WTF?!? A Frustrating day..... I must be tired......

20Gauge

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
I have several examples of what I am about to describe and to keep things from getting out of hand, I will describe one or two.......

Both are cases where customers are given detailed instructions of what to do and then throw that information away and do what they want..... then complain.......

Case #1

The customer just got their LLC and needed to know what to do to apply for and receive an EIN for that LLC. For those who are interested, you simply google IRS EIN and it will give you the IRS website where you can get an EIN free of charge and they provide the needed letter so you can open a business account for that LLC. We had that conversation in early March...( note the customer was looking to avoid paying me the fees to do the work for them and no our fees are not high )

Skip to this week......

The customer starts a very long text chain where they begin with,,,, Hey! The bank won't let me open a bank account as I don't have my EIN paperwork, but I have the number! I tried to use the FinCen Boi information, but they didn't like it.

My response was that they were to get the letter from the IRS when they applied for the EIN ( employer identification number, think of it as the company's SS number ).

Their response was quick and did not follow my instructions when we originally spoke on the issue...... Well, I didn't think I needed it, so I did not print it. Can you fix it? What can I do that takes less than 30 seconds to fix this issue without me paying you a dime?

Okay the last bit in bold was implied, but they did send a series of texts that more or less implying that they wanted me to take over for no charge.

@^#$%^#$%&#%^&#$%&#$%&#%^&

So I suggested that they call the IRS and try and get a new EIN. This was responded to by the customer with, " How do I call the IRS?"

#^&$%^&$@^%@#$^#%&%$^$#%&

I gave them the answer...........much to my shame.......

Case #2

4 months ago a client had his tax return rejected as he did not provide his taxpayer id number that he got when his id was stolen a few years ago. As he was a new client I did not know he had and ID pin, but it is a simple fix. I gave him the number and asked him to call them, ask for his number to be sent to him. No biggie......

Yesterday he text me to say he called the number, but forgot what to say...... I kid you not.




I must be tired, but it really seems that as I get older, people are getting dumber or lazier or something. You give them a full set of instructions and they screw it up / lose them / refuse to follow them / or do something weird.....
 
Toosh

Toosh

Veteran Member
Oh, I welcome that kind of shit!! I run into that all the time and assume it's part of running a business.

They want me to do it? no problem. I'll do whatever is needed and talk to whomever - my hourly rate stands. When it's a tiresome customer, I apply a PITA surcharge. When I get tired of servicing customers I know it's time to raise my rates. They get what they want and think I'm so sweet. I whistle all the way to the bank.

The extra money makes it easy to be sweet.
Sounds like it's time to raise your rates.
 
Melodi

Melodi

Disaster Cat
On the other hand (and I'm not saying these particular customers were in that category). As someone who sent nearly all afternoon dealing with "busy work" phone calls trying to write down this set of instructions (per customer service) that someone else had to do, who then didn't understand, and then re-calling customer service, getting two different responses and finally getting to agree to call the person who has to perform the actual changes before I can do anything - I begin to see why people are getting confused and losing data.

Just trying to talk to a bank is becoming nearly impossible. Some European countries (including Ireland) are trying to force banks by law to accommodate older people in person. This means you go to the bank, and they direct you to a computer and sign you up for the same website you were trying to use at home. The last time I went through this, I was assured it was fixed, and I returned to the merchant (that I was using for the first time), who had experienced my card being rejected an hour before, only to have it rejected again. The third time, I went back to the bank again and Demanded Cash Money or Elsewhere because it was their problem (and I wasn't quiet). As a customer of nearly 30 years, they gave it to me so I could pay the merchant in case. I have wasted - an entire afternoon. The problem was "resolved" by not being officially in the online account for several days...

I'm sure all of us have similar stories of crazy. I often make notes, but when the topic comes up again three months later, I have probably misplaced them. Then there are the many houses on the phones, usually on hold with messages about how you can resolve this problem on the internet (no, I can't; if I could, I would not be calling).

So, while these two customers may be lazy people whom you are familiar with, who just don't listen (they exist—I've done customer service, too), understand that today, people are swamped with what Catherine Austin Fitz calls "Busy Work" or "Shadow Work." This stuff eats everyone's time at home and work. I think it traumatized a lot of people to the point of simply not bothering or just giving up and going away, which I believe is the point.
 
20Gauge

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Toosh said:
Oh, I welcome that kind of shit!! I run into that all the time and assume it's part of running a business.

They want me to do it? no problem. I'll do whatever is needed and talk to whomever - my hourly rate stands. When it's a tiresome customer, I apply a PITA surcharge. When I get tired of servicing customers I know it's time to raise my rates. They get what they want and think I'm so sweet. I whistle all the way to the bank.

The extra money makes it easy to be sweet.
Sounds like it's time to raise your rates.
Click to expand...
LOL

We do that all the time. Especially the PITA tax
 
day late

day late

money? whats that?
I completely fail to understand. Why is it that these days nobody understands the concept of personal responsibility? You tell them what MUST BE DONE by them, and they expect someone else to bail them out because they don't seem to have two brain cells left to rub together and be able to put words on a dotted line. Just how far have we sunk?
 
Griz3752

Griz3752

Retired, practising Curmudgeon
20Gauge said:
I have several examples of what I am about to describe and to keep things from getting out of hand, I will describe one or two.......

