Apology Letter to Finance

[bottlenose]

"My friend" if you're suggesting is me is not...I'm not one to stir a pot that way. But I can attest to his pain as many other reservists (and probably everyone else) can with vouchers.

Edited August 10, 2014 by bottlenose

[BuddhaSixFour]

"My friend" if you're suggesting is me is not...I'm not one to stir a pot that way. But I can attest to his pain as many other reservists (and probably everyone else) can with vouchers.

So you posted it online for the world to see in order to not stir the pot?

The "Dear Boss"-style letter should be left to those with experience, credibility, and literary talent. Probably not your buddy.

Edited August 10, 2014 by BuddhaSixFour

[Liquid]

Your friend is an ass. If he had legitimate complaints about the service he received from finance, he did not address them in his fake apology. If he took leave enroute from a deployment, they need to know where he took the leave and how he got home. Finance doesn't make this shit up, they follow laws and DoD policies. He says he forgot which cities he flew through on leave. If this is true, he is a moron. Vouchers are a pain, welcome to the federal government. Nobody said we were good at paperwork. There are plenty of legitimate criticisms about how centralizing DFAS at Ellsworth and manning the center with contractors hired into a poorly written contract was a horrible way to save money and manpower. And there are plenty of instances where a lack of focus on quality customer service, failures of leadership and incompetence have caused undue delays on vouchers. But bitching that it is unfair to expect you to document how you returned from a deployment is ridiculous. The only message he sent was that he is a tool and not fit to lead anyone, handle weapons or solve problems.

[17D_guy]

I would advise "your friend" to take some of the advice given in this thread to heart.

Despite what many think, finance Airmen don't typically go to work trying to fuck people over. They work with some really crappy systems that frustrate them as much as they frustrate everyone else. There are worthless Airmen out there in every AFSC, but I think you'll find that if you show a little humility, understanding and appreciation, Airmen will usually do whatever they can to help you. That's been my experience anyway.

Posted from the NEW Baseops.net App!

Don't forget that they were told their job wasn't important enough to keep a good number of them at the base and got out-sourced to a central facility to "improve quality & save $."

Again, they're not the tip of the spear, but no one likes being told their job isn't important and can be done better, cheaper and somewhere else with the resulting lack of personnel, training and mentoring being removed to make that "efficiency" happen. And then getting passive aggressive missives from some ass on the other and complaints about being closed for training, etc.

The Bronze Stars are still bullshit though.

[Bergman]

The best way to deal with this type of thing is obviously face to face. If you aren't getting a reasonable solution or the attention you feel you deserve, my technique is to calmly and politely say something to the effect of "Hey, thanks a lot for your effort. I really appreciate it. Since I'm still having an issue, is there any way I can speak with your NCOIC?" And when that person is out for the week or can't resolve the issue, "May I please speak with your OIC?"

There is no way this should have been submitted 10 times without a resolution.

You will always catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

[magnetfreezer]

The best way to deal with this type of thing is obviously face to face. If you aren't getting a reasonable solution or the attention you feel you deserve, my technique is to calmly and politely say something to the effect of "Hey, thanks a lot for your effort. I really appreciate it. Since I'm still having an issue, is there any way I can speak with your NCOIC?" And when that person is out for the week or can't resolve the issue, "May I please speak with your OIC?"

There is no way this should have been submitted 10 times without a resolution.

You will always catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

Requires a few more steps if the individuals involved are super dense:

Scenario: Trying to get a diverted iron swap a/c (with 4 afterburners) out of a USAFE base that requires quiet hour waivers for takeoffs after a certain time. WX doesn't know if the thunderstorms will break before quiet hour starts.

Me: I don't know if they'll be taking off post-quiet hours, let me send you the waiver so the OG can approve it before COB and they can get out ASAP

Controller A1C Snuffy: Sir, I can't put a waiver in since it won't have justification if you end up taking off before quiet hours and I'll get in trouble for submitting unnecessary paperwork.

Me: I'm sure your OG wants that plane out of there as much as my OG, just send the waiver now just in case. Or give me your OG's DSN so my OG can talk to yours and get a verbal.

Controller: Sir, that's not how things work around here, the procedure says all waivers have to go through us so you can't talk to the OG.

Me: OK, let me talk to your supervisor

Controller: Sir, I'm the only one on shift

Me: OK then, let's pretend I don't care about waivers. How would my OG call your OG if he wanted to talk about the best places to live in country X?

Controller: Oh, yeah, just have him call the CP and ask to be transferred to XXX-XXXX

Me:......

