Call Me

I remember being 20 years old, in college, sitting in the registrar's office, attempting to get next semester's class schedule lined out. I remember being told, "You'll need to go to your department office for your major so that they can register you." Although irritating, I left the office, walked across campus to my departmental office only to find out that "we can't register you here, you'll have to let the registrar's office know that."

I left. Irritated.

I go back to the registrar's office, wait to see someone, finally get in, relay the message from my department only to hear, "well, all I know is that they have to register you."

My brain wanted to explode.

I sat there in complete discontent. My eyes found themselves wandering the desk of the office worker that decided to stonewall me. Lo and behold, on her desk, I noticed a magical device capable of connecting two people and allowing them to have a conversation in real time. She had a phone on her desk.

"Is there any way that you could just call over to my department's office and tell them what they or I need to do?" I begged.

"No."

Her answer didn't register with me. It baffled me that she couldn't pick up the phone, dial the extension of her co-workers in my department and work out whatever problem existed. Instead, she preferred that an irresponsible 20 year old college student relay messages across campus for her.

I don't know if your industry is like the human service industry but in human services, it seems like we tend to have the same mindset as the belligerent registrar.

All of us have the technology to communicate with each other (telephone, e-mail, etc.)

All of us support mutual partnerships, cooperative relationships and continuum of care between us.

Yet, when we need to relay messages to one another, we tend to rely on clients to carry the messages. We ask people that are struggling and at least in that moment are interested in self preservation to relay accurate and honest interagency communications.

Anyone else see the problem here?

I consistently have clients that sit in my office that tell me that Ms. So and So at the other office told me that you would pay my bills this month.   I turn and look at my phone only to find that I have no missed calls or voicemails. I check my cell phone to find it blank. I refresh my e-mail to find an empty inbox. As it turns out, Ms. So and So told the client that our agency might be able to assist them.

The client changed the message.

Here's my plea--if you are a colleague of mine and you need my agency's services to assist a client, call me. Since I'm not always sitting next to my phone, I happily provide my personal cell phone number. Everyone has my e-mail. Don't allow clients to take your accurate message and change it.

It is frustrating.

It is as frustrating as being 20 years old, in college, sitting in the registrar's office, attempting to get next semester's class schedule lined out.

We as human service workers need to be willing to place personal phone calls to each other if there is legitimate need for interagency cooperation. If you send a client to a colleague with a message to relay, you need to be prepared for your message to be ignored or changed.

Is this a frustration in your industry?