To Fax or Not to Fax

The question before us today: How long does it take a goverenment-run job center to fax paperwork to an employer? This is a true story from a lady I know, though I haven't identified the state she lives in because Helen will need to return for services and it isn't my job to complain to them for her. I just got a kick out of how inept the employees were.

First, Helen printed up cover sheet and gave it to them -- highlighting, bolding and italicizing human resources department information.

But, the job center kept trying to send the fax to Helen's cell phone -- her phone rang in the job center for 45 minutes until she convinced them to stop.

Then, the fax wouldn't go through because the number was busy. Helen called the prospective employer and got a second fax number and gave it to job center employee.

15 minutes later Helen checked back, but was told at this time that needed to fill out a new cover sheet with the number. She did.

15 minutes later staff tells her: "It keeps coming back busy."

Turned out, they were faxing the busy number on the first coversheet request and hadn't tried the new coversheet.

Added to which, the front desk clerk kept herself busy petting a lap dog.