Am I over reacting or is my annoyance/anger justified?

[TheLadyEvenstar]

I had to call British Gas this morning to discuss my bill. I was talking to a pompous fuckwit man who was asking for details about my household, income etc. I mentioned I recieve DLA for my son, Carers allowance and didn't get any further as he then replied "Oh ok so your child has learning difficulties then" - I had not mentioned what DS's disability was.

I asked him what qualified him to make such an assumption to which he replied "Oh well I just thought".

I Have to admit I stopped him there and asked him if he had learning difficulties as he seemed unable to understand there were other disabilities. His reply was "You are insulting me by saying that". I was then transferred to someone else.

AIBU to consider putting in a complaint against him? or am I over reacting.

i think i would have been annoyed as well, but i wouldnt have asked him if he had ld, why you get dla is none of his business and there ae plently of other disbilities that mean you get dla and carers so yabalittlebitu

They can put a note on your file to say you are in a vulnerable position so if you have a child with sn or ld that way they would probably not cut you off or give you more options to pay them back.

He may have been trying to help you out, OP.

CWWM, as i said I was more annoyed at him interrupting me. I find that very rude,

ComeWhineWithMe is right. He asked about disabilities to ensure you were flagged as having greater protections/rights.

(There was a horrible case about 10 years ago where an elderly couple had their gas disconnected for non-payment and froze to death. Since then, all suppliers take much more care over 'vulnerable' users. My XH was working for Thames Water at the time and was involved in overhauling all of their processes to ensure that vulnerable customers wouldn't be left entirely without water.)

I'm just going on your OP where you say you were pissed off about him asking you the LD question.

Not saying he was in the right to interupt - just explaining why he was asking the question in the first place.

FWIW, I think you reacted very badly to a poorly timed question from him.

"gramercy Wed 20-Jul-11 13:59:57
You sound like one of those terribly touchy people. Not everyone is thoroughly versed in the appropriate language to use concerning disabilities"

That's the bit I don't understand. Disability and learning disability aren't synonymous even to people (like me) who nkow nothing about these things.

It's like saying "My dad's ill", "Oh so your dad has pneumonia"

surely? Or am I missing something?

You have overreacted and are being unreasonable

Bang on!

He was daft to make the assumption and was rude to interrupt you. No need for your comment though and glad you have decided not to complain.

I simply stated my son didn't have a LD

I may be mistaken, but I thought your son had Aspergers, and I have always been under the impression that is included under the umbrella of "learning disablities/difficulty.

In any case, the man was probably trying to help you to get possible extra help with your payments, and you were rude and unreasonable to speak to him the way you did.

Don't you get a different rate for being disabled?

It is a presumptuous and unprofessional thing to say on his part -- I can't imagine in a million years why it would be relevant for someone at British Gas to know whether your son had learning difficulties. Trouble is you've made it a thousand times worse by throwing it back at him, its like pouring petrol on a fire. Had you not done that you could have complained about poor customer service but you've totally conceded the moral high ground to him.

jeckadeck Have you read the thread?

British Gas would want to know about any vulnerable people living in the house so they would be more understanding about payment plans or not cutting her off if she hadn't paid her bill. Read CinnabarRed's post about why.

If you complain about him you could be putting his job at risk when he meant no harm and could even have been trying to help you.

I am not going to complain, have already said that.

I am wondering why you feel that learning difficulties is such a terrible thing for someone to assume. If someone assumed that about my child I would just tell them the facts, it wouldn't upset me as I don't feel LD are something to be ashamed of. Do you?