Taxes

[Crockett]

Nope.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

I don't buy it Crockett. I've been in a multitude of post offices and to a person they are almost all dumb asses that don't seem to give a flip about anything. If they have a higher intelligence than the average American I now understand how Obama got re-elected.

 

[Crockett]

I've pretty much always lived in small towns and suburbs where I knew at least some of the people who worked in the post office. They were smart folks when we went to school together and they cared. Maybe in bigger cities it's a different experience. Also, I'm not meaning to suggest that the government folks I've worked with have been delivering world class customer service experiences -- just better than the cable companies and big banks. Also, when I deal with anybody in a service role, I'm genuinely nice to them and expect reciprocation. It usually works, but not always. I wouldn't hassle the IRS people asking for a Social Security number, or the bank teller wanting to know my account numbers. If I went to the mattresses over giving them the information they need to find me in their data base and verify that I'm someone with whom they can share the information without risking their careers, I know I'd be pretty much guaranteed to have an awful customer service experience. I guess then I could post that they are a bunch of lazy jerks.

 

[Mr. Deez]

In reply to:

---

---

 

[Mr. Deez]

I've seen post offices that provide various levels of service. Most that I've been to offer mediocre (nothing special but not atrocious) service that's comparable to what I'd get dealing with a big business like a bank or an insurance carrier. They're not usually rude, and I agree with Crockett that they're usually not stupid. They're just a lackadaisical, not personable, and don't go out of their way to help. A few I've dealt with are actually bad - very lackadaisical, rude, etc.

There is one post office on Independence Parkway in Plano that gives some of the best customer service I've ever seen. The employees are extremely friendly (more so than probably 80 percent of businesses I've dealt with, including small ones), move the line fast, and are very sharp. Every time I leave there, in the back of my mind I'm thinking, "this guy is unionized and could throw a turd in his boss' face, and it would take 10 years and cost $400K in legal fees to fire him, and yet he still genuinely seems to care that I'm happy." If all government agencies ran like that post office did, I'd be a communist.

 

[Vol Horn 4 Life]

I'm not equating the level of customer service with intelligence. I have many employees that may not be the smartest, but I wouldn't trade them for the world because they'll do anything to help our customers and if they can't figure it out they'll ask someone.

I did talk about lazy and crappy attitude, but that is not the same. I live 50 miles from where I work in Austin and the folks in that post office are wonderful people. They're people I'd invite to my house for a holiday dinner, but I wouldn't try to tell everyone they are really smart because they aren't.

 

[Crockett]

By smart, I'm not talking about people knocking the top off the SAT scores or something like that. If I'm dealing with front line employees making blue collar wages, I'll take the folks at the post office over the ones working for the phone company, the cable company or handling the phones for an insurance call center.