Terrible Customer Service

The general public expects terrible customer service from McDonald's or Walmart, but Army spouses expect terrible customer service from every agency with whom we deal. From doctor issues to childcare issues - it's rarely good or positive and today was one of my worst experiences. So bad that I will be filing an official ICE complaint. 

Ready to roll...In order to use the hourly childcare services at Fort Hood, I have to carry around this stapled packet of copies of my registration paperwork. They say it's for emergencies, but every bit of info in that packet is stored in a central database somewhere. I've managed to keep up with this said packet for 50 weeks! I know that to be exact because in 2 weeks my registration expires and I'll get a new set of stapeled papers to carry around. 

Somewhere in the shuffle of picking F2 up last Monday, I misplaced my stapled packet of papers! I was hoping that I just left them laying at the CDC somewhere and they would show up. It's happened once before. Not so lucky this time. 

My adventure begins...This morning I decided to go and get a new copy of this packet so that the CDC wouldn't harass me for 2 weeks about where it is or why I need to fill out temporary emergency contact info. (Note: We've used the CDC at 2 other posts who all use the same computer system and we've never had to carry this packet of papers around with us.) So I go to Central Registration and tell the girl at the check in desk that I need to get a copy of my packet and I also ask for the paper work to renew our registration so I can have it ready to go when I come back for that appointment. I'm not wasting my paper or ink printing these things out at home. I sit down, because that's the process that I'm aware of for these sorts of things. 30 minutes go by. 45 minutes go by. 60 minutes go by. I'm sitting there trying to keep my blood pressure under control wondering why no one has ever called me back. Eventually I get up and ask the girl at the front desk if I'm on the list and why no one is coming to get me. Then she drops the bomb and says that she told me to go back to the 3rd door on the right. WHAT???? Those words never came out of her mouth. I let her know as calmly as I could that she did not speak those words to me. I surely would've heard that because then I would've known this torturous process wasn't going to take an hour or more! And why did this girl who knew what I wanted watch me sit down and sit there for an hour and never wonder why I wasn't going to the 3rd door on the right?

Stay with me because it continues to go down hill...I grab my purse and stomp, yes, I'm sure I was stomping, down the hall to the 3rd door on the right where I told this unsuspecting girl that I had been sitting there for an hour because the check in girl didn't give me good information. I tell her I just need a copy of my packet and give her my name and ID card. She gets up and starts looking for my file. She looks. She looks. She asks someone else where it could be. She looks some more. She tells me to have a seat and she's not going to forget about me. 20 more minutes pass...I stand up just to make sure she knows I'm still there. She tells me that they're going paperless and that their files are all in different places because of the transition. I almost laughed at her paperless statement because this process should already be paperless and is for the most part at most other posts. Apparently their transition filing system is as effective as their check in system at the front desk!

Finally, she took my email address and phone number. She said she would email me my packet that I will have to print out on my own paper with my own ink. It's 8:32pm and I'm sure they've been closed for at least 3 hours and I still don't have a copy of my packet. For all I know, all of my registration information was in the same car as the one where my husband's medical information was stolen. For that story, go here. I'm just wondering what happens if they never locate that red file folder with all of our information in it. Also how ironic that of all people to lose a file, today it was mine! They might as well have handed me a gallon of gasoline to keep the fire well fueled. 

I'm constantly amazed at how difficult maneuvering systems within the Army is. For the Army to tout its Army Family Covenant so loud and proud, they sure make it difficult to access those programs created to support and sustain families who sacrifice time with their loved ones for months at a time. The girl at the front desk should've been able to punch a few keys on a computer and spit a copy of my forms out and saved the trouble of sending me to see another person in a totally different room. Talk about trimming the fat! If the folks in Washington had to deal with some of the absurdity spouses deal with on a regular basis, they could cut the Defense Department budget in a matter of minutes.

While I'm airing my Army frustrations and this really is related to this whole packet thing. When we moved here, we were assigned off post doctors. Not a great doctor by any stretch of the imagination, at that. Nonetheless, the kids all have to have a Health Assessment completed for our registration packet. If we were assigned an on post doctor, these would be free. Since we're not, I'll have to pay $15 a pop for the three kids. I know I shouldn't complain because that's still nothing to most, but the principle of the matter irks me! Why will the insurance provider cover it in full for an on post doctor, but make me pay part of the tab because we're off post? Oh well. Que sera, sera.