today i had a good dose of bad civil servant customer service... ok, to be fair, i cannot use today's experience to generalize. so... today, i got a good dose of fucking bad traffic police customer service attitude... you see, two days ago, my phone was seized by the traffic police. and i was told that i could call a particular number (of a certain tp officer) today to request for the processing to be expedited... and that was what i did.
i started calling at 9am. the phone rang. and rang. and rang... (i thought they had a customer service standard of no more than three rings?)... hmmm... and then, i got transferred to another line. and it rang, and rang, and rang... i waited until the line cut. i called again, the same happened. and i repeated again... and again... and again... until i decided there was no point trying. and so, i checked the internet singapore police force website. got the traffic police hotline, and was given the number of the boss of this particular officer. and i was told that if i also fail to get him, i should then fax an urgent memo to them. so, i called this boss of the officer... and the phone rang, and rang, and rang... you get the idea... i repeated calling from 9-ish all the way till about 1145am. and i gave up. i went for lunch. and i started calling at 2.15pm again. and the whole cycle of unanswered calls repeated again... i thought to myself - if this is how they treat people under investigation, they should be damned over and over and not be given the chance to be reborn! such audacity to even dare claim they have good service standards! i decided to call and call and call none stop. decided that if they want to test my patience, i can play with them... sure enough, after about 15min, the lady officer answered.
when i explained to her about how urgent i needed my phone and that i would be heading for a overseas business trip on monday, and she said she need to follow rules and would try her best and that she would call me back. and i was like - hello! you haven't even ask who i was! so how do you know who to call back!?! and so i asked again if she got my name and my number. and she raised her voice and started talking down on me. and she went on and on about how she have to follow procedures and she needed to be fair to others who were booked before me, how she is a uniformed staff and has to obey rules... and so on. i said i understood her and that if it helps, i could go down to her office to assist in her investigation. and i added that all i needed was for her to help me as i have to go overseas on monday... it shocked me when she suddenly raised her voice again and again and said something like "hey, you said you understand me, but obviously you did not. i told you so many times and you still keep asking me to tell you when i can process your case. i already tell you i will try my best. and by telling me you want to come to my office, you are obviously pushing me and now insisting on wanting me to give you an answer! i am a very busy person you know? i have to go to supreme court, i go to.... la la la... you don't expect me to be at my office all the time right?..." well, you get the idea.
i was one helluva pissed off with her attitude. why was she talking to me and treating me like as though i was a criminal? couldn't she at least have some basic courtesy to talk nicely to me? why was she putting words in my mouth? why was she insisting that i was forcing her? i was totally pissed off. and i hit my threshold. and i started bitching her. of cos, i did it in a nice way, the way where i sounded like i-was-smiling-when-i-said-"fuck you" kinda tone. and from her response as i bitched her, i concluded she was rather shocked cos she kept mum and only could murmur "ahuh ahuh" continously. and i continued adding pressure... i went something like... "and now all you could say is ahuh, ahuh... i am only asking if you can give me an indication if i could get my phone tomorrow. if your answer is no, then say so and i would just go and buy myself a phone. and if it is yes, then just tell me and no need to say all the things about how busy you are. i know you are busy, i know you go to supreme court, i know you are a uniformed personnel, i know you have to follow rules, i am also a uniformed personnel and i know everything that you said, all i asked for is for you to give me an indication if i can get my phone back..." well, you kinda guessed how pissed off i sounded.
in the end, she softened her tone and told me she would call me back. and she asked if she could call me on my office mobile line. i flatly said no, she could not cos my phone was with her. what a stupid question! took my phone and now asked if she could call me back using the same line. stupid woman! asking for trouble! and sensing her mistake, she quickly rattled off a series of number and asked if she could call me on that number. and i chided her for not even knowing that the number she rattled off was my driving license expiry date and not a phone number... (that was the clearest indication that she was panicking) hahaha... i thought i had scared her a little bit. at that moment, i was quite sure i made her feel damned fucking small. but of cos, i ended the call by thanking her.
