After three attempts and a 2.5 hour hold period I finally managed to get through to a Universal Credit advisor yesterday to book my first appointment (as I was instructed to via my UC account). The lady I spoke to was helpful, reassuring and as positive sounding as she could possibly have been under the circumstances. I was very stressed and by the end of the call I had hope that as a SE person now without any work for a month or three, I will receive a little help whether from UC or whatever self-employed assistance fund the Gov. comes up with. I thanked her very much for being there for people in need and she thanked me for being kind as it had been a stressful day.
Called Privilege this morning to cancel my car insurance as it will be off the road for the forseeable future now. The lady was kind and understanding and there will be no cancellation fee due to the current crisis. I asked if she was able to work from home and she said Privilege are having their last office day today and anyone that can work from home will be doing so and that she feels staff will be looked after by the company.
I know it's stressful times for everyone but those two phonecalls have touched my heart and especially this morning left me quite tearful. I could never do a job in a call centre or customer service role, especially in such stressful conditions, but both of those ladies were kind, calm and reassuring and I'm very grateful for that.
To all of you out there working on answering phonecalls and helping scared, stressed and confused people, I hope you are treated with kindness and understanding as you go about your jobs. I'm sure there wil be many calls that test you but there are people like me out here that are very grateful to have one less thing to worry about now 