“He lied to me. I called in and after agreeing that he will remit the required payment he had the audacity to switch off his phone. It was the last collection of the day that I had hoped for in completing a conversion.” – Rant of a good friend.
It’s amazing how we look into our needs, wants and get offended when things don’t go as we planned for which is almost always going to happen. This was the last phone conversation I had with a friend last night where she was all jittery over the occurrences of her day. I’m not the best of friends to talk to when you feel offended because I don’t take any offence and when I do it’s in black and white. Just so you know but don’t take it for granted.
In the whole conversation, it was about a debtor who was to remit payment after a long time of not being able to do so. As part of her company policy, when you call on clients especially defaulters within 28-30 Day window you should strive to focus on converting them back and having them pick up their payment plan. This is an ideal setting with the assumption that when you call the client has the money, doesn’t have conflicting needs to attend to and if so yours is a priority. In this case he promised to pay which is noble enough but after a period of time when she called to check on the same the phone was off and there comes the rant of disappointment.
One, it’s not anyone’s desire to lie. That’s assuming the guy lied out-rightly out of inability to confirm he can’t pay at the moment.
Two, on having the phone off on second attempt to call. We live in a world of circumstances and these change every moment. Viewing the same narrative in a different light and considering the options available it may not have been the same rant. Imagine the guy might have had a hectic day and on his way home the phone ran out of power. With this it’s optimistic to assume he will call back or rather when she calls again later he’ll be back online.
Three, on not being able to pay, it’s obvious and clear that as a debt collector the priority agenda is always to get money from the debtor. This may at times get to your head to the point you fail to interact with your debtor as a human being. On all accounts, we are human beings before we become anything. When you talk to anyone at anytime, relate with their circumstances especially now with COVID-19. Let them be human beings before you transition into your ask which makes it easier to go about your business of the day.
Finally, if they are liars they will lie whether you want them to or not. The only difference is that it won’t get to your nerve as much and in this life we need as much peace as we can. Create your peace and live with it.
It’s never always about you and even when it is, you need to choose you above all else. Giving others power over you in the name of being conscious is counterproductive. Let go and let live.