The Nastying of a Nation

Do collection agencies train people to be assholes or does the job attract assholes or does the work turn them into assholes?

If there are more and more bills going to collection, does this mean that the general tone of telephone calls will grow less and less pleasant?

The trouble is that aggressive horrendous assholiness does the trick--at least on people like me, who can actually pay.

I haven't had a more hostile, nasty interaction in years and that was just the first call. The last one, too. The Transworld Services guy hung up on me (he hung up on me!) I called back, found an almost human person, and paid the damned bill.

I can't imagine getting calls like that all the time and functioning as a happy, sane person.


About the obvious question: No, we're not joining friends, neighbors and fellow-countrymen in the slide to an economic abyss . It was just a bill that I ignored because I didn't think it was real. I still don't. But now I'll take it up with Cornerstone Aquatic which naturally, I know, yes, of course, right, I should have done a few months ago.

Comments

  1. As a child, I was forced to deal with collection agencies on a regular basis (don't ask) and they were nasty then, too. Even when they were obviously speaking to a pre-teen who didn't have a clue why the check bounced or when their client could expect payment, they felt justified in letting loose with a stream of abuse. (I suppose some of them believed I was faking the whole "clueless little girl" thing, but what kind of person calls a stranger names when that stranger might be a child?)

    As a result, I grew up with a fanatical need to pay bills on time. And a fear of the telephone. The former is a good thing, the latter a pain in the ass.

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  2. Ass-moles. Collection agencies. Why don't we outsource that to India? We've outsourced everything else. At least, then they'd be polite and have names like Bob.

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  3. Selah, no wonder blog wars don't faze you. That is one slimy event for a kid to live through ONCE. I can't imagine. I'm sorry.

    CD Those overseas calls centers are always staffed by way-too-polite people who use one's name a lot (at least the ones I've encountered). I can't imagine them letting loose with the invective. Condescending, oh, yes.

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  4. Meh. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. Which is the same philosophy I use in the case of blog wars. Which is not to say they don't faze me. They do.

    But thanks for the empathy. I can always use more of that. :)

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  5. I think they are a special breed - some of them totally without breeding - lol.

    HUGS.

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