anyway, in the end, she went back, called me back promptly and asked me to get my phone tomorrow.
what fuck-up traffic police customer service we have!
i started calling at 9am. the phone rang. and rang. and rang... (i thought they had a customer service standard of no more than three rings?)... hmmm... and then, i got transferred to another line. and it rang, and rang, and rang... i waited until the line cut. i called again, the same happened. and i repeated again... and again... and again... until i decided there was no point trying. and so, i checked the internet singapore police force website. got the traffic police hotline, and was given the number of the boss of this particular officer. and i was told that if i also fail to get him, i should then fax an urgent memo to them. so, i called this boss of the officer... and the phone rang, and rang, and rang... you get the idea... i repeated calling from 9-ish all the way till about 1145am. and i gave up. i went for lunch. and i started calling at 2.15pm again. and the whole cycle of unanswered calls repeated again... i thought to myself - if this is how they treat people under investigation, they should be damned over and over and not be given the chance to be reborn! such audacity to even dare claim they have good service standards! i decided to call and call and call none stop. decided that if they want to test my patience, i can play with them... sure enough, after about 15min, the lady officer answered.
when i explained to her about how urgent i needed my phone and that i would be heading for a overseas business trip on monday, and she said she need to follow rules and would try her best and that she would call me back. and i was like - hello! you haven't even ask who i was! so how do you know who to call back!?! and so i asked again if she got my name and my number. and she raised her voice and started talking down on me. and she went on and on about how she have to follow procedures and she needed to be fair to others who were booked before me, how she is a uniformed staff and has to obey rules... and so on. i said i understood her and that if it helps, i could go down to her office to assist in her investigation. and i added that all i needed was for her to help me as i have to go overseas on monday... it shocked me when she suddenly raised her voice again and again and said something like "hey, you said you understand me, but obviously you did not. i told you so many times and you still keep asking me to tell you when i can process your case. i already tell you i will try my best. and by telling me you want to come to my office, you are obviously pushing me and now insisting on wanting me to give you an answer! i am a very busy person you know? i have to go to supreme court, i go to.... la la la... you don't expect me to be at my office all the time right?..." well, you get the idea.
i was one helluva pissed off with her attitude. why was she talking to me and treating me like as though i was a criminal? couldn't she at least have some basic courtesy to talk nicely to me? why was she putting words in my mouth? why was she insisting that i was forcing her? i was totally pissed off. and i hit my threshold. and i started bitching her. of cos, i did it in a nice way, the way where i sounded like i-was-smiling-when-i-said-"fuck you" kinda tone. and from her response as i bitched her, i concluded she was rather shocked cos she kept mum and only could murmur "ahuh ahuh" continously. and i continued adding pressure... i went something like... "and now all you could say is ahuh, ahuh... i am only asking if you can give me an indication if i could get my phone tomorrow. if your answer is no, then say so and i would just go and buy myself a phone. and if it is yes, then just tell me and no need to say all the things about how busy you are. i know you are busy, i know you go to supreme court, i know you are a uniformed personnel, i know you have to follow rules, i am also a uniformed personnel and i know everything that you said, all i asked for is for you to give me an indication if i can get my phone back..." well, you kinda guessed how pissed off i sounded.
in the end, she softened her tone and told me she would call me back. and she asked if she could call me on my office mobile line. i flatly said no, she could not cos my phone was with her. what a stupid question! took my phone and now asked if she could call me back using the same line. stupid woman! asking for trouble! and sensing her mistake, she quickly rattled off a series of number and asked if she could call me on that number. and i chided her for not even knowing that the number she rattled off was my driving license expiry date and not a phone number... (that was the clearest indication that she was panicking) hahaha... i thought i had scared her a little bit. at that moment, i was quite sure i made her feel damned fucking small. but of cos, i ended the call by thanking her.
anyway, in the end, she went back, called me back promptly and asked me to get my phone tomorrow.
what fuck-up traffic police customer service we have!
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