What pisses me off… Centrelink customer service

Today is Sunday, and you know what pisses me off? Short staffed government departments and systems.

With so many public servants being sacked and many of our Government departments being thrown into one place, I had an experience yesterday of seeing for myself just how short staffed we really are.

Going into Centrelink to simply ask a question, I was told there would be a one-hour wait. There weren’t many people sitting around but there were only two people serving those needing help.

I was told I could call Centrelink from my mobile to have my problem answered… Oh yes that would still be an hour and they wouldn’t be able to answer the question anyway, or I could wait on their phone for an hour but I still would not get an answer without them seeing the paperwork.

So off we trip to another suburb, which the other day, had only a five-minute wait and free parking. A real bonus!

I got there, and yet again, it was a one-hour wait with only one person serving customers! It wasn’t morning teatime but the school kids had been coming in all day.

A one-hour wait and all I wanted to do was ask a question and receive an answer.

I didn’t want a two-hour session of chatting and filling in paperwork for goodness sake! It seems wherever you go these days the staff shortage is ridiculous.

There are a few people wandering around seemingly aimlessly wherever you go. If I had worked that slowly when I was working I wouldn’t have made any money. I feel like sticking a bomb up their bottoms to make them move faster and do some work!

It would be great if Centrelink could consider the staffing system to help and improve with customer service. Surely I’m not the only one who has struggled with this!

Have you had a similar experience to Cheryl? What do you think on the Centrelink customer service process?