Thread: Rude wench at the Recorders Office

Yesterday I went to the Recorders office to get a certified copy of my ex-husband's death certificate. I have to have one because in our divorce I was awarded half of his pension and I now have to file a death claim and they have to have a certified copy.

When I told her that I needed my ex-husband's death certificate she very rudely said "your his ex wife, your not entitled to it". Well excuse me, I have a court order, QUADRO, awarding me half of that pension and stating that I am treated as his surviving spouse for this pension and hand it to her along with the divorce decree and the letter from the pension fund. She then rudely says "well we don't have them yet". That's fine, let me fill out the application, you make copies of all these court documents and by the way here's my check for $15. Mail it to me when it's ready. Wench.

She was rude and there was no need to be. This is in a small town where everyone knows everyone and my ex was born and raised there and I was the outsider. I'm so glad I don't live there anymore.

Thanks for the vent!

I am a government worker and know exactly what you mean. Just grit your teeth and try to be pleasant. We deal with people everyday who try to cheat or lie or who come in to cuss us out because they don't have the proper work even though they've been told what they need to bring in. It's no excuse to be rude. It's just they way it is.

IMHO it's never a good idea to leave copies of paperwork and ask them to send it to you. This is government and we deal with literally mountains of paperwork. It's easy to loose papers or just forget about them. So I would suggest that if they don't mail you the certificate in about 2 weeks to make another trip there with copies of all the paperwork.

I am so sorry this happened to you.

Word of warning-at least where I work asking for a supervisor is not good. The supervisors don't want to be bothered and are nastier than the grunts
It is very hard to be fired from a government job and the workers know it.
Asking for a supervisor in the private sector is ok but government workers are different.
They do have attitudes. Just try to be nice and get out of there as quickly as possible. The more a customer complains the worse it is for them.
Try to remember the old saying-you can't fight city hall. It's true.

I could tell you horror stories of the way the government workers act where I work but that's a whole other vent.

I really don't understand why certain gov't workers think they have a right to be rude for no reason. It's not like they volunteered for the job. It sure as hell isn't like they are a cop or a firefighter and so on. Sorry, but they have no right to be condescending to anyone. The fact that they think they are above everyone cracks me up.

They act as if you are bothering them. If a supervisor got po'd at me for asking for them, that wouldn't fly either. I'd at least follow through on that. They should have a problem with their employee and not the customer. Granted, if a customer is especially obnoxious, then I can see a reason for wanting to give tude. However, you simply don't do it.

Once again, the work ethic has gone down the toilet. Remember when you would worry yourself to death if you just reacted and gave tude to a customer??

You are absolutely right, whatever.
Where I work (and yes I do work and do try to be polite to the people since I figure they're paying my salary) almost half the people spend 90% of their working hours either making personal calls on their cell phones or napping.
I feel a little better listening to everybody here. At least my workplace in not such an anomaly.