Elizabeth Culmer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edenfalling) wrote2024-02-03 09:23 pm
edenfalling) wrote2024-02-03 09:23 pm
Entry tags:
wherein Liz gripes about Not the IRS's new scheduling policies
My hypothetical tax client last night ghosted me, as did my hypothetical client this afternoon.
On the flip side, I picked up one of Office Grandma's clients because she was out sick, and handled a walk-in, so it wasn't like I sat around doing nothing the entire day.
(So about Office Grandma: Long story short, she's been having breathing problems, refused to use the overnight oxygen machine that her doctor prescribed, consequently got so breathless/weak/dizzy she couldn't leave her house, and is now waiting for one of those little daytime oxygen tanks on wheels to be delivered. I suspect this is the aftereffect of a bout of Covid (she is vehemently anti-vax and anti-mask, and was the first of my largely conservative Not the IRS coworkers to fall in line for Trump in 2016) but we'll never know because, for ideological reasons, she will never get tested. On the other hand, she is in her mid-90s so perhaps this is just old age catching up with her at last. Anyway, whatever the case, hopefully she will be willing to use the daytime oxygen machine.)
We think the reason people keep ghosting me is that our scheduling software has been rejiggered. It used to run on an algorithm that translated to, "This client saw Tax Preparer X in Office Y last year. They didn't specifically request a repeat of that, but they probably would appreciate a familiar face and location, so let's suggest Tax Preparer X in Office Y again. If Tax Preparer X is busy, we'll show their next open slot."
The new algorithm, in contrast, goes like this: "This client saw Tax Preparer X in Office Y last year, but it looks like Tax Preparer X is ! Instead of looking for the next open slot in Tax Preparer X's schedule, we will instead schedule the client with Tax Preparer R, who works in vaguely nearby Office S, and has a lot of empty time. The client doesn't know Tax Preparer R, has never been to Office S, and if fact may not know how to or be able to physically get to Office S, but none of that matters since they didn't specifically request Tax Preparer X, and Office S is within a 10 mile radius of Office Y."
And then I suspect the "We've scheduled your appointment!" message is not remotely explicit enough about the fact that the clients have been scheduled at a different office from the one they've been using for the past SEVEN YEARS, which means the clients don't realize they will either need to change their travel plans or reschedule while being more specific about their preferences.
I tend to have open time on my schedule because a lot of what I do is catch walk-ins, so our online scheduling program keeps dumping these poor people on me. I think they go to the other local office out of habit, and then are hopelessly confused when they learn they don't actually have an appointment there, nor with the tax preparer they wanted to see.
It is good to minimize wait times! But I think corporate has tilted too far toward that and forgotten that people A) like a familiar face and may assume they don't need to specifically request that, and B) offices are not interchangeable and people have reasons for which one they choose to patronize.
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Tomorrow I need to drop off cheese and crackers for coffee hour before spending another 6 hours in the tax office with no scheduled clients. I was very sensible and bought the items this afternoon!
...And then I forgot them in the office mini-fridge when I went home. *headdesk*
Well, I guess I'll just drive up and down the hill a few times in the morning. There are worse fates. Or perhaps I will drop off pepperoni and crackers instead -- I do have those on hand and that's also a perfectly reasonable post-service snack.
On the flip side, I picked up one of Office Grandma's clients because she was out sick, and handled a walk-in, so it wasn't like I sat around doing nothing the entire day.
(So about Office Grandma: Long story short, she's been having breathing problems, refused to use the overnight oxygen machine that her doctor prescribed, consequently got so breathless/weak/dizzy she couldn't leave her house, and is now waiting for one of those little daytime oxygen tanks on wheels to be delivered. I suspect this is the aftereffect of a bout of Covid (she is vehemently anti-vax and anti-mask, and was the first of my largely conservative Not the IRS coworkers to fall in line for Trump in 2016) but we'll never know because, for ideological reasons, she will never get tested. On the other hand, she is in her mid-90s so perhaps this is just old age catching up with her at last. Anyway, whatever the case, hopefully she will be willing to use the daytime oxygen machine.)
We think the reason people keep ghosting me is that our scheduling software has been rejiggered. It used to run on an algorithm that translated to, "This client saw Tax Preparer X in Office Y last year. They didn't specifically request a repeat of that, but they probably would appreciate a familiar face and location, so let's suggest Tax Preparer X in Office Y again. If Tax Preparer X is busy, we'll show their next open slot."
The new algorithm, in contrast, goes like this: "This client saw Tax Preparer X in Office Y last year, but it looks like Tax Preparer X is ! Instead of looking for the next open slot in Tax Preparer X's schedule, we will instead schedule the client with Tax Preparer R, who works in vaguely nearby Office S, and has a lot of empty time. The client doesn't know Tax Preparer R, has never been to Office S, and if fact may not know how to or be able to physically get to Office S, but none of that matters since they didn't specifically request Tax Preparer X, and Office S is within a 10 mile radius of Office Y."
And then I suspect the "We've scheduled your appointment!" message is not remotely explicit enough about the fact that the clients have been scheduled at a different office from the one they've been using for the past SEVEN YEARS, which means the clients don't realize they will either need to change their travel plans or reschedule while being more specific about their preferences.
I tend to have open time on my schedule because a lot of what I do is catch walk-ins, so our online scheduling program keeps dumping these poor people on me. I think they go to the other local office out of habit, and then are hopelessly confused when they learn they don't actually have an appointment there, nor with the tax preparer they wanted to see.
It is good to minimize wait times! But I think corporate has tilted too far toward that and forgotten that people A) like a familiar face and may assume they don't need to specifically request that, and B) offices are not interchangeable and people have reasons for which one they choose to patronize.
-----
Tomorrow I need to drop off cheese and crackers for coffee hour before spending another 6 hours in the tax office with no scheduled clients. I was very sensible and bought the items this afternoon!
...And then I forgot them in the office mini-fridge when I went home. *headdesk*
Well, I guess I'll just drive up and down the hill a few times in the morning. There are worse fates. Or perhaps I will drop off pepperoni and crackers instead -- I do have those on hand and that's also a perfectly reasonable post-service snack.
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The scheduling algorithm is a bit beyond my power to fix, alas.
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I'm fascinated that people will act against their own self interest, whether it's health or voting.
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The trouble is that in trying to fix that problem, they have wildly overcompensated. *sigh*
As for people acting against their self interest, there's a saying (whose attribution I do not know) to the effect of: "Humans are not rational animals. Humans a rationalizing animals." I have never had cause to doubt those words.