Elizabeth Culmer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
edenfalling) wrote2024-03-15 11:30 pm
edenfalling) wrote2024-03-15 11:30 pm
Entry tags:
my annoyance level is probably disproportionate, but dammit please respect my availability limits
Due to a scheduling glitch at Not the IRS, I left the rental company office at 4:30pm today.
Okay so. This is deeply stupid on both the human error level and the "why does your program even do that??" level. This is also deeply tedious, but I want to put this on record so I can refer back to it if anything similar happens next year.
Before the tax season starts, all employees get to input our availability into the scheduling program. That restricts when we CAN work, though you are obviously not guaranteed to work all the hours during which you are available. The scheduling program then does some algorithmic nonsense and spits out a rough draft schedule. Human supervisors then go in and make edits based on things like "humans need sleep sometimes" and other such factors.
The thing is, a human supervisor can override a tax preparer's stated availability and stick you on the schedule when you are not supposed to be in the office. This is necessary for things like "oops, two people just called out sick, can you come in and cover for them?" BUT it also means that sometimes a supervisor can just wildly fuck up. Which my area supervisor did, by randomly scheduling me a 9am-7pm shift for the Ides of March, even though I work an actual full-time job and am specifically unavailable until 5:30pm on weekdays.
My office manager noticed that and put my scheduled hours back to normal. Unfortunately, once an area supervisor adds a shift to the schedule, the program will then show the employee in question as available for that time period, even if they are not actually available.
That wouldn't be a problem EXCEPT that this year Not the IRS has implemented a new tweak to their online appointment request program, where if a client wants to schedule an appointment with a certain tax preparer, and the tax preparer is available during that time, the the appointment goes through. Even if the tax preparer is not actually on the schedule for that day and time. Even if the only reason they are listed as available is because a supervisor fucked up a month ago.
Anyway, my office manager was able to prod the area supervisor into fixing my availability and I moved the person who had scheduled a 4pm appointment to 6pm, but I figured it would be less trouble to just keep the 5pm appointment than to make the people in question move to a different day.
Okay so. This is deeply stupid on both the human error level and the "why does your program even do that??" level. This is also deeply tedious, but I want to put this on record so I can refer back to it if anything similar happens next year.
Before the tax season starts, all employees get to input our availability into the scheduling program. That restricts when we CAN work, though you are obviously not guaranteed to work all the hours during which you are available. The scheduling program then does some algorithmic nonsense and spits out a rough draft schedule. Human supervisors then go in and make edits based on things like "humans need sleep sometimes" and other such factors.
The thing is, a human supervisor can override a tax preparer's stated availability and stick you on the schedule when you are not supposed to be in the office. This is necessary for things like "oops, two people just called out sick, can you come in and cover for them?" BUT it also means that sometimes a supervisor can just wildly fuck up. Which my area supervisor did, by randomly scheduling me a 9am-7pm shift for the Ides of March, even though I work an actual full-time job and am specifically unavailable until 5:30pm on weekdays.
My office manager noticed that and put my scheduled hours back to normal. Unfortunately, once an area supervisor adds a shift to the schedule, the program will then show the employee in question as available for that time period, even if they are not actually available.
That wouldn't be a problem EXCEPT that this year Not the IRS has implemented a new tweak to their online appointment request program, where if a client wants to schedule an appointment with a certain tax preparer, and the tax preparer is available during that time, the the appointment goes through. Even if the tax preparer is not actually on the schedule for that day and time. Even if the only reason they are listed as available is because a supervisor fucked up a month ago.
Anyway, my office manager was able to prod the area supervisor into fixing my availability and I moved the person who had scheduled a 4pm appointment to 6pm, but I figured it would be less trouble to just keep the 5pm appointment than to make the people in question move to a different day.
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(File your taxes! You know you want to get that done so it won't keep hanging ominously over your head!)