What I See with Peter Fiorenza: Lack of respect, blunt communication bleeding into the public service

What you say to someone — and more importantly how you say it — goes a long way. I have written before about emails and forms of social media that are not used appropriately and how what is said can often be misconstrued and cause unneeded angst. The use of short, sharp sentences, in my opinion, is certainly not an ideal way to communicate. Instead, individuals need to include both salutations and small talk before getting to the point. You’d be surprised to see what a difference it makes. I reckon angst is heightened by attitude, and this shooting-straight-from-the-hip style of communication does nothing for good relations. I suppose you could say it’s a form of disrespect. And this attitude is something that often occurs in the public service. Recently, I contacted Medicare because I had lost my card. The young fella on the other end sounded very competent and knew what he was doing. To start with, he seemed quite pleasant, but as time went on I came to the conclusion that he was very good at reading a script. He began with polite questions like: What is your full name? What is your date of birth? Now, how can I assist you today? I answered and then told him I had lost my card and needed a new one. “Well, let’s see what we can do. Do you have a driver’s licence or credit card?” I started to tell him about other pieces of identification I had I thought might help. Suddenly, he quickly cut me off at the knees. “Don’t offer any extra information unless I ask for it!”, he said as blunt and cold as can be. It felt a bit surreal. Did he really say that? So, I got back in my lane, and he continued with the investigation. Eventually, it was sorted after ironically and with great trepidation, I offered some extra info. “I’ve actually got an old card here, would that help?”, I asked. “Yes, that would be a big help.” Grrrrr! A friend of mine went into Centrelink the other day. Now, I cannot remember the last time I visited the shopfront of this very important conduit in Australian life. We all have to deal with social security issues and services at one time or another. My friend and her partner have now reached retirement age. So, visiting Centrelink to work through this entitled government support should be somewhat of a pleasant experience. Well, for my friends it could not have been any less pleasant. Firstly, waiting in queue is interesting in itself, but the treatment some people receive at the hands of some officers is deplorable. According to my friend, they were marched into a room and told to sit down by a woman, who my friend is convinced was there to make things difficult. Eye contact was at a minimum accompanied by no emotion and the questions started to come thick and fast. My friend began answering questions about income and the spending of money by the couple. You could say it was quite unsettling. Then, at one point, her partner surrendered some information. Without even looking up from her computer screen, the woman quipped: “I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to her.” Well, I’ll be. It was quite obvious that this employee had no customer relations skills at all. My friends couldn’t believe it. Peter Fiorenza is a host and commentator on Radio MAMA and a City of Greater Geraldton councillor