u/ZoisNBooks16

It’s a discount app, that scores your driving and gives you a discount as long as you don’t drive like a madman/woman. Most insurance companies have their own version. This is State Farm’s.

Anyway. I am not good at helping customers with the app. Nor have I ever claimed to be. I have told her this numerous times yet she KEEPS sending them to me! Had the day of yesterday and came back to her asking me via Teams to help this customer with his Drive Safe app.

At this point I don’t know if she’s deliberately ignoring me or just not hearing me but I’m done. I am not doing it anymore. I’m a CSR I am not IT or tech support. It just really irks me that she completely dodges my *constant* reminders I am not the person to send these people to.

Not because she didn’t understand me. Not because I was talking too fast. Not because I wasn’t listening to her. But because I moved a simple transaction along quickly and efficiently.

Customer called at the end of the day to add a car to her insurance policy. And she wanted a quote on the change. Something I do multiple times a day.

But I apparently did it too fast for her liking. She first made off hand comments about my fast typing. “You’re typing an awful lot over there. And fast. I sure hope I’m not interrupting anything.” (Sarcastic tone inserted here). She made a comment when I had the quote ready for her. “You work way too fast.” When she told me “go ahead and add the car to the policy.” I said “you’re good to go, it’s on your policy.” She made another comment that I did that way too fast. And she laughed at me when I explained I’ve been doing this for years. Which was odd. Not with. At. In a mocking tone. Then back to the criticizing my work speed. Telling me I need to learn to slow my work down.

Would you rather I took 3-5 business days for a 2 minute transaction? I guess quick and efficient is now an issue? What the hell do you people want???

Extremely lazy coworker, who’s been here longer than all of us, has a bad habit of trying to get us to fix her problems. And I’ve had ENOUGH!

Today she asked me to look and see if a customer had a non-pay cancellation because her home was cancelled. (As the CSR non-pays are my area.) I looked at it. Coworker was actually the one who put in a cancel request on the policy. So I sent her back a message letting her know SHE put a cancel request on the policy and that is why it is inactive. She wrote back “can we get it reinstated?” This is how she tries to get us to do something for her. Using “we” on things she alone is responsible for. When you write back things like “yeah we should be able to” she’ll say back “can you look at it?” Can you call and get it reinstated?” Things like that. I did not fall for it.

I wrote back: “You should be able to. You may have to call underwriting.” Insinuating there is no “we” in this. She is going to fix her own problems.

That’s it.

Just “hi (agent’s name) this is Susie Smith.” (I didn’t type real name of course.)

Okay…and?

I didn’t reply. You have to at least try to give some context if you want a response.

They do this on the phone to. I’ll answer, they say their name “Hi, this is John Smith.” Then just sit there.

Okay? Yes. Congratulations on being John Smith. Continue your thought please.

Why has all phone etiquette, whether texting or calling, gone completely into the garbage? If y’all aren’t going to put at least some minimal effort into proper communication, I’m not participating.

This drives me insane when customers do this! They will call our office wanting to quote adding a driver, a car, or both to their auto insurance policy.

I will ask for the information I need. A driver’s license number and at least the year/make/model of vehicle. I don’t have to have a VIN for a roundabout quote.

The amount of people who don’t have any basic info, then put me on hold while I hear them shuffling around, it’s ridiculous.

I just hung up a call of someone doing this. She wanted me to quote adding her daughter as a driver. And her car. The drivers license number popped right up. But this lady didn’t even have the year or make of the car. She starts fumbling around, I hear shuffling, her mumbling to herself. After about 3 minutes I hung up.

Get your shit together before calling! It’s not that difficult.

A few weeks ago my coworker found out she is pregnant. I know she was wanting to have children so I was excited for her.

But ever since I haven’t stopped getting unsolicited updates on her pregnancy.

Every. Single. Day. “I’m in a bad mood today.” “I’m so irritable.” “I don’t want food.” “Look at my belly!” (She’s seven weeks and thinks she’s showing, so I got an unsolicited picture of her stomach.)

Teams chats, text messages, telling me verbally…

I get this is all new to her but I don’t understand the *constant* updates when I did not ask for them. I am her coworker, not her bff. I don’t want to sound unsupportive and say something like “hey, I understand you’re excited but I’m getting a little burned out from all these updates, and I need to work.” But I am this close to it…

And I feel like you can spot them a mile away.

They don’t have the natural, quiet, glow. They instead feel like they need to talk about their symptoms every five minutes. “I’m so irritable today!” “Food sounds terrible to me right now.” “I’m soooo tired.” Everything has to be about their pregnancy.

They’re the ones sticking their bellies out making it look like they’re showing. “Look, I’m showing already!” You’re seven weeks pregnant, Becky. You just ate an entire Chipotle burrito. That’s called carbs and sodium.

The ones who actually are really looking forward to having children, from my experience, are the ones just going about their day as normal. They mostly only speak about their pregnancy/soon to be children when asked. They aren’t trying to get attention. They aren’t going on and on about their pregnancy to unsuspecting victims.

