workingfortheman.com

I work for the Government. And, before you go saying something like "that's not a real job", let me tell you that I've heard it all before. Believe it or not, there are some people who do actually work for the Government. We also pay taxes. It really annoys us when someone says, "I pay your salary!" Get a life.

Here is the story of the rudest customer I have ever had to deal with. I contacted the customer's wife (as this was the only telephone number we had on file) after attempting to process a payment on the customer's credit card and having it declined four times. I explained to the wife that I was having a problem and needed to talk to her husband. I also explained that I did not want to have to terminate the customer's contract because of the problems we were experiencing processing the payment. She told me that he couldn't contact me before the next day, so I said I'd wait for his call. Obviously, when she talked to her husband, she was upset because she claimed that I was rude, which I was not. I made a call I didn't even have to make to try and save them some hassles. I should have just terminated the contract...

When the customer called me in the morning, he started off the call by asking if I was going to be rude to him as I was to his wife. A fitting start that put me right on the defensive. Then the customer proceeded to call other members of my office Monkeys and ask me if I could keep this thing professional. Can you believe the nerve of this JERK? Here was a customer who's credit card (two in fact) had been declined 4 times, who is calling people names, and he's asking me if I can be professional. I assure you, I was professional and business like the whole time I was dealing with this man.

Being a Civil Servant, we are not allowed to tell our customers exactly what we really think of them. I bit my tongue and tried to finish as quickly as possible. Of course, he insisted on speaking to my Boss and then wrote to his Congressman because he felt that paying my salary entitled him to treat me like crap. Some days, I'd really like to tell customers like him to take his taxes and shove them right up his ass.

I'm not saying that there aren't bad Civil Servants out there, but we are not all alike, just like all McDonald's employees aren't high school drop outs, and all used car dealers aren't crooks. So, next time you have to deal with someone in the government, please remember that they are human, pay taxes, and have feelings.

Karen has worked for the government for 17 years. Of this story she says, "This is just one of the real jerks that I've had to deal with. Strange how you can deal with a hundred nice people in a day but the one jerk is the one you remember forever."

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