Pkchukiss - Reality Wine

Humans get all riled up and vengeful if they get pissed off, but till now I have not realised the extremities that some would go to just to get back at the offending party.

In taking support calls, I have had customers whom are internally bitter about the governmental organisation that my company represents. You see, the organisation is one that many Singaporeans had to be part of, whether they like it or not, and the buldging behemoth itself is prone to making interesting (and sometimes scary) blunders.

These cause panicked questions from the recipients of some very strongly worded letters, along the lines of “offence” and “charge”. In itself, that is nothing worth writing about, if not for the fact that innocent victims are also sent these letters. I wondered whether this was due to a system error (since these things are automatically generated), or a result of human error when the records are not updated as and when they occured.

The meek ones would plead for leniency, and I cannot help but sympathise with their situation. It involves taking non-paid time off from work just to go down on-location to explain the matters, irregardless that evidence present currently is sufficient enough to exonerate everything - that is where the more vindictive ones show their assertiveness.

[quote]

• “There is no way in (insert vulgarity) hell I am going to take leave just to do that!”
• “You will be hearing from my lawyer for this!”
• “This will not be the end of it, I tell you. I’ll let my MP (Member of Parliament) know about this!”
• “I’ll migrate, and we’ll see how you (insert synonym for the relief hole) can touch me!”
• “I’ll send you a bill for my time wasted on this matter!”

[/quote]

Notwithstanding myself being the target of abuse, I cannot help but wonder just how angry people would do absolutely anything to get back at the offender. Is revenge everything we can think of whenever we get dissed by something beyond our control?

Their pain is understandable, since this organisation is really powerful: it can serve legal threats and follow-through on them. Receiving a legal letter from it further fuels the internal hatred for that organisation, and probably enrages those who previously had a neutral opinion of the entire affair. I can’t blame them for being extraordinarily angry at the potential wastage of time.

Thankfully, the main management of that organisation recognises its own failings, and have allowed my company to push through support tickets for the victims. While that won’t serve to alleviate their hatred, at least it doesn’t waste any more of the victim’s time, and keeps things running, even if it is at the cost of further goodwill.

What we could possibly do is to remember that there are human faces behind the anonymous giant, and errors can be made. If all it takes is a simple phone call to have the matter resolved (provided this is not being done last minute), why spend the time stewing in frustration?

Filed under: General, Writings