Positive Public Sector Experiences...

Darragh29

OK, as I'm well able to kick our public sector cat, I thought I'd start this thread for anyone who wants to post a positive review of some encounter they might have had with someone working in the public sector... This is not a thread for sarcasm I should point out and I'll start with my own few recent experiences....

Recently I was doing a bit on my family tree and I paid a visit to the the Dublin City Library & Archive on Pease Street...

http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/libraries/find_your_library/Pages/pearse_street_library.aspx

There's a guy working in here, I know his name but I don't want to mention it here without his permission, but he is one of the most helpful people I've ever met. I think he is a security/archives retrevial employee, but often he has taken the time to help me out with how to root out a certain ancestor I was looking for.

He showed me one day that he had got talking to a US tourist who was doing some research but was stuck for time, as they had a flight to catch, so this guy took the details of who they were looking for, went off and did a load of research and found some relation who was killed in World War I, posted the whole lot on to the tourist which I thought was just such a decent thing to do. If you ever pop into this library and this employee is there, he'll be doing everything from helping people having issues with the microfilm viewing machines, to showing people how to find this relation or that relation, he's one of those increasingly rare Dublin characters that you see around the place less and less these days, a salt of the earth guy who would do anything to help you, he is a wealth of knowledge on old Dublin and only seems to want to help everyone who uses their services there...

Only last Monday morning I popped into the National Library on Kildare Street and the guy behind the counter there in the reading room was unbelievably helpful and friendly. Sometimes I'm surprised through all the doom and gloom that some people can rise above it and show a bit of sense of humour and have a chat with you when you need something, and can come across as genuinely wanting to give you a hand with something when you might not always know exactly what you are looking for...

So to those behind the provision of public services who go the little bit extra and have a lot of pride in their job and deliver the service with a smile and genuinely want to see you going out the door happy and sorted, I say a big thank you... Sometimes these folks just make your day, meeting the right person in the right place who has just gone that little bit beyond the call of duty to see you right...

mikemac

I find Revenue are ruthlessly efficient when it comes to looking for my tax returns and highlighting issues

Fair play to all the hard working Revenue staff, even if I wish you'd occasionally start overlooking things :pac:

There is a large Revenue office in our local town. Though there isn't a public service counter you can call in anyday and the receptionist will find somebody free to come down to reception and meet you, answer any questions and run over to the mailroom and pick up any forms.

One guy who I believe was quite junior take me to a spare desk and helped sign up to Revenue Online system
Though maybe they wanted me to use this instead of calling in and talking to them

It'd be nice for a change for people to highlight good experiences, for one thread anyway and for a change.
I've no doubt it'd be derailed by the end of page one though

Ste.phen

+1 on Revenue being great to deal with

nesf

Revenue are excellent. Never had a problem worth mentioning with my experiences in the Health Sector in general. Lecturers/3rd level staff I've found to be superb in general, a few bad apples but most seem to genuinely care about what they do. Teachers, I've met some superb ones and I've met some nasty pieces of work but there are some in there who really do care about teaching there just isn't enough of them.

Tipp Man

I think its fair to say that if every government department and offshoot were even half as efficient as revenue then people would be a lot more inclined to look favourable on the PS. Things like ROS are a good step forward and need to be the benchmark by which other government departments operate.

Motor tax online is another simple but good efficient step forward


Its kind of ironic that the best (in most people's eyes) department/sub department is the one thats taking our money from us.

gandalf

Same as most have said already above Revenue are extremely efficient and deliver what they promise. I dealt with the Dept of Foreign affairs earlier this year to get a official document for my wedding in France and they were excellent.

That is the sum of my positive experiences with PS, the worst by far are some of the County Councils and semi-states.

