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ChickMagic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 03:32 PM
Original message
I have a dilemma
and you kind folks are full of wisdom. I've changed the names
to protect their privacy.
+
A few weeks ago I went to pay my bill on my payment plan
at the hospital. I pay once a month and I normally go to "Nancy".

As a southern thing, I said, "Thank you, Miss Nancy"
Nancy blew up at me in such a way that left me in tears.
She basically said, "I don't have titles. Americans don't have
titles and how dare you call me by a title. I thought we were
friends." The rant was much worse than that.

Ever since that happened, I've been going to the other
customer care person whom I shall call "Susan".

Whenever I see "Nancy" in the hall, I'm always pleasant,
but "Nancy" give me the evil eye.

I've waited so long to write because "Susan" is having a
very difficult time with "Nancy". Even though I work here,
I'm a patient paying my bill.

"Susan" wants me to write a complaint about "Nancy".
I'm hesitant because it has been a long time. However,
I'm tired of tiptoeing around her.

My question is should I contact "Nancy's" boss and
complain about her abysmal behavior?
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NightWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 03:38 PM
Response to Original message
1. maybe "Miss Nancy" is really "Mister Nancy"
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ChickMagic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 03:42 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. I think she would have blown up at that even more
:P
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NightWatcher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 03:44 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. the weird thing when you see someone is that you never know what's going on
inside their head or in their personal life.

I'd be nice, smile, and avoid getting in her/his face. They've obviously got issues.
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ChickMagic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 03:52 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Obviously so.
And a weird issue at that. I mean, would you beat down someone for
saying Mister Nightwatcher ( or Miss Nightwatcher as the case may be).
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newcriminal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 04:05 PM
Response to Original message
5. I don't mind be called Miss my last name, or Mrs. my last name, but
I absolutely hate if I'm called Miss Kim or Mrs. Kim. If you catch me in a bad mood I might scratch your eyes out for it.
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ChickMagic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-22-10 10:07 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. Really?
I honestly didn't know it was so sensitive a subject.
It's very common in the south as a positive, warm
greeting. Sometimes we say it just to be silly.
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MiddleFingerMom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jan-20-10 04:18 PM
Response to Original message
6. I've worked a lot of customer service...
.
...Nancy's behavior sounds like it was outrageous and over-the-top. The
customers shouldn't be able to do that (I know, I know), but that goes
double for the facilitator/helper. She has the right to pleasantly inform
you that SHE doesn't like titles (Americans don't have titles???? Tell
that to Doctor, Officer, Reverend, Sergeant, Sister, Mr & Ms -- "titles"
are nothing more than terms of of courtesy and respect, and not necessarily
hierarchical ingratiations.
.
If she sees them as elitist (or whatever), she should have quickly said
so and asked you, "Please, in the future... just call me Nancy." End of
story.
.
You say you were close to tears. Sounds like a pretty vicious response on
her part-- one that employers should not tolerate from customers, but
ESPECIALLY not from their employees.
,
Susan's reason for her request, coupled with your own experience, sounds
like something upon which I would act.
.
On a lighter note, one of my friends didn't want his eight-year-old to
refer to any adult by their first name. Having been raised like this, I
was certainly OK with him calling me "Mr. FingerMom" instead of "Middle",
but I asked my friend if I could call his son, "Mr. David". Mr. David
absolutely LOVED this, and we bonded very nicely. We'd do this little
silly dance when we first greeted each other. One night, arriving at a
party at his parents' house, I saw Mr. David heading up the stairs to bed.
I called and when he turned, I did our silly dance. He looked around at
the party guests and very somberly greeted me without dancing. I was pretty
heartbroken -- kind of an "our boy is too grown up to do that any more".
He turned and kept going up the steps. I started in to the house but, the
moment he was out-of-sight of everyone else, he hissed my name and, when
I turned, did an EXAGGERATED form of our silly dance.
.
Life has its incredible moments.
.
.
.
.
ALWAYS wanted to tell customers, "That's MISTER Asshole to you, buddy!!!"
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ChickMagic Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-22-10 10:14 AM
Response to Reply #6
8. That's a really sweet story about Mr. David.
The asshole tearing I got was enough that I wasn't
actually close to tears. I was sobbing and heaving.
She reamed me out like I haven't been reamed in a very
long time. And the weirdness between us is so thick
it's pretty unbearable. I say "hello" and try to be
nice, but the freezometer is off the scale.

I wonder if she calls doctors by their moniker. We
work in a medical field, so certainly she must come in
contact with that. That's something I'd be interested to
know, or maybe it just applies to her.

Thank you for your perspective. I will contact her
supervisor this morning.
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