I work in the finance industry. Administrating retirement funds. In Australia these superannuation funds are mandated by the government, as part of the scheme a portion of a persons income is set aside in a superannuation account for there retirement. These funds are invested at all times, so they can’t be withdrawn from like a bank account, even if the account holder is retired. In addition to claiming when you are retired the government also allows for early release of the funds under very specific circumstances.
This brings me to the dragon, I call him this because that’s the etymological meaning of his name. The dragon was releasing money to pay for a medical operation that wasn’t going to be covered by our public health system. The amount the government had approved; was the full account balance, which meant that the 22% tax, the government puts on early release as a deterrent, would come out of the amount the dragon would receive. Basically he told the government he needed X amount for an operation, but we could only give Y amount, which was less than X, because of their tax.
My task was simple, the dragon was abusive, there were notes on his file advising my colleagues that they could terminate any call with the dragon at anytime, I needed to call him and determine if he wanted the claim to continue despite him not getting the full amount. At this point I had spoken to the dragon a number of times, usually I’m able to convince the people I’m talking to that I’m there to help and so it benefits them to cooperate with me. Every conversation with the Dragon was a fight. He had two options; either stop the claim or claim the amount minus tax.
After 45 minutes or him shouting and threatening me, he kept saying:
“Just do what you have to do” whenever I would ask “Do you want the claim to continue?”
Eventually I had to break the question down to get a clear answer.
“Do you want the claim to continue?” “Do you understand the tax implication?” “Do you want the money paid into your account?”
His confirmation was:
“Do what ever you have to do. I’ll pay the f***king tax. Put the money in my account.”
I sympathize the Dragon completely. The company hasn’t treated him well and neither has the government. He was given bad information at every stage. His anger is justifiable, but not when its directed at some random phone drone that has nothing to do with the situation.
Be nice to customer service reps, some of us are trying to help.
submitted by /u/ERRANT-STAG
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