~ the green lantern ~

I'd like to stop what I'm doing for a moment and reflect upon the problems of those around me. In my job, I will occasionally encounter someone who is frustrated about something and who feels inclined to tell me a convoluted summary of the frustration. And it's not that I don't care about the problems of others, or that I view myself as superior to their problems...but that I perceive the source of these problems as originating within the individuals themselves. As much as I hate to admit my own conservative perceptions of an individual's responsibility to themselves, I wish more of these problem-havers would take a little bit more initiative about their own accountability. Perhaps and example would serve me here....

This morning, a female came in who was very frustrated. She provided me with a long story about how some group didn't receive her school transcripts and that now she can't work. This had absolutely nothing to do with me, my job, my department, or my organization. In fact, I have absolutely no idea why she decided to walk into the office and tell me about this. But, given the nature of my employer, the general public does tend to think that we are involved in things that we are not. Thus, it is quite common for a member of the general public to approach me in my function as employee with this huge problem that has nothing to do with anything. As I was listening to her story and the manner in which she was articulating the problem, I came to feel that the source of her problem came from her malunderstanding of the way that bureaucratic processes within the world work. In my experience with people who are frustrated in the manner that she was frustrated, I have come to understand that frustration breeds impatience that keeps them from calmly steppping back from the situation and rationally figuring out what has gone wrong. Instead, their frustration creates this massive hypertensive reaction and they cannot seem capable of rational thought.

At any rate, I provided this person with a computer and helped her to navigate the internet to locate some information. When she had gotten to the website with the information, I returned to my work. A few minutes later, I overheard her making a phone call to the institution where she gave whoever answered the phone the same long, drawn-out, convoluted story she had told me, and then slammed the phone down and said, "These people are making me crazy!" I then went over to see if I could help her, and I discerned that her reading comprehenion skills were either subpar or not being effectively utilized. I directed her attention to some important information contained on the website that effectively null-and-voided her problem. Her frustration was almost making her head explode at this point and she quickly removed herself from the chair and effectively stormed out. Later this afternoon, she returned, having calmed down, and we got her back to the website where she transcribed onto a piece of paper some pertinent information and got everything all sorted out.

It was simply one of those cases where there is a cumbersome administrative process and the user's frustration beceme all-encompasing and placed blame on the staff person rather than stepping back and calmly trying to understand the process for getting something accomplished.

And perhaps it is that I am deeply involved in cumbersome bureaucratic processes that they neither annoy me nor confuse me. I have the basic understanding that anytime I try to do something, I expect to have to jump through several hoops and be led on a seemingly-wild-goose-chase. It has become my standard mode of operation to do everything in my power to follow the standard process (which may or may not be outlined in any discernable way) before getting frustrated, and if I fail to accomplish what I was doing, I figure that I was just not following the process. Which is to say, even if the process makes no intuitive sense, is ridiculously cumbersome, and is not easily-accessible, it's still your own fault if you let it frustrate you, and shame on you if you focus your anger on a staff person who is merely following protocol.

...I just wanted to get that off my chest.

Posted by jennifer at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)