so I just got a phone call from a collections company about my debt to DTE. I was told by DTE that as long as I was making payments on it, it wouldn't go to collections so of course I'm gonna be pissed already. Then this idiot asks me if I can give them a "pacific" date I'll have the payment in by, and I said by the end of the month. He said they needed a "pacific" date and I said fine, the 31st [of August]. So then he says that "if it's not in by a couple days before that, it'll be counted as July," and I was like huh? that doesn't make any sense, July is already past and I made a payment in July. He says it takes a couple days to process the payment and it has to be completed [processed] by the 31st to get credit for paying this month, so I'd have to send it a few days before that and I'm like OK, so I'll make sure to send it a few days before that. And then he's like well when are you going to send it? and I'm like I don't know, but I guess I'll have to send it before the 28th won't I? and he's all like we need a "pacific" date.
[What I neglected to mention in my original entry is that in this round of conversation, he also asked when my next paydate was--and it was Sept 1st, so I said as much. He asked how I was going to pay it if I didn't have the money right that second, and wouldn't get paid til after the payment was due. My response was, "I guess that's my problem to figure out, isn't it? But you'll have the payment in time for it to be processed by the 31st."]
Please bear in mind this guy is speaking without accent otherwise, he's obviously a native and, dare I say it, English is his second language, Ebonics being his first. That much was clear.
We go around like that for a while, me saying it'll be in by the 31st, him saying he needs a pacific date... finally I got fed up.
Me: I can't give you a "Pacific" date the pacific is an ocean!
Idiot: Persifis??
Me: I want to speak to someone who can speak English.
Idiot: We need a pacific date that your account will be paid this month.
Me: I want to speak to your supervisor.
Idiot: What?
Me: Give me to your supervisor
Idiot: *attitude tone, no idea what he was about to say he got like one word out*
Me: Give me to your supervisor.
Idiot: *mocking my voice* Give me to my supervisor.*/mocking* What the hell--
Me: Give me to your supervisor.
Idiot: *sarcastic* Give me to my supervisor. Now let me see, I don't know...
*pause* [This pause was not long enough for him to have explained the situation to anyone, or for anyone to have reviewed the tape--it's obvious the phone call was being monitored from the beginning]
Woman: Ms. Wilson?
Me: Yes?
Woman: We need a SPECIFIC date that you will have your payment to us, otherwise we have to send this back to DTE with a note that says refusal to pay.
Me: I told him, the 31st. That's the latest it will be there and it may be there earlier. I am not refusing to pay, you want a specific date and I've given it to you. I'm not sure how much more specific I can get.
Woman: Ok thank you ma'am we have your payment scheduled to be paid by check by the 31st.
Me: Thank you.
Woman: *Hung up.*
Every time someone says Pacific instead of Specific, I think of this... and it's become a joke in my family since then, it was just so ludicrous.
ETA: to clarify, I was asking to speak to his supervisor more pointedly because he was refusing to accept the date I was giving him, and because of his attitude. I could have said I was refusing to pay it, and had better results. At one point I even said the 28th, so it would be processed by the 30th, but he wouldn't accept that either. But they couldn't take credit card payments over the phone, and I couldn't promise that the payment would be in anytime before that, since I was leaving for vacation a couple days after the phone call, and also because I am not in charge if the US postal service.
It just looks like I asked for his supervisor over the mispronunciation, I had actually asked for the supervisor a couple times before the scripty part and he kept changing the question to try and get a different answer. But asking "Will your payment be in by the end of the month?" is asking the same thing when I'm saying "It will be in by the end of the month."