Farmer H has tasked me with a couple of important duties this week concerning financial dealings. He said on Friday that the information I needed would be ready on Monday. And that I needed to call a local institution. Even though he'd been dealing with them, it suddenly became MY job!
When he left the Mansion at 6:30 a.m., Farmer H pointedly stated, "I bet they don't open until 9:00."
"No. 9:30. I looked it up last night." Which was a lie, because they opened at 8:30, but I was a bit groggy, having not slept yet, and got confused. Though the part about looking it up was true.
What Farmer H doesn't know won't hurt him. It's not like I was going to call the minute they opened. Think about it. If they knew the information I wanted on Friday, they would have told Farmer H on Friday. Just the passing of the weekend would not make it suddenly available at the start of business on Monday!
I planned to call just before 11:00. That way, they'd have time to gather the info, and would not yet have left for lunch. I went to bed at 7:00, and set my alarm to get up at 10:45. Funny how I felt like I just got to sleep!
At 10:55, I called. I asked for the person Farmer H told me was handling our business. The receptionist said, "Just a minute, I'll transfer you." I got a machine. I left my name and number, and the three pieces of info I needed. I waited for a chance to hear the message back. Huh. No such option.
That machine told me: due to lack of speaking, the message had been paused. What in the Not-Heaven? How were you supposed to FINISH a message, if every time you said "Thank you, goodbye," and quit talking, it said the message was paused! So I wasn't sure my message would actually be heard. But I didn't want to call right back and be a nuisance.
I couldn't go back to bed, because my call might be returned, and I'd need my pen and paper to jot down the info. So I sat at the kitchen table, not-sleeping. For two hours.
At 1:08, I called back. This time, I gave my name to the receptionist, and told her the information I needed.
"Oh. Let me go get the folder. The person who does that had to step out."
She came back, and gave me WAY WRONG info. So I explained a bit more. She politely tried to help, but the info was not in the folder. So she said she'd take my name and number, and have that person call me.
"She WILL be back before we close. She just had an errand."
At 2:30, I called Farmer H, who had been incommunicado all morning, out in the middle-er of nowhere, working on Back-Creek Neighbor Bev's house. He was NOT pleased.
"Don't get mad at ME! I've called twice, and I know nothing more than I knew this morning."
"Call back."
"No. I've called TWICE! Left a message with a machine AND a person. It's not my fault they're not doing their job."
"I'm at Pony's now. I'll go by there and find out."
"Well, good luck with that. I've waited all day. I can't answer the phone and get info while I'm driving. So I've just wasted the day sitting here."
"Go on to town. I'll take care of it."
He called me about 15 minutes later.
"She's here. She's going to call you."
So I waited some more. But then Farmer H called me back.
"She's going to email it to me. So you can go on."
"Good luck with that! They close in less than two hours. I can't do my assignment tomorrow if I don't get that info today."
"Well. Just go there tomorrow and walk in and tell them you've been trying to get the info, but nobody called you back, and you need it or we can't proceed on Wednesday."
Good thing for Farmer H that I got a call at 4:10, right after I got out of the shower. I got the info, which had also been sent to my email a few seconds before.
Farmer H needs to stop being so bossy! I can only do what other people allow me to do. Not my fault they can't do a job right, or follow through with their promises!
Heh, heh. Farmer H said the receptionist was rude to him when he walked in asking for the info. Said that she had talked to me, and TOLD ME that I would be getting a call. Uh huh. I was pretty sure that repeated calls would not speed up the process.
Farmer H should realize that he is not the center of the universe and the boss of the world.
2 comments:
It does get confusing when messages get paused and people who should be there step out for errands. Because they who work there don't care about those who live miles away and can't get there in person.
And Farmer H does need to stop being so bossy.
River,
Thanks for the VALidation on Farmer H's bossiness! I can understand that people might be in a meeting, or on a call with someone else, but you'd think that after two hours, they could have checked messages and responded. As for the "errand" part, it made me think that this absence was not work-related. If it was, the receptionist should have said she was "meeting a client," or "picking up documents," or "at the courthouse," or something specific to the job.
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