Both are cases where customers are given detailed instructions of what to do and then throw that information away and do what they want..... then complain.......

Case #1

The customer just got their LLC and needed to know what to do to apply for and receive an EIN for that LLC. For those who are interested, you simply google IRS EIN and it will give you the IRS website where you can get an EIN free of charge and they provide the needed letter so you can open a business account for that LLC. We had that conversation in early March...( note the customer was looking to avoid paying me the fees to do the work for them and no our fees are not high )

Skip to this week......

The customer starts a very long text chain where they begin with,,,, Hey! The bank won't let me open a bank account as I don't have my EIN paperwork, but I have the number! I tried to use the FinCen Boi information, but they didn't like it.

My response was that they were to get the letter from the IRS when they applied for the EIN ( employer identification number, think of it as the company's SS number ).

Their response was quick and did not follow my instructions when we originally spoke on the issue...... Well, I didn't think I needed it, so I did not print it. Can you fix it? What can I do that takes less than 30 seconds to fix this issue without me paying you a dime?

Okay the last bit in bold was implied, but they did send a series of texts that more or less implying that they wanted me to take over for no charge.

@^#$%^#$%&#%^&#$%&#$%&#%^&

So I suggested that they call the IRS and try and get a new EIN. This was responded to by the customer with, " How do I call the IRS?"

#^&$%^&$@^%@#$^#%&%$^$#%&

I gave them the answer...........much to my shame.......

Case #2

4 months ago a client had his tax return rejected as he did not provide his taxpayer id number that he got when his id was stolen a few years ago. As he was a new client I did not know he had and ID pin, but it is a simple fix. I gave him the number and asked him to call them, ask for his number to be sent to him. No biggie......

Yesterday he text me to say he called the number, but forgot what to say...... I kid you not.




I must be tired, but it really seems that as I get older, people are getting dumber or lazier or something. You give them a full set of instructions and they screw it up / lose them / refuse to follow them / or do something weird.....
Click to expand...
You're too polite/forgiving.

Based on the above, I can't see you wanting either of these as clients on any basis.
As I've told my wife for years, you need to learn when and how to say no which in your case would include taking on clients.

My standard was "Thank you for the opportunity but I don't think we can reasonably satisfy your needs."

And yes, I was an early adopter of number blocking/email filters.
 
kyrsyan

kyrsyan

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I'm right there with you. Stuff told to people months ago, and now they want to know why xyz is happening.

Silently, deep in my brain, "Because you are a $YU%!)*# ID10T!"
 
patriotgal

patriotgal

Veteran Member
Our yearly life book/planner details every conversation that might be important later be it email, text, online chat, etc. Time, date, name. It's sad that we have to apply the CYA principle in retirement just like we did in business.
 
S

seraphima

Veteran Member
Since I had covid (three seperate times), i have more and more trouble understanding complex directions about tecchie things. It has gotten to the point that I sometimes have to say "look, I'm 76 and stupid. Can you please fix this for me?"

Of course, it could just be age, but I seem to be able to deal with complex ideas of other kinds.

I don't like having to think in the logic patterns that many tech problems require, and find that there are often built in loops that go around and around again in the same que of alternatives. (Press 1 for this, and 2 for that, and 3 for something else.)
 
ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
4746107-Robert-A-Heinlein-Quote-Stupidity-cannot-be-cured-Stupidity-is-the.jpg


1816353-Robert-A-Heinlein-Quote-Never-attribute-to-malice-that-which-can.jpg


233851-Robert-A-Heinlein-Quote-Ignorance-is-curable-stupid-is-forever.jpg
 
B

bluelady

Veteran Member
Blacknarwhal said:
...how many of them are vaxxed, he wondered silently, not wanting to run afoul of any potential rules violations.
Click to expand...
The people in my life who are most like this are *not* vaxxed, but have been this way forever because of neurodevelopmental disorders. Even though I have ADHD and am certified by my brother :) to be a lifelong airhead and space cadet, I am somehow the go-to fixer for these people. My life is already complicated by my own brain and the accompanying fallout, but some how even though I have no executive function and very little tech aptitude they all ask ME! LOL!! I don't mind giving it a go for dh and good friends, but I have a *lot* less patience with customers, and even less for customer service when I need *their* help.

The world is getting waaay more confusing and complicated; in the meantime I'm getting older and less complicated. :)

The vax may have sped things up a bit for some, but the world was definitely way down that slippery slope already.
 
N

night driver

ESFP adrift in INTJ sea
20g, as we have talked about, RELIC feels your pain.

Cob\nsider she spent 3 seasons at the OTHER end of those referrals you made to IRSssssss.
 
raven

raven

TB Fanatic
Profit of Doom said:
How can I get a copy of that?
Click to expand...
I've got a little widget on my browser that lets me copy stuff - I'm lazy.

it's retard emoji
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Kathy in FL

Kathy in FL

Administrator
_______________
20Gauge said:
I must be tired, but it really seems that as I get older, people are getting dumber or lazier or something. You give them a full set of instructions and they screw it up / lose them / refuse to follow them / or do something weird.....
Click to expand...

Nope, you're correct. And dumber and lazier by the moment.
 
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