My Latest Pet Peeve...

I apologize beforehand because the blog is fast turning into my outlet for pent up rage and frustration. I must say this post is appropriately titled and that it is a topic that some of you may have heard me address at some point in time over the past several months, because I know I make a point to mention it from time to time. Let me start at the beginning, just to supply you with a bit of background knowledge, which in turn will lead into the development of my latest pet peeve.

I started my first "real" job back in February at Carr Allison, which is a law firm based out of Birmingham, Alabama. It is a marketing job, and my specific job title is MSA Client Relations Assistant. MSA stands for Medicare Set-Aside. What is a MSA, you might ask? I myself did not know until I took this job. A Medicare Set-Aside applies to anticipated future medical expenses. It is the sum of money that is anticipated at the time to pay the future medical expenses related to a particular injury, over the lifetime of a claimant. Settling parties can never shift the burden of paying medical expenses to Medicare (When Medicare is the secondary payer under the Medicare Secondary Payer statute). MSAs must be approved by CMS (The Center for Medicare and Medicaid) when certain criteria is met. I will not go into the certain criteria with you at this time.

I travel with attorneys for client calls regarding MSAs and I also travel to workers' compensation trade shows all over the country, where I "man" the Carr Allison booth and "sale" our MSA services. This frequent traveling of mine is usually done on an airplane. My resume could also include "travel agent," because I am constantly booking trips for myself and other attorneys. Naturally, plans change, right along with life, and then I usually have to call the airline and make these changes over the phone. Sometimes, the web sites will let me do this on-line, and when that rarely happens, the word "ecstatic" does not describe me.

I had to change a flight today for one of my bosses and I had to call Orbitz. Orbitz is a website many of you may have used before. Quite often you can get a good deal on this website and it also allows you to make an itinerary that consists of more than one airline. Ex: You fly Delta to New York City and then fly Continental home. Sounds like a great thing, right? The answer is no, and here my latest pet peeve may present itself:

PEOPLE WHO DO NOT SPEAK ENGLISH SHOULD NOT BE EMPLOYED IN AMERICAN CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENTS.

Well, I have had to deal with Orbitz and its English challenged employees before, so today I thought I would actually time the whole ordeal. In defense of Orbitz, I have had good experiences with the people who do speak English. I knew that with the way this week is going, however, there was no way I was going to get someone who spoke English (see below post for earlier this week. *side note: The Charter guy is now scanning mine and Bess's phone calls). Of course, I get this lady who does not speak English and I have no clue what her name was. TIME: 2:32pm. I try to work with her, I speak slowly, spell my name out loud and slow, even doing the A as in apple bit. She could not find the flight I wanted....although I was telling her "I am on www.orbitz.com and it is right in front of me face." Naturally, it is about 2:43 or so at this point and I have to hang up on her. I honestly can't deal with her anymore, my heart rate is up and I am about to freak out. I call right back (because if you book a Delta flight through Orbitz--you have to change the flight through Orbitz) and "AH........" (said in a heavenly tone) the girl speaks English--even though she has a heavy accent. Anxious to get this over with, I interrupt her several times and say "I am familiar with ___ and ___ and I use you guys all the time...yes that's fine if it is a million dollars difference in price, No--I don't care, that's fine..." Eventually, she puts me on hold to calculate something, even though I've told her I don't care, and when she finally gets back to me, finally wraps up the conversation--it is 3:15pm. It was a 45 minute ordeal to change one, little bitty flight.

So--America--if you are reading this--quit hiring people that don't speak English to work the Customer Service department of your company. I get it--the lady I talked to today is in Asia somewhere, and you are paying her a $0.01 an hour, and it is SO fine that the American economy sucks and the dollar is as weak as new born deer, and it's not like thousands of people in America need jobs at the moment, but you are doing bad business and annoying me endlessly on a weekly, sometimes bi-weekly, basis.

Amen. Next time I promise to be a bit more cheerful and talk about rainbows, butterflies, and make cute smiley faces all over the post.