"Let me tell ya
About the birds and the bees
And the flowers and the trees
And the moon up above
And a thing called love.”
I am sure you remember that song by Jewel Akens, “The Birds and the Bees,” but what I am going to “tell ya” is not about “love,” but the “new normal” that we are right in the middle of, which is described by one word:
INCOMPETENCE.
And if I never knew what that word meant before yesterday, I certainly know what it means now.
With what I went through on a variety of levels, yes, I surely do know what the word means, and it doesn’t have a blessed thing to do with “love.”
As you know from yesterday’s Rant, my son received 84 separate letters from the New York State Social Services Department related to food stamps, or what they now call SNAP, simply because food stamps has such a negative connotation.
Anyway, as you also know, while each of the letters said the same exact thing, the dollar amounts on the letters ranged from $16 up to more than $200 that he had left on his account, even though his account was closed out about a year ago because he was making too much money ... believe me, you can't piss in a pot with the scads of money he is making, but--
I simply called Social Services looking for some answers, as to why we were told that we could not use the program anymore and why we received 84 separate letters telling us that our son, in fact, could still use the program as far as the money that was on the card would take him.
The first call at 8 a.m. in the morning led to calls throughout the day, not just to our local Social Services office,, but to those in Suffolk County and even in Albany.
Why you ask?
Because no one would pick up the phone.
And I do mean no one.
I called throughout the morning into the early afternoon, and not a single person would pick up the phone.
I left message after message, was disconnected several times, was given phone numbers that did not work on the actual letters that I received, and I wasted hours trying to speak to someone, anyone, about this problem.
Finally, in the afternoon, I did speak to someone in Suffolk County, who of course, told me that he couldn’t help me because my case was in the neighboring county.
He gave me a number that I did not have, so I called that number, and was disconnected, of course.
And then, through a complete stroke of luck, I mis-dialed a number, and I actually spoke with someone who not only looked up my son’s account and found it to be, in fact, closed out, but also gave me a couple of numbers to call, and who also alerted me that the number of the person who handled my son’s case was incorrect, even though that was the number that was on all of the 84 letters that I received.
I called each and every number that he gave me, but I found that not only did no one pick up the phone, but their message machines only gave me a short time—like 60 seconds—to state my case, so not knowing this, I had to repeat the same story in a truncated fashion about 15 times to cover each phone number I was given.
Meanwhile, the main number to contact the department was full and would take no more messages.
Then one of the numbers the gentleman gave me hit pay dirt, or so I thought.
I got a woman on the phone,, and in the middle of explaining why I was calling, she interrupted me and said, “Everyone is calling about SNAP.”
She then would not let me continue what I had to say, constantly interrupting me and telling me that she could not help me, “… because I have a load of people to take care of.”
Then why did you pick up the phone, if you are so busy? Isn’t helping people part of your job description?
She was rude and extremely nasty to me, yelling at me on the phone and hanging up on me.
I, of course, called her back, and I heard her say before she took the call, “It it’s that guy again … !” right out loud … and I guess I was “that guy” she was referring to,
And yes, when she was screaming and hollering at me, I told her she was incompetent and left it at that.
I figured that I would have to actually visit the office in person, with my 84 letters in tow, and I was planning to do that on Tuesday morning, but--
At about 3:30 in the afternoon, after calling about 25 different phone numbers, someone called me back … and yes, as I picked up the phone, I heard that other woman in the background exclaim, “Oh, you’re not calling that guy … ?”
Well, yes she was.
Now I had this other woman on the phone, and she would not let me get a word in edgewise.
She said that yes, my son’s account was closed, but she would not tell me why I ws told it could not be used anymore and now that it could be used, how much my son had in his account that still needed to be spent in a short period of time.
I asked her how much was in—yes, she cut me off right there, and said that he did not use the card for four months, so he has money from that period in there.
“How come we were told that we could not use—?”
Again I was cut off before I could finish my question.
“How come I received 84 separate letters--?”
In a gruff voice, she said to me, “I don’t know … it has to do with the person handling your case, Ask her.”
“I tried to ask her, but the phone number I was given was wrong.”
“That is not my problem. The machine spews out these things. We have no control over them. Go ask whoever was handling the account the reason for it.”
In other words, they took absolutely no responsibility for their obvious mistake, a mistake that we, as taxpayers, are paying for, perhaps on a daily basis for all we know.
So people, a simple 49-cent letter just cost you more than $40 in postage and no one knows why … and you think that I am the only one who this happened to? I will bet you dollars to donuts that I wasn’t the only one who received this blizzard of mail in my mailbox the other day, and no one knows why, or even takes responsibility for it.
Then the woman completely changed her voice to me, from gruff to tender, in telling me that there are a lot of SNAP scams out there, and to be careful, because the government will not pay back any SNAP money that is lost that way.
I told her I would be careful, thanked her for her time—I actually thought I was talking to two different people as her voice changed so much—and I hung up the phone.
My head was spinning, but through that department’s ineptitude and my own personal drive and persistence, it might have taken me nearly eight hours to get an answer, but I got one.
And I also got a reality check, too.
This is truly the “new normal.”
I have seen it happen all around me, from governmental workers to people running for political office to even fast food employees.
Many people do not take the least pride in their jobs anymore, do not care about a job well done.
They simply do not care anymore …
So get used to it, the “new normal” is—
COMPLETE AND TOTAL INCOMPETENCE.
And what is worse, there is nothing any of us can do about it.
There is a part two to what I went through yesterday, a separate incident that is part of a scam that I will tell you more about tomorrow.
Yes, yesterday was quite a day.
