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Buckle up as this will probably get long.
“If you love helping people you will love this job.” “Most of your calls are just creating and updating claims, it’s not that bad!”
I foolishly accepted statements like these during training, in spite of my inner gut telling me “..it’s unemployment. It’s going to be bad..” But, it was $15/hr. It was M-F. It was 8-5. I could this, right? Right?
Enter my first escalated call, and my first and last sign that this simply wasnt for me. I’ll call him C, for Claimant. M is me, S is my supervisor. For context, our supervisors could live listen on the calls, and “pop” in our ear to talk to us while the claimant was on hold. They could jump in as soon as the claimant began escalating, which helped a bit.
Claimant was difficult to understand, frustrated, and needed to know the status of his overpayment and how to get it taken off. Overpayment happened when we paid out claims but later realized they weren’t eligible for benefits. Not a fun start.
C: I have been calling in for months, was told to complete this identity verification process. My identity was stolen last year and y’all say I owe $6000! This is why I need to speak to a supervisor, right now
M: I understand and I apologize sir..let me check the status of your claim n–
C: I’ve already DONE everything y’all told me to do! Multiple times! I just need a supervisor!!
My frustration grew with his, as I placed him on hold and reviewed the notes. Identity verification is a requirement of our process, but the notes on his account showed that there was much, much more happening here..
To summarize, there were notes from the first six months in 2020 detailing that the claimant was in the hospital, comatose, for several months. During, that time, he had his identity stolen and UI (Unemployment insurance) was falsely opened in his name. The claimant was currently hospitalized again due to long term cancer, and had called in multiple times trying to get this falsified claim corrected, and collect benefits for himself.. are you confused? I was too. It was an absolute mess.
I contacted my supervisor and asked her to review everything. Most recently, he was told to complete identify verification to take the next step in the UI process. Which, to me was odd, since he still had this pending $6000 overpayment from when his identity was stolen…
M: Hey S, so take a look at all these notes.. he did the identity verification but the overpayment is still there and he still hasn’t gotten the actual UI he is owed. What exactly can we do..? (I knew the answer, but didnt expect it to be this..)
S: He was monetarily ineligible for benefits. He’s not getting any money from us. He owes us that money.
…?
M: But.. it says his identity was stolen. And he’s completed everything we’ve told him to do.
S: You need to tell him he’s monetarily ineligible for benefits. I’ll listen on the line if he escalates.
With the confidence of an ant, I hopped back on the phone, feeling sick to my stomach at the conclusion she made and the lack of help or guidance that was provided.
M: Hi claimant, thank you for holding while I researched this.. so it looks like… you were, uh, monetarily ineligible-
C: Monetarily ineligible? What does that even mean?!?
M: … you didnt, well you didnt make enough money- (monetarily ineligible = you didnt earn enough money in a certain time period to be eligible for UI. Of course he didnt. He was hospitalized, and UI was filed fraudulently!)
C: I just need to speak to a supervisor!!
Cue my supervisor chiming into the call. Please note that the claimant was frustrated beyond belief, his voice was raised and hoarse. His tone was extremely aggressive, so whether or not my supervisor was justified in her tone is up to your discretion.
S: Hi Mr. Claimant, this is supervisor. I COMPLETELY understand that you’re upset, \[proceeds to repeat the monetarily ineligible statement\]
C: I LITERALLY did EVERYTHING you people have told me to, for months! I did the damn ID verification, I did XYZ, and you still haven’t released my overpayment or my funds!
I don’t recall exactly what my supervisor said back, but I remember her tone. Blunt, cold, and absolutely unaware (or unwilling to understand) of how deep-rooted this entire issue was. Eventually, she circled back to the ID verify crap, to which she told him “I see you completed it only a few days ago, it takes time to reach our system.”
Excuse me? I thought he was ineligible? Why are you telling him that, somehow, this ID verification is now the issue? I quickly realize, this has what’s been happening for God knows how long. This older man, hospitalized with cancer, and completely screwed over due to the cruelty of people and the State, was getting the run around.
C: So I just need to give it a few more days and y’all will have my money???
S: You completed the verification Mr. Claimant, give it more time.
C: I’ve given it enough t-
S: MR. CLAIMANT. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND…
I don’t recall the rest of the conversation. I just listened, and pondered, how did this all go so wrong? Wasn’t my supervisor supposed to help? I KNOW she saw everything I saw, and I verbally explained it too. Why did she keep cutting him off? Why was this man being led to a dead end? Was this verification really something that would fix everything?
By the powers of whatever is in the sky, I actually got this claimants call again a few days later. It had been long past the time frame since the ID verification should’ve fixed anything. I knew it. I knew nothing would come of it. He was the exact same way, demanding a supervisor, and this time my sup refused to get on the call and I had to tell him to wait longer. I heard him request and speak to his nurse during the call, confirming what I already knew – that he was hospitalized and being dicked around by the system.
Knowing and seeing first hand that we were doing absolutely nothing for these people, and watching my own leadership outright ignore all the red flags and ACTUAL issues with this claim, led to me just ghosting this place a couple of days later. Looking back, I wish I did more. I dont know what I could’ve done, but I wish I would’ve told him, “No one here is going to do anything. Contact a state official or your local media, I am so, so sorry. I’m so sorry. This isn’t fair to you. This isn’t right.”
Claimant, I hope you were able to escalate far enough to get past this terrible back and forth that I, regrettably, was contributing to. I won’t work in a call center again, but I still think of him from time to time. The system is absolutely messed up, and unqualified people are handling these accounts and issues.
If you read and stayed this far, thank you. This story has been on my chest for a long time.
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