Dannyboy83

In my experience:
Revenue - Fantastic, what ALL companies should aspire to.
Lecturers - A few excellent ones, mostly ok, a few laughably bad.
Teachers - poor in general and then the odd genius. (going back a few years now)
Health - An awful lot of crappy GPs, but once you're in the hospital, quite good.
Motor tax office - angry people (I haven't been there in years so it may have changed)
Social welfare - in Cork City, fantastic, polite and helpful. In West Cork, gra$$h0l€s, very angry people, very impatient, condescending to me even tho I've never even got SW myself.
Guards - Younger gardai - quite good, older gardai - quite unhelpful
Justice - some seriously inconsistent judges,lol, amusing to watch tho

Edit: Driver Testing - this was the BANE of my life. Insane waiting times, 58 weeks. I got to do the test twice in 3 years. You could do the Hibernian test in 2 weeks. Nearly drove me feckin mad.

Liam79

Library Staff and facilities are generally first class to deal with

Tipp Man

Dannyboy83 wrote: »

In my experience:
Guards - Younger gardai - quite good, older gardai - quite unhelpful

Funny my very limited dealings with the Gardai are the exact opposite, I find the younger Gardai very obnoxious and confrontational whereas the older Gardai are more friendly and easier to deal with

Depends who you meet i suppose

Dannyboy83

Tipp Man wrote: »

Funny my very limited dealings with the Gardai are the exact opposite, I find the younger Gardai very obnoxious and confrontational whereas the older Gardai are more friendly and easier to deal with

Depends who you meet i suppose

Yes its true, also age related I suspect.

What kind of scenario was that in where young guards were obnoxious?
Having been in security for a while, I found the young guards were genuinely helpful and quick to respond. The old guys didn't give a fcuk, had some rep to protect, were extremely lazy, made life difficult.
I nearly got stabbed one time because 3 old guards couldn't be bothered to take a guy down to the station to cool off, dude came back to the door after 20mins, unmarked units didn't turn up for 30mins - 2 old guys.

Often had various run ins where young guards were involved and there is no messing about with them, very professional, they earned my respect.

I'm generalizing of course, but that's the trend I've experienced.

mikemac

Liam79 wrote: »

Library Staff and facilities are generally first class to deal with

True, I've never had anything less then a good experience with library staff.
Can answer any question, can order any book for you from another library.
And if you can't find a book they'll walk over with you and help you find it. In the last few years a lot of libraries have been modernized and some are great. Nenagh Library is anyway, there is a section with artefacts from the famine in the local area if you want a look. And a display area for local artists who want to sell their paintings They organize talks with local historians, a few are published authors.
And it's all FREE

jdivision

Revenue were very good, although I did have some problems, but overall positive
Library staff also helpful when I used to use them
There's a woman in Dublin City Council I deal with sometimes for work and she's brilliant
Similar case with a woman working for Fingal but have had some really negative experiences with them.
After that I'd struggle...

meditraitor

The revenue are certainly the best I have come across...

Fingal CC , :mad: mostly drive me mad in all aspects

Darragh29

The people behind this site really deserve a holiday on the state...

www.nationalarchives.ie

The digitization of the 1911 census records has been one of the best things I think that has been done since the year 2000, well done to the folks who gave us this...

Absurdum

I'd like to thank the ambulance crew who saved my father in law's life last night.

TGPS

I'm public secto so I may be considered biased!!

But

Older Guards - great - they talk to you or with you

Younger Guards - terrible - they talk at you, but they'll learn

Judges - variable - some (younger ones) very socially conscious

Library and Academic Staff - pretty good and generally helpful

Teachers - with some notable exceptions, poor attitude, but I blame their unions

Local Authorities and VECs - rubbish (why does every department in a County Hall have to have its own reception!!!????)

