2025-08-26 Merit Appeal Board Minutes

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Merit Appeals Board August 26, 2025 So, yeah, customer service— MS. SAKAMOTO: We’re working on it. MS. BOND: Yeah. No—I mean, it’s not just—I just, yesterday, yelled at Direct TV for 45 minutes— MS. SAKAMOTO: Oh, no. MS. BOND: —so, yeah. Customer service—really? CHR. CABANAS: And it’s, for me, it’s—we shop in town and if you’re knowledgeable of something you may go to this one store, ‘cause you can be independent in the purchase— whatever you’re looking for. But, if you’re not knowledgeable and you really need someone to help you, I will always go to that store where customer service is outstanding because I know that they will help me even if I have to pay a little bit more. I will go there, to that store because they will help me choose the product that I’m looking for. So, customer service is really important. Yeah. I think we all know that. But sometimes employees get frustrated, whatever’s going on, and then they’re not customer-friendly to the public. Even though the person may irritate the hell out of you, you still need to be pleasant, yeah, and deal with it. MS. SAKAMOTO: Government workers have a hard job— CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. MS. SAKAMOTO: —because a lot of times we cannot make everybody happy— CHR. CABANAS: Yeah. MS. SAKAMOTO: —where our job is enforcement or regulatory review. And so, a lot of times that’s our job is to review and make sure it’s aligned with Code or whatever. So, there’s a lot of times where we can’t always give everybody what they want but it’s just a matter of how you deliver that message—and that’s all we talk about in customer service. So, hopefully, we’re getting through to people as they go through the program. But we talk about that in every class that I go over—we talk about communication and delivery and how it works not only with your customers, it works with your family, it works with your co-workers and your boss—and whoever else you interact with. And the more we get that message out, hopefully, we all can work better together, right? CHR. CABANAS: Right. It’s teamwork. Page 12