What is your best story of incompetence?

Question

I don't know what's happening, but everyone I deal with just seems to be inhumanely stupid. The level of incompetence I deal with is beyond shocking. The supposed "professional" people I have to deal with: lawyers, accountants, etc. can't even read a simple letter, nor find an email. I have to tell them how to do their job and remind them of every little detail. I am not exaggerating. I feel like I am dealing with retarded children.

Last week I called the Post Office because a package was missing. I asked the woman for the phone number of the warehouse where the lost items are kept so I could speak with the manager there. She claimed she did not have the number. I told her that was ridiculous; the U.S. Postal Service must have a list of all their main numbers, and this is one of the biggest. She maintained she had no idea what the number was, and they did not have a directory. I called 411 and got the number.

10 points for the best story of unbelievable incompetence.

My response to FRANK:
Excuse me for a typo. I speak three languages and normally am an excellent speller. However, I was on the phone with the Post Office idiots at the time, so you'll have to excuse my momentary lack of concentration. No, the woman at the Post Office did not withhold the number because I was mean to her; I was very civil. She was just lazy and a complete dunce.

You have this strange idea like I'm some whiny little stickler for pointless details. All I want, all I should EXPECT is that people do their job with at least a small degree of professionalism. When your accountant can't even find your email, you know you're not dealing with a top notch person.

Far from expecting too much from these people, I expect very little. However, if I'm paying a lawyer $240 an hour, I shouldn't have explain what a letter says. I shouldn't have to correct his glaring mistakes. He's supposed to be the expert, and I feel like a teacher in a remedial class.

For anyone else who answers this question, let me clarify something. Contrary to what Frank said, I am not nit picking. I am talking about the most basic and glaring errors you can imagine. I can't order anything without having them screw it up, even when I make them repeat it back to me. I once had an important furniture order for my home, and I very politely and calmly asked the girl to repeat all the information back to me so there could be no mistake. When they still screwed up, their explanation was, "Oh, well we faxed the order to someone, and they misread it". My fancy credit card company can't even send money without making me call them three or four times to keep winnowing out their omissions and mistakes until they finally get it right. I can't even relate the appalling level of laziness, carelessness and incompetence I deal with, and when I switch to someone else, they're just as bad. What happened to all the smart, capable people?

Answer 1

We have retired. The examples you have given remind me of my favorite Murphy's Law. Bureaucrats are people who have been promoted to their level of incompetence and have remained there.LOL
It is a disgrace and as my dad would have said a crying shame how Lazy, irresponsible and ridiculous people have become. Part of what we have reaped are the fruits of affirmative action and quota hiring practices of the 60's-90's. Those people are still in the system and have been promoted because of longevity to positions of authority and they recruit only people of poor skill levels than themselves and discourage initiative and common sense in performing duties by subordinates. People who try to do a good job are ostracized and driven away by there supervisors to make room for conformists that represent no threat to the status quo.

Answer 2

A mayor of a local town who appoints all the planning board members decided to allow a neighbor to build a retail extension onto his building on a shared parking easement without regard to whether or not my property could even get into the parking lot. That was a three year law suit which ended up costing about 1/3 of the value of the property I was defending the use of. It is a classic example of how towns put property owners behind the 8 ball, devalue their property so they can ask for payoff to change a retailer, or to take the property under eminent domain for a u turn. Before a town goes for eminent domain they often do something to make it valueless so they can get it cheap, or get paid off on both ends. I didn't let them get away with it and made a settlement with the owner of the property, so that the lot could be entered from the other side which is not a part of the easement. Government is far more corrupt than the average person knows. I had to sue the planning board and the other property owner, went through 3 lawyers, first 2 were in on the deals with the town. Mayor was also a lawyer, he is no longer the Mayor, engineer and zoning officer gone also..... Ah yes and the lawyer for the township was in on another county deal, he was the lawyer for the planning board that evening, he has been disbarred. Figure that out

Answer 3

Here's a story, your trying and failing to NOT be a smug, sanctimonious, harping, nitpicking ***** to everyone.

How do you like this: You used "inhumanely" instead of humanly. You obviously can't spell "etcetera." You forgot the word THAT. Yeah, who cares? Well, that's what you do to everybody.

That woman at the Post Office probably didn't give you the number because of what an @ss you are. It's your way or the highway, right, ball-buster? Jesus, why don't you lay off of people for two seconds instead of hovering over them and trying to find faults, which actually causes people to make mistakes because of the stress that you put on them over nothing at all. If you were my boss, I'd ******* shoot you. You love to stick it to people when they make a mistake because you measure yourself against other people. PATHETIC.

You don't know everything, so I hope that somebody holds your feet to the fire for every little mistake that you make while feeling superior so that you can know what that feels like.

Answer 4

G.W.BUSH... 10 points please...

As to the Post Office employee... they are not to give out numbers...they could get fired for doing so... often the number you dial for the local post office is answerd at an office a thousand miles away...that person knows nothing about local situations.... and can not connect you to the local office you want... The PO is not a user friendly institution... there is a valid reason for the coining of the phrase "going postal"... as you would learn if you were to go to work for that business.

Answer 5

having to read your story