Semi-states - mediocre, but have potential

Department of Finance - unimaginative

Dept of Health & Children - hidebound

Dept of SW - monolithic


As for positive public service experiences - I'd nominate the Guards, Fire and Emergency Services, Civil Defence and (especially) the Army for their work on the floods and helping some of our family in that neck of the woods - and specifically the Guard who phoned my Dad to let him know his parents were ok (not sure if he was young or old!!!)

rossithelegend

Im also a public servant so this may be considered inappropriate but I have worked in many sectors of the public service and it really depends on who you get on the day. Im motortax Nutgrove in 1999 - 2000 we had a very young group of staff with some older heads mixed in, the atmosphere was great so in turn the service was great and these were hard times in motor tax with the new 00 reg the offices were jammed. Everyone who was there had been there for a while so most people knew the job inside out and even if they didn't a colleague did. This allowed for a lot more common sense to be used in the day to day runnings which made life a lil easier for customers. Personally I recognised that nobody really wanted to be in that office paying hard earned cash to drive on roads that were terrible so i tried to be positive and make the experience as quick and painless for all and I knew my job extremely well. The problem is that this meant promotion became difficult because of the way promotion in Local Govt and Civil Service works so I had to take a move out sideways in 2003 to improve my chances. The point is that it's the way a lot of these places are run that leads to the experience you have and like all places Pvt and Public there are good and bad staff in them!

Dannyboy83

TGPS wrote: »

Older Guards - great - they talk to you or with you
Younger Guards - terrible - they talk at you, but they'll learn

Yea, I wouldn't disagree with observation, although I do think it's more prevalent in Dublin. But then I'd imagine they have a far more stressful job anyway.

I find nearly any of the young male guards here would chat away to you tho and greet you on the street etc.
The female guards can be a bit more stand off-ish I suppose, probably to be expected.

MysticalRain

My old man used to work in revenue. I know from experience that most people there work ferociously hard. It always amazed me how some sections of the public sector could be worked to the bone, while others had an easy life.

Taxipete29

I have had some really positive experiences with Guards in the recent past, most notably when my car was broken into. I do find female guards to be the worst to deal with. Its almost like they feel they have a point to prove. Thats obviously just from my experience. The old carriage office were always a pleasure to deal with.

I think that the worst about the Health service is getting your foot in the door in the first place. Once your in I think you are treated quite well.

The revenue are great to deal with. Very efficent.

Social welfare have always been a nightmare to deal with imo. Its just a very inefficent system.

Motor Tax are quite good. Just wish more people would use on-line. Taxis cant and the queues are massive in most offices unless you get there first thing and wait for them to open.

Passport office are quite good if your badly stuck in an emergency.

Dozen Wicked Words

Think Revenue definitely deserve the plaudits, have been very helpful with me several times, much more so than their equivalent in the UK.

Gumbo

Tipp Man wrote: »

I think its fair to say that if every government department and offshoot were even half as efficient as revenue then people would be a lot more inclined to look favourable on the PS. Things like ROS are a good step forward and need to be the benchmark by which other government departments operate.

Motor tax online is another simple but good efficient step forward


Its kind of ironic that the best (in most people's eyes) department/sub department is the one thats taking our money from us.

i think imo of course that we are trying to serve the public better in every way. we are constantly upgrading our systems to deal with public problems such as payments which now can be accepted online for lot of services!

also within my own dept we have introduced online planning applications which reduces the work done by people lodging planning applications and thus reduces the overall cost of a planning application as no drawings or forms need to be printed. they all can be lodged online including the drawings, maps and notices.

while they are small steps, the are the the right steps in the right direction, so hopefully we can continue.

dvpower

Darragh29 wrote: »

The people behind this site really deserve a holiday on the state...

www.nationalarchives.ie

The digitization of the 1911 census records has been one of the best things I think that has been done since the year 2000, well done to the folks who gave us this...

I fully agree with that; excellent resource. It would be nice to see similar digitisation of the Births, Marraiges and Deaths records.

The General Register Office have this in a press release on their website.

GRO wrote:

"Further developments within the modernised Civil Registration Service will include the introduction of
automated genealogy/family research facilities and the provision of a range of services over the Internet",
concluded the Minister.

It's dated 7 October 2003