Does anyone want a cat

So as part of what we do , this week my team took back a number of properties.  In one property the previous occupant had left behind two gerbils and a cat.  For reasons which I'm not going disclose these animals were now unwanted.  So you would think it would be easy to get them rehomed.  The gerbils no problem, but man the cat!
Called up national organisation for this type of thing and they said they were full and wouldn't take it.  cat was fit and healthy and very friendly.  Cat & dog home, same thing, Cat protection league, nope couldn't help.  tried the same in neighbouring counties, no, no and then no.  At this point we were getting desperate.  The poor creature was still in the house and had been fed and watered but this was running out

We then asked everyone in the office and that's 200 plus people and still no joy.

that's 3 days later and we are still dealing with them damn.  cat but finally this morning the national organisation came through and the cat is homed

But i have to ask if it takes that long to deal with a cat, how long will it take to deal with real people......

And then the computer system goes down!

How the hell do we keep are credibility?

So I got a call from a Team Leader in another office in their lettings team.  I knew it was coming because one of our lettings team had a call and i could hear her mention my name but clearly doesn't know how to transfer calls.  Not the point I know

So this other Team Leader (lovely women very good at her job but just new too it), asks if there is an eviction when should the tenancy be terminated.  I said the nearest Sunday.  Not then she says when the tenant hands in the keys then!

Why has the tenant got the keys I ask, its an eviction, they no longer have any rights to the tenancy.  Now evictions are carried out by the equivalent of my team and always have been so they should know this right.  apparently not.  The office carrying this out gave the keys to a member of the tenant's family..............

So , and they may not, could be reasonable people, can go in trash the place, rip out all the fixtures or change the locks and squat.  and we can do nothing cause we gave them the keys....

How the hell do we keep are credibility when other offices go and do this kind of thing.

we are trying to send out a postive message and it just gets hijacked like this.....

Gobsmacked

staffing crisis who do i kill

My head is totally spinning.  Since the whole Welfare Reform debacle kicked off the area teams have been waiting on additional resources to help us cope.  We should have had them at the end of the year but they are still not in place.

So last week we have a meeting about it and find out that 5 of the customer advisors (should be 10) should be starting in a  couple of weeks.  We discuss what they can do and the training needed and the issue about IT resources and Kiss Ass Middle Manager (KAMM) says he will look into some of these issues particularly IT and its agreed that they will be trained centrally before being rolled out to the team

Today I get this email

"Dear All,

Please find a list of customer advisors starting from next week.  In the short term they have been allocated to the following offices, however, we are in the process of trying to finalise the last post and have further recruitment planned. ........

For the first morning they have been asked to attend Ivory Tower and then in the afternoons we will ask them to report directly to you."

So that’s a new CA on Monday with no training, no induction plan, I.T. or desk

Of course I challenged this and KAMM comes back with "My understanding was this related to the HO's and not the customer assistants as they would allow you to have the extra resource directly in the team to start work and training would be provided on situ."

The four of us who were at the meeting have all told him he is wrong but if he insists then that’s a new member of staff to be trained with no additional IT to do it at the busiest time of the fortnight.  Really finding it harder to deal with this.

If it weren’t for the money and lack of opportunity I would throw in the towel.  KAMM is such an idiot but then if you kiss up to the right people you get the jobs, credability be damned