You know it's going to just be one of those kind of days when the first call of the morning goes soemthing like this:
Me: Good morning, office of loans and scholarships. This is Michael. May I help you?
Woman: Yes, don't you have an 800 number so I can call you back on it and not pay for this call?
Me: No ma'am, we don't.
Woman: Did you use to? Why don't you have one.
Me: I'm sorry, ma'am. I don't know. What can I do for you this morning?
Woman: Well, my daughter has been accepted at ________ school and we thought that the paperwork was the same for a scholarship and a loan. Now, I find out it isn't and she needs a loan by July 1 for school in the fall. Can you send out the loans paperwork?
Me: Yes, I can. I just need your daughter's name and address, please.
Woman: Can't you download them? See, her school needs her funding by July 1. How fast can she get her loan?
Me: I'm sorry, we don't have the applications for download since part of it is a legal contract for the loan. I would be happy to take her information and send the application out with today's mail.
Woman: How fast will it get here? She needs money by July 1 and we're scrambling.
Me: I will send it out this morning, ma'am.
Woman: How soon would she get approved? When would she get the money? What is the interest rate?
You get the idea. I explained our procedures to her and how things worked, which sort of satisfied her, but not really. I really had to bite back the tempation to say, "Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" (a favorite saying among those of us who do the answering of phones...I am thinking of having it cross stitched on a pillow.). But I didn't. It did make me think of what my good friend, Leslie the teacher always said when relating to parents. "Yes, your child is special, just like all the rest of them."
On a happier note,
this morning's Close to Home cracked me up.
posted by Michael Hickerson at 6/16/2004 08:37:00 AM |
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