My ears are still ringing.
And the flowers and the trees
And the moon up above
And a thing called love.”
I am sure you remember that song by Jewel Akens, “The Birds and the Bees,” but what I am going to “tell ya” is not about “love,” but the “new normal” that we are right in the middle of, which is described by one word:
INCOMPETENCE.
And if I never knew what that word meant before yesterday, I certainly know what it means now.
With what I went through on a variety of levels, yes, I surely do know what the word means, and it doesn’t have a blessed thing to do with “love.”
As you know from yesterday’s Rant, my son received 84 separate letters from the New York State Social Services Department related to food stamps, or what they now call SNAP, simply because food stamps has such a negative connotation.
Anyway, as you also know, while each of the letters said the same exact thing, the dollar amounts on the letters ranged from $16 up to more than $200 that he had left on his account, even though his account was closed out about a year ago because he was making too much money ... believe me, you can't piss in a pot with the scads of money he is making, but--
I simply called Social Services looking for some answers, as to why we were told that we could not use the program anymore and why we received 84 separate letters telling us that our son, in fact, could still use the program as far as the money that was on the card would take him.
The first call at 8 a.m. in the morning led to calls throughout the day, not just to our local Social Services office,, but to those in Suffolk County and even in Albany.
Why you ask?
Because no one would pick up the phone.
And I do mean no one.
I called throughout the morning into the early afternoon, and not a single person would pick up the phone.
I left message after message, was disconnected several times, was given phone numbers that did not work on the actual letters that I received, and I wasted hours trying to speak to someone, anyone, about this problem.
Finally, in the afternoon, I did speak to someone in Suffolk County, who of course, told me that he couldn’t help me because my case was in the neighboring county.
He gave me a number that I did not have, so I called that number, and was disconnected, of course.
And then, through a complete stroke of luck, I mis-dialed a number, and I actually spoke with someone who not only looked up my son’s account and found it to be, in fact, closed out, but also gave me a couple of numbers to call, and who also alerted me that the number of the person who handled my son’s case was incorrect, even though that was the number that was on all of the 84 letters that I received.
I called each and every number that he gave me, but I found that not only did no one pick up the phone, but their message machines only gave me a short time—like 60 seconds—to state my case, so not knowing this, I had to repeat the same story in a truncated fashion about 15 times to cover each phone number I was given.
Meanwhile, the main number to contact the department was full and would take no more messages.
Then one of the numbers the gentleman gave me hit pay dirt, or so I thought.
I got a woman on the phone,, and in the middle of explaining why I was calling, she interrupted me and said, “Everyone is calling about SNAP.”
She then would not let me continue what I had to say, constantly interrupting me and telling me that she could not help me, “… because I have a load of people to take care of.”
Then why did you pick up the phone, if you are so busy? Isn’t helping people part of your job description?
She was rude and extremely nasty to me, yelling at me on the phone and hanging up on me.
I, of course, called her back, and I heard her say before she took the call, “It it’s that guy again … !” right out loud … and I guess I was “that guy” she was referring to,
And yes, when she was screaming and hollering at me, I told her she was incompetent and left it at that.
I figured that I would have to actually visit the office in person, with my 84 letters in tow, and I was planning to do that on Tuesday morning, but--
At about 3:30 in the afternoon, after calling about 25 different phone numbers, someone called me back … and yes, as I picked up the phone, I heard that other woman in the background exclaim, “Oh, you’re not calling that guy … ?”
Well, yes she was.
Now I had this other woman on the phone, and she would not let me get a word in edgewise.
She said that yes, my son’s account was closed, but she would not tell me why I ws told it could not be used anymore and now that it could be used, how much my son had in his account that still needed to be spent in a short period of time.
I asked her how much was in—yes, she cut me off right there, and said that he did not use the card for four months, so he has money from that period in there.
“How come we were told that we could not use—?”
Again I was cut off before I could finish my question.
“How come I received 84 separate letters--?”
In a gruff voice, she said to me, “I don’t know … it has to do with the person handling your case, Ask her.”
“I tried to ask her, but the phone number I was given was wrong.”
“That is not my problem. The machine spews out these things. We have no control over them. Go ask whoever was handling the account the reason for it.”
In other words, they took absolutely no responsibility for their obvious mistake, a mistake that we, as taxpayers, are paying for, perhaps on a daily basis for all we know.
So people, a simple 49-cent letter just cost you more than $40 in postage and no one knows why … and you think that I am the only one who this happened to? I will bet you dollars to donuts that I wasn’t the only one who received this blizzard of mail in my mailbox the other day, and no one knows why, or even takes responsibility for it.
Then the woman completely changed her voice to me, from gruff to tender, in telling me that there are a lot of SNAP scams out there, and to be careful, because the government will not pay back any SNAP money that is lost that way.
I told her I would be careful, thanked her for her time—I actually thought I was talking to two different people as her voice changed so much—and I hung up the phone.
My head was spinning, but through that department’s ineptitude and my own personal drive and persistence, it might have taken me nearly eight hours to get an answer, but I got one.
And I also got a reality check, too.
This is truly the “new normal.”
I have seen it happen all around me, from governmental workers to people running for political office to even fast food employees.
Many people do not take the least pride in their jobs anymore, do not care about a job well done.
They simply do not care anymore …
So get used to it, the “new normal” is—
COMPLETE AND TOTAL INCOMPETENCE.
And what is worse, there is nothing any of us can do about it.
There is a part two to what I went through yesterday, a separate incident that is part of a scam that I will tell you more about tomorrow.
Yes, yesterday was quite a day.
My ears are still ringing.
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