[B*D*A]

Me: I don't know if they'll be taking off post-quiet hours, let me send you the waiver so the OG can approve it before COB and they can get out ASAP

Controller A1C Snuffy: Sir, I can't put a waiver in since it won't have justification if you end up taking off before quiet hours and I'll get in trouble for submitting unnecessary paperwork.

Said someone in the Air Force for the first time ever.

[Spoo]

Hey Bottlenose, are you starting to get the feeling that posting your douche-buddy's "funny" letter may not have garnered the humorous/appreciative reponse you were hoping for?

[Guest LumberjackAxe]

10 months?! Here's a novel idea:

When I PCS'd to Travis, they refused to reimburse me for my 100% do-it-yourself PCS because I didn't unload my car at SERE and weigh it for a good zero-fuel weight, load it again and weigh it for a fully-loaded weight, then do the same thing again once I arrived at Travis. I was legitimately confused that they honestly expected me to get three zero-fuel weight tickets and three fully-loaded weight tickets when the weight didn't change during my TDY enroute PCS.

So I went in to the office, explained my confusion, and heard their explanation that their rules/regulations require weight tickets for each leg. I guess that makes sense for something like SOS or something where you unload your car and you're there for a while (maybe). I then kindly explained that it wasn't feasible for me to find time at SERE to unload/weight/load/weigh, given the timeline and the nature of the course, and asked if there was anything I could do (note: I asked if there was anything I could do, not if there was anything they could do--framing questions that way will get you very far with any customer service, not just at Finance).

I think they legitimately felt bad about it, and said I could write a memo explaining what happened and submit it to their CC. So I wrote a simple and short MFR using polite and matter-of-fact language to the CC, and got reimbursed later that week. It took 2 months, but most of those 2 months were trying to figure out why they couldn't process my voucher. Once I found out why (their books say they needed 3 weight tix), I asked them how to solve the problem. And then it took 7 days.

What I DIDN'T do was write a snarky, poorly-worded sarcastic apology letter that will only highlight you in an even more negative manner. Shit like that is the same thing as returning a messy pubs bag that looks like a bomb went off inside it to Baseops after a week long trip. Don't be a douche.

Edited August 12, 2014 by LumberjackAxe

[Ram]

Feel free to make douchey and witty comments about asshattery to your bros in the bar on a Friday night over a scotch. When out in the real world, be the professional officer you're expected to be.

Losing your cool and/or acting like an asshat is never the best solution. I don't know why this isn't a universal concept, but it's good to see most of us agree.

[Slander]

Feel free to make douchey and witty comments about asshattery to your bros in the bar on a Friday night over a scotch. When out in the real world, be the professional officer you're expected to be.

Losing your cool and/or acting like an asshat is never the best solution. I don't know why this isn't a universal concept, but it's good to see most of us agree.

2. And it is a universal concept, but there's always "that guy" who would rather puff his chest out than be friendly and get paid.

Here's another concept, if you run into brick walls and something is impeding your progress, do what you can and if that doesn't work elevate it. That's part of what your commander is around to do...make your life easier when you're stuck. "Hey boss...I tried being nice, I did everything I think I needed to do and my voucher isn't paid and it's been 4 months, here are the cliff notes and the data, can you talk to the comptroller squadron commander and help? Thanks."

[Disregard]

My (highly controversial) trick: go to a CGOC meeting every now and then and meet the OICs of the different shops. It's nice being able to call a fellow CGO directly at Finance or MPF if you're having trouble.

[Bender]

My (highly controversial) trick: go to a CGOC meeting every now and then and meet the OICs of the different shops. It's nice being able to call a fellow CGO directly at Finance or MPF if you're having trouble.

What's highly controversial about this "trick"? How is that different from what every squadron commander does right out of the gate with his/her peers?

This thread is a train wreck. I can't figure out why I keep looking at it.

Bendy

[Disregard]

People shit all over CGOC meetings here. I'm just saying that they can be a good way to network (and sometimes the only way to meet non-flyer Os). Not much of a trick--just take a long lunch and get on a first name basis with the guys who can make your life easier. Same thing that the CCs do, just at a lower level.

[Bender]

People shit all over CGOC meetings here. I'm just saying that they can be a good way to network (and sometimes the only way to meet non-flyer Os). Not much of a trick--just take a long lunch and get on a first name basis with the guys who can make your life easier. Same thing that the CCs do, just at a lower level.

CGOC gets shit on everywhere. It symbolizes more than just networking...mostly for its own justification.

The CGOC is never the only way to meet non-flying O's. I'm not sure where you're coming from there. An easy way, sure...like trying to pick up a girl at the bar. They congregate there, therefore I start there...or maybe that's not even an analogy for you, eh?

Bendy