The. Computer. Says. No! Such an irritating four words uttered by call centre staff and customer service teams everywhere on a daily basis! What I want to know is why?

Ok, so my problem this week and the reason a computer said no to me was ultimately my fault. I’ll hold my hands up and admit my own failings but sometimes people make mistakes and need a bit of help and HOW is it helpful when a jobs worthy idiot reads from a manual that their hands are tied and doesn’t even TRY to understand why or how they could help you.

People should be grateful that they have jobs and as part of their work should WANT to do their best to help people. Even just as part of being a human being you would think but no. So often do you come across lazy, unspirited workers who don’t seem to care about being human at all. They don’t even seem to want to do their best; instead, as they sit filing their nails at their desk they utter those four little words which leave me shouting with frustration and end the phone call because they can. Because they have no obligation to do any more. It drives me berserk!

So… We knew we had to have Florence’s school application in by this week and because we have done it on line and thought we had everything we needed we just haven’t been worried about it. We had Christmas and decided to do it when we got home. No problem we thought.

Only we couldn’t find our council tax bill and despite being told on the phone by the council that you don’t need your council tax bill, turns out you actually do need it and if you don’t have it then you have to ring the council to get a new copy…

‘Can you send me a copy?’ I asked ‘Oh yes’ she said. Brilliant. I tried to give her my email address. ‘No,’ she said, ‘I can’t email you, I will post it’. ‘Oh. Why? I only have a few days to do this which I know is my fault but I really need some help now because although I’ve made a mistake I want to rectify it but I obviously don’t have my bill so?’…

‘If I email it to you then it will come in a certain format and that’s not the format we accept for school admissions when you send it back to us’ she replied. (Yes, does sound as barmy as I think doesn’t it? They have the form and they have to send it out to me only for me to send back to them.) Apparently we need to submit a paper copy even if we send it on line so therefore it has to be a scanned in version of the bill and not the on line version that they already have.

‘But… You do realise I will have to scan it in and send it back to you, if you have a copy (and she said she did) then you will be posting it to me so that I can scan it in and email it back to you?’ I tried to show her how ridiculous it sounded.

‘Yes’ she said.

I went on to explain I don’t have a scanner so it will all add on to the time it takes to send back as I will have to go out to a company that does and not be able to do it from home. I asked if they have a scanner in her office and guess what? They do!

So she, at the council, the same council who need us to send the document to them, had a paper copy, had a scanner and had access to email but apparently, because the computer said no, it wasn’t in her job description, she couldn’t do it!

I conceded I’d lost and just said ‘Ok, how long will it take for you to post it’? ‘Well, it won’t go out today, ‘she said ‘maybe tomorrow’. I asked if it would be First Class? The answer was no… By my calculations at the time the best case scenario was that it would arrive the day the submission was due in. It didn’t.

So we submitted Florence’s application sans our council tax bill… And sent it the next day when it DID arrive. Because a computer said no.

How frustrating!

I’ve joined in this week with Mummy Barrow’s Ranty Friday Linky!

MY LIFE WITH TWO!

Jonny is in the middle of completing his degree on the Open University and because he needed to get lots of work done and also didn’t feel too sharp the children and I spent last Sunday in London together visiting two of our favourite places, The Princess Diana Playground and The Science Museum. We always have a brilliant day when we go and it was no exception last weekend!

We didn’t get long in either place because we went off to meet Great Grandmother (who donated a hoover to The Science Museum which we always go and see when we’re there) for a coffee and something to eat with my cousin Helen. I think because our trip was short there’s only one thing for it and that’s to go again this coming weekend! If for no other reason we have to go back to scoot along the tunnel that leads from the tube to the museums and in the park between the museum and playground! Florence and Jimmy are both loving scooting (or goooooot as Jimmy calls it) at the moment; it looks so much fun I’m almost thinking about getting myself one!

The children and I on our fun day out last weekend!

We’ve been out and about lots but it’s so cold that it’s pretty lovely to come home and watch a bit of television snuggled up! Florence and Jimmy are absolutely loving Swashbuckle or Squashbuckle as we call it and I love watching them do the chant together at the beginning! Jimmy followed a little boy dressed up as a pirate all round the playground the other day shouting ‘EYE PATCH’! Swashbuckle is perfect as the boys AND girls love it and Florence dresses up as a Princess Pirate so that she can involve all the things she likes!

We also got to meet a very special new addition to our gang as my friend brought her tiny baby boy to have lunch in the local cafe with us! Florence was thrilled to get to hold him on her own and said she doesn’t even mind having a boy baby (when we have another baby) if he’s exactly like this one!

A video of our week!