Marguerite
Active Member
If you have been alerting caseworker via SMS or email (email is preferable) then make sure you keep copies. Next time caseworker says, "She does that?" in surprise, point to the records you are keeping and the clear information you have been passing on. You could even ask, "Can you please confirm that I have been sending this information to the correct email address? Here are the copies I have sent you, if you haven't got clear records to match mine, that could be a problem for you further down the track, with other people not so supportive of you as I am."
It's a way of gently warning her that her failure to follow through or even take note or keep records, will come back to bite her, hard.
And if she is still thick - then come back and bite her, hard. Send a complaint letter off with copies of the emails you have sent, plus your observation that nothing has been done to support you in such a simple area (a lot more simple tan the impossible goal of trying to prevent any damage to other family members).
Many years ago, I had a job which required me to liaise with trades staff and other outsiders to our department. We had serious safety issues in our workplace, and "pet" tradesmen we had to use. I was a woman trying to get results from a bloke-oriented workplace, and the patronising I got! I would ring for a plumber to fix a badly leaking sink, for example, that was flooding the laboratory below. And the plumber would say, "I'll definitely be there, first thing tomorrow."
Tomorrow would come - no plumber. The next day I would ring back and the fellow would deny he had said he would be over. So I began to take notes during every phone call. I had a big red ledger that I used for my notes; I would write the date, write the name of the person I spoke to and often I would quickly write what they said, verbatim, if it was relevant. After I started doing this, I started to get results. The reason - I was really scaring these tradies when I could tell them in a phone call, "I spoke to you last week - your name IS Frank Peters, isn't it? And you said, and I quote, 'That flamin' sink has not been right since my offsider put in a new tap, I'll be over first thing in the morning to work on it for you, I guarantee it.' And it is now a week later, the people downstairs are still complaining and want to know who I have been dealing with. They are far more senior than I am, and if they begin to kick my rear over this, I will have to ensure your rear also gets kicked. So can you see your way to resolving this, for all our sakes?"
Being able to quote these guys was what really scared them. If I was sure I had got their words exactly, I would write it down in quote marks. Otherwise I used my own code to indicate the gist of the statement. But these guys got the message - I was accurate, I was persistent, and in the long run it was easier to give me what I wanted, fast, and get me out of their hair.
I ended up developing a good working relationship with these tradies, they learned to respect me as an equal and not some annoying broad.
I've since used the same technique when dealing with education officials and doctors. Works a treat!
Marg
It's a way of gently warning her that her failure to follow through or even take note or keep records, will come back to bite her, hard.
And if she is still thick - then come back and bite her, hard. Send a complaint letter off with copies of the emails you have sent, plus your observation that nothing has been done to support you in such a simple area (a lot more simple tan the impossible goal of trying to prevent any damage to other family members).
Many years ago, I had a job which required me to liaise with trades staff and other outsiders to our department. We had serious safety issues in our workplace, and "pet" tradesmen we had to use. I was a woman trying to get results from a bloke-oriented workplace, and the patronising I got! I would ring for a plumber to fix a badly leaking sink, for example, that was flooding the laboratory below. And the plumber would say, "I'll definitely be there, first thing tomorrow."
Tomorrow would come - no plumber. The next day I would ring back and the fellow would deny he had said he would be over. So I began to take notes during every phone call. I had a big red ledger that I used for my notes; I would write the date, write the name of the person I spoke to and often I would quickly write what they said, verbatim, if it was relevant. After I started doing this, I started to get results. The reason - I was really scaring these tradies when I could tell them in a phone call, "I spoke to you last week - your name IS Frank Peters, isn't it? And you said, and I quote, 'That flamin' sink has not been right since my offsider put in a new tap, I'll be over first thing in the morning to work on it for you, I guarantee it.' And it is now a week later, the people downstairs are still complaining and want to know who I have been dealing with. They are far more senior than I am, and if they begin to kick my rear over this, I will have to ensure your rear also gets kicked. So can you see your way to resolving this, for all our sakes?"
Being able to quote these guys was what really scared them. If I was sure I had got their words exactly, I would write it down in quote marks. Otherwise I used my own code to indicate the gist of the statement. But these guys got the message - I was accurate, I was persistent, and in the long run it was easier to give me what I wanted, fast, and get me out of their hair.
I ended up developing a good working relationship with these tradies, they learned to respect me as an equal and not some annoying broad.
I've since used the same technique when dealing with education officials and doctors. Works a treat!
Marg
