Yeah, we didn't keep that number either.

[jsalemi]

Yea, in some areas the phone companies are running out of numbers, so they're recycling them faster and faster.  I keep getting calls on my business cell from someone in Miami who only speaks Spanish, and my Spanish isn't good enough to have a clue what they're saying.  I've gotten real good at 'No habla espaniol'.

[Yimmit]

When I moved into my place, I started to get worried about Lauren. She had doctors, her child's school, all kinds of people after her. Then I realized that the number used to belong to the local Cingular store and Lauren had been the victim the phone company had selected before me.

Cingular store number from their location in one of the biggest shopping districts in my city THAT WAS STILL PRINTED IN THE LATEST PHONEBOOK!!!

(Whew, sorry for the shouting, bad memories.)

[Doc Doofus]

Rohina said: "No, but it was an academic position, and it was in Australia, where the snowflakes aren't quite as special as they seem to be in North America."

Hehheh!  I will remember that one.  Some of us are rather special snowflakes!

I used to get bill collectors.  I ran up a huge hospital bill that I couldn't pay, so I just said screw it and didn't pay it.  I still had most of my credit intact, including new credit cards coming in the mail.  Defaulting on a student loan is bad mojo; defaulting on a hospital bill, nobody seems to care.  (Remember that!)

The bill collectors can be aggressive.  You can take action to make them stop calling, but I decided to just fuck with them and keep them on the phone for hours until they gave up.  When they got tired of talking to me, I asked for their personal phone number so I could call them back to continue our discussion.  They refuse of course.

[floopyboo]

That's utterly devious. I'm going to try that with the telstra callspammers. It's not like i have anything pressing to do with my time at the moment.

[J. M. Pescado]

Better yet, use a 1-900 number as your home phone. Then you just need to keep them talking long enough to actually pay your bill.

[Shivani]

Better yet, use a 1-900 number as your home phone. Then you just need to keep them talking long enough to actually pay your bill.

Sure, in your best sultry voice.