I have a coworker who’s like this. She just found out she’s pregnant and I keep having to hear about it. How “irritable” she is. How “tired” she is. She sends me unsolicited belly pics stating she is “showing.” Mind you she’s not even 2 months in yet. At first I didn’t mind. She just found out and was excited. But at this point I’m getting a bit worn out of it.

The kicker with all this excitement she’s feeling, she has expressed she actually can’t stand kids. Like, really cannot stand them. And not that people who don’t like kids can’t love having their own. But it’s this naïveté I’m picking up. Going on and on about her pregnancy, the attention seeking, coupled with her expressed disdain of children, that make me feel like she’s going to be met with a rude awakening. When the buzz of a newly discovered pregnancy wears off, the attention she’s getting now wanes and life continues on as normal, and she realizes she’s responsible for an entire human being that has to become a functioning citizen someday. Or what about the massive change, perhaps even strain, in her marriage? No marriage is immune to it.

Anyone know someone like this? What are your thoughts? I mean, I hope I’m wrong. But this feels very strongly of, loving the *idea* of having children more than actually loving having children…

You can ask politely. You can request a call back at a certain time.

You will not, however, proceed to tell me what to do. Or what you “expect” as if I am your child or your employee. I am here to help you but I am not your personal on-call servant.

Nor will you tell my coworkers what time you “require” a call back from me.

I understand you have a schedule. But so do I. I don’t work here just for you. I am more than willing to work with you on a convenient time. IF, you are considerate of my time as well. What if I had an appointment with another client at that time? What if I have other urgent matters? You don’t know. So therefore, a polite request instead of a demand is recommended.

Ask nicely and you shall receive. Tell me what to do with my time? I’ll proceed to put you lower on my list of priorities. If I decide what you need isn’t actually urgent in the slightest, you may even get put to the next business day.

Common courtesy can get you much further in life.

I find this incredibly unprofessional. They will drag something out that would be far more beneficial to let go.

For example: (We’re insurance btw.) A customer wanted a specific coverage on her car after the fact of an accident. One of them texted back explaining to her she can’t do that. The customer of course wasn’t happy but got the message. But because she expressed some mild dissatisfaction they dragged it out further. Reiterating she can’t put coverage on after the fact. If I were that customer I’d be making it a point to look for a new agency. Not because of the coverage misunderstanding. She understood loud and clear. But because of their behavior, feeling like they need to tell her something twice when she stated the first time she understood. I would find this incredibly patronizing.

If a client says something offensive, when coworkers are the ones texting the client in the first place, (usually sales) they feel the need to argue back. The whole thing gets dragged out. I agree with them that people don’t need to talk to us like that when we are just doing our jobs. But they want a reaction. Best move is to leave them be and move on. Not get into a battle of wits. Especially with people who aren’t even our clients. At the end of the day, people do get irritated with soliciting and they have a right to express that.

I get it’s texting and more casual than phone or in person. But it’s still a business and we need to use professionalism even in casual forms of communication like texts. They don’t realize they are actually making us look really bad when they do this and it’s embarrassing.

Insurance.

We are to not, under any circumstance, accept gift money from clients. Accepting cash can be seen as a bribe, unfair inducement, or commission splitting. Look it up.

A customer gave our office $100 “to buy lunch.”

And let me tell you about this man. He was obnoxious. Gross, loud. He was flirting with my coworkers and making some distasteful jokes thinking he aaa being hilarious. I was upstairs in my office keeping far away from all this but I could hear everything. When they tried to refuse his money “gift” he threatened to throw it on the ground outside. So they finally gave in.

My coworker I’m having lunch with tomorrow said “well boss said our lunch is paid for tomorrow. She’s going to take the $100 he gave us and we’ll all split it.”

I told her, absolutely not. I do not want his money. I have my own. I will pay for my own lunch. And I made sure everyone else heard me. In case this goes south. I will also be keeping my receipt from lunch showing I paid with my own card.

I have resorted to doing this when the customer is either A: rambling about boring, redundant, nonsense that doesn’t pertain to the call. Or B: they are ranting and raving, talking in circles, interrupting me, and nothing I say gets them to relax.

I make sure their request is taken care of, their issue resolved at the best of my ability, and if the call has now gone on longer than it needs to I pretend I’m losing them. Works like a charm every time. The ones that were just rambling normally don’t call back because they at least tend to have enough sense to realize they got what they needed done. But the ones that are ranting and raving will usually call back because obviously they are not done using me as a sounding board yet. So I just let it go to voicemail. I’ll notate the conversation, task, etc. that a conversation pertaining to their issue was had and resolutions were offered and taken/not taken, and move on.

“Lack of planning on your part doesn't constitute an emergency on my part.”

I’m not shouldering the weight of someone else’s irresponsibility, nor a I moving them up higher in my list of priorities. They’ll get in line and wait their turn like everyone else. If you’re the tenth person in line at a coffee shop and you have five minutes to get to work, and the second person in line has thirty minutes, that doesn’t automatically put you ahead of them. Wake up earlier. Or make coffee at home. Either way, your inconvenience is your own doing and it’s no one else’s urgency or problem.

