The Problem Is, It's Nobody's Problem (A nation full of slackers) Barbara Burton Have you ever tried to call a large corporation on the phone? Maybe you get the feeling (like I did) that they really don�t want to talk to you. I had good intentions, really I did. My manager noticed something strange after going through canceled checks at the restaurant I work at. We were looking at the checks because the day before someone had tried to cash a fake check on our account. We thought that we should see if it had happened before and we weren�t aware of it. In going through the canceled checks she noticed that a former employee had cashed two of his checks on the same day at the same time at the same bank with the same teller using two different drivers licenses from two different states. I thought that was odd but what do I know, I work at a restaurant, not a bank. Considering what had happened the day before, this information about the former employee and the fact that the employee is former because he is currently in jail in this state and wanted in another state... Well, I�m not saying that I�m smarter than the FBI but maybe I should try to �connect the dots�. My first step is to call the local branch of that bank. I thought that they could point me in the right direction. After listening to an endless menu and pushing 1,3,2,4...etc. I finally get a real live person on the phone. I explain all of the details and that I was just wondering if what we saw on the checks was normal or not. The man explained to me that while I had dialed the local branch, my quest for a live person to talk too had transferred me to another state. I guess the bank that I can see from my window doesn�t actually answer the phone. Anyway...he was very nice and he thought it was strange too but he couldn�t help me. But he could transfer me to the check fraud office. He kindly gave me the number in case I got cut off during the transfer. That was a good thing because he sent me to a number that had been changed. The computer told me this and gave me a new number. So I dial. Another endless menu and pushing 1,4,3,2...I finally get a live person. I slowly explain the entire situation again. I know you�ll be shocked to learn this, but she couldn�t help me either. She did transfer me to Risk Management. This transfer took about two and half minutes. That�s a long time to be groovin� to the cool tunes of Kenny G. on hold. I thought �She wasn�t quite as nice as the other man but she must be making me hold so she can explain the problem to the next person so I won�t have to go though it all a third time.� The soothing sax soon gave way to a voice. Well as you might have guessed I did have to go through the problem again. When I asked if �cashing two checks on the same day by the same teller at the same time with two different drivers licenses� was a normal procedure she promptly told me that she couldn�t tell me. �Security reasons.� OOKAAYY, I then asked if I could be told (with the mixture of numbers on the check) what branch location these checks were cashed at so I could go directly to �Teller #008�s� boss and see if there is something strange going on. Really, I thought I was doing a good thing. If it was a regular procedure then I go away and look elsewhere to fix my problem. If it�s not normal they might have a teller who is stealing or helping someone else to steal. I thought they would want to know. She can�t tell me that either. �Security reasons.� She said I needed to take the checks to my bank and work my way through the layers of people to their risk management office and they would need to get in touch with her and then they would look into it and get back to me. Sounds like writing a memo to FBI Headquarters from Phoenix about something that �might be a problem� and waiting for a go ahead to act. That guy has been waiting for them to get back to him since July �01. I�m guessing he has given up by now. We have an entire country of people who don�t really want to do their job. They want to get paid and talk about what big shots they are and have lots of power, but when it comes to doing the right thing it�s not on the priority list. Maybe if the problem hits you on Tuesday at 10am and you can complete it by 5pm so you can get out of there on time it�s something you will do. But if it requires you to go the extra mile, put in an extra hour or two or just help someone with nothing in it for you it�s not going to happen. The situation in Florida is a prime example of this problem. It came to light with realizing that Rilya Wilson was missing from her foster home. Not only was she missing but she had been missing for months no one thought to look for her. Her caseworker lied about seeing her so she wouldn�t have to answer any questions that might get her in trouble. This workers� supervisors probably should have known but they couldn�t seem to be bothered by a missing little black girl with a drug addicted mother and a father in jail. To them these kinds of children are throwaways and I�m sure a supervisor getting that involved in the case is not procedure. Even though cutting out the middleman and going to check on the kids would violate the procedure it might have let them have an earlier start to look for the little girl. The Department of Social Services has admitted that they think they know where about seven hundred of the children in foster care are currently. They are going to check! They know that they don�t know where over one hundred of the children are and are not sure how long they have been missing. This is unacceptable!!!! The state government of Florida should be all over this but true to form they are pointing fingers and running from cameras. Our politicians have been running from responsibility for a long time. From the White House to the Congress to State governments. From the FBI to the CIA to the INS all the way to local police departments. Just ask the parents of a little boy who went to a pool party in California this summer. He went missing on a Sunday and was found on the following Tuesday. He was at the bottom of the pool. Everyone looked and looked but no one took the time to actually get in the pool!!!! He had been there the entire time and know one wanted to get wet just to make sure. The reason they are able to get away with this behavior is because of us. The citizens of this country are too wrapped up in their own lives to care about anyone else. We don�t expect a to get help finding something in a department store, or the person making your bagel to smile and say �good morning�, or for a car to move over when you need to merge onto the highway or for a corporation to actually answer the phone and help you with a problem or for our government to protect us and the children in their care. Until we as a country start to be willing to go the extra mile, treat people with respect and hold others to these same standards we will not succeed. There will be no customer service, corporations will continue cheat the little guy, politicians will continue to lie and get nothing done, children will go missing with no one looking for them and our country will continue to be attacked. I probably should proof read this article, but I see that it is five o�clock. I have to go! |
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