Also, speaking of problems. Let’s be clear on this: Inconvenience ≠ problems.

In insurance I sometimes do deal with real actual problems. Car accidents, damage to homes, loved ones passing away, job loss, divorce. Those are very real problems we have to help people work through in this career field.

Not liking the material the auto ID cards are made out of, the fact you don’t like the layout of the online customer portal, you think fifteen minutes is too long to wait for a call back, you want to fine tooth comb your policy but we are closed for the day so you have to wait for a call back next business day, your premium went up forty-three cents a month, you wanted to stop by at noon and make a payment but we are temporarily closed for an office lunch outing/meeting.

Those are inconveniences. They are not problems. Learn the difference. We here in America are beyond spoiled to be able to confuse inconveniences with actual problems.

I’m a part time CSR. I get paid a whopping $35,000 a year (before taxes) for 32 hours a week. Do you think I care?

I’ve been trying to help a customer, who had an old roof that was failing, to keep her insurance from cancelling due to the high risk. She got it replaced but hasn’t sent proof.

She asks for my name (after I already stated it) then said “Well_____. Just so you know. I am probably leaving your company.”

So? Leave.

I just said “That’s totally fine. Just let us know if you find something else, or send us evidence of roof replacement, before May 23rd (her non-non renew date) so we can cancel it per your request or update the policy. I don’t want you to lose insurance for no fault of your own if you don’t find something else.”

I don’t think she liked that. But what the hell did she expect? My job is to help her not grovel at her feet because she’s threatening to leave us. It’s a free country sweetheart.

Has anyone worked in an office, as a woman, with all women? There is a pecking order and may God have mercy on your soul if you don’t kiss the ass of the one “in charge”. They will try to sabotage your career, tarnish your name, spread rumors about you, micromanage you, accuse you of being difficult because you set boundaries. They will absolutely try to shrink you and gain control over you. And if you don’t let them? There will be hell to pay.

Now, imagine these types of women in powerful positions.

All people, regardless of sex, can possess the desire to want control others. You put the wrong men in control, you get problems. What makes people think that also wouldn’t apply to the wrong women in control? Not all women want peace and freedom for everyone.

Not to be confused with my actual work. I do that well and diligently. But it’s all completely task oriented and nothing else. I have dissociated with the social and emotional dynamics of the office, essentially.

Two of my coworkers are nothing but gossipers so I do not associate with them in the slightest. Aside from basic polite professionalism. (The new person we hired last year is an exception. We actually get along.)

Everything work related is fully transactional. I do not attach any emotion to conversations with clients. Were they nice? Were they mean? Were they upset? Were they happy? I don’t know. I don’t care. I just get it done/resolved.

My break time is spent away from everyone (except new coworker occasionally). Otherwise I am at a park or in my car not talking to anyone. And if we have a group lunch for whatever reason (holidays mainly), and people start talking about work? I excuse myself.

I do not get involved at all with office politics. We’re just here to do what we’re paid to do. Let’s not make it more than it is.

I refuse to acknowledge pecking order, aside from acknowledging the person who signs my paychecks being in charge. The two who have “seniority” do not behave in a way that has earned any of my respect.

Anyway. I have distanced myself so far away from any dynamics of this office, it almost feels like I’m here but I’m not. I feel almost ghostlike. Like…I’m here physically but that’s it. My presence is beginning to feel like a whisper. I’m in, I’m out. Was I here? Must have been, because shit got done somehow.

Not just money she may or may not have, but our clients she talks to. And I’ve given no hint, no clue, that I give a shit about her’s, or anyone else’s, financial information. I’m only interested in taking care of my own finances.

The funny thing is, she rents, I own a home. Yet I never talk about it. It just is. She had a court order to have her wages garnished over a small $3,000 debt. She gets paid more than me. Yet I don’t have delinquent bills.

She brags about money she wins at casinos. They just got back from a work a trip. A cruise. And she couldn’t wait to tell me she won $37,000 at a casino on the ship. I had to bite my tongue because I wanted to say “Great! Maybe use it to pay your debt and stop troubling our boss with having to deal with your wage garnishment.” But I just said “congratulations.”

Her and I are not friends. She spent the 4 years I’ve been in that office bullying me, until we got a new employee and now her goldfish brain has shifted focus to her.

I really do not get why she always specifically bragging to me about her’s, and other people’s, money.

It’s especially awkward when she unsolicitedly starts telling me about how much money a client, she just got done meeting with, has. I hear about their big houses, the huge diamond ring on their fingers…

Like…what am I even supposed to do with that?

And this was only since last June. So in less than a year she hit someone…twice. Once in June then again in December.

Is this her first day on earth? You can’t just play chicken with people in the road then expect your insurance to decrease, or stay the same.

She hit someone head on when going left of center. Then, six months later, hit a parked car.

Ma’am? Perhaps you need to worry less about your rates and more about your lack of ability to drive.

It’s worse than dealing with toddlers at this point. I can probably reason with a 3 year old better than this person, and people like her.