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An Interview with Kathy Ballinger, Kathy Ballinger has been the North Central Region Office Manager in Ephrata since 1994. Before that she was the region's Customer Service Specialist for five years, and before a "break" to have three children, she served as regional secretary from 1978 to 1982.
Wendy Bilodeau has been the NorthCentral Region Customer Service Specialist in Ephrata since 1994.
Although Kathy is primarily responsible for "keeping the books" in the office, and Wendy is primarily responsible for over the counter service and phone receptionist duties, the two work so closely as a team that they insisted on being interviewed together rather than separately. |
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Q: Can you describe a typical day in the Ephrata office? A: (Laughter from both!) (Kathy) I don't know that there's really a typical day. It's so diversified, it's never the same old thing. Anything can come up that changes your work priority for the day. (Wendy) It depends on what time of year it is. In the fall it might be lots of calls about deer stuck in the (irrigation) canals or an injured duck. Q: What do you do when you get calls about deer that fall into irrigation canals? A: (Kathy) Well there are several escape ramps in the canals, so it depends on where the deer are in the system. And lots of times people want to try to take the deer out themselves, which is not something we advocate because it's dangerous. If we have the personnel available, we alert them and they go out and assess the situation, and maybe get them out. (Wendy) You like to ease the caller's concern, mainly by saying we'll do what we can to get someone out there. There are some people who get really emotional or nasty about it, because they're concerned about the deer. It's not that they're getting mad at us. But it is really hard when you get that angry person and there is no one around. And the best thing you can do is tell them the truth, that we have absolutely nobody here, we're not allowed to tell you to go save the deer yourself, and unfortunately this is part of life with irrigation canals in the Columbia Basin. (Kathy) When we had a deer that fell on the ice on Lake Lenore and broke its hip, it was stuck there, it couldn't move, and we had lots of phone calls from people who saw it when they went by on the highway and they wanted to know what to do. We told them, don't go out on the ice, if the deer fell through, you are going to fall through too! They want to do these heroics because they don't want to watch it die. (Wendy) People really care about animals. Even little raccoons and skunks! And the little tiny tweety birds that there's a million of, but they bring one in that got hurt and ask "Help me save this bird!" Q: What do you do with those? A: (Wendy) Depending on the status of the bird, or its injury, if it's beyond saving we give it to one of the biologists to have them do whatever they have to. Or we just take it out back and let it go, like the birds that hit windows and they're just stunned. (Kathy) One time a Cooper's hawk was brought into the office in a box, and when we opened the box and it flew out and up into the cathedral ceiling of the office entry way, and we had to get a net to try to catch it. (Wendy) Meanwhile all these other customers are coming in, wondering what's going on. Someone came in with a dog and the hawk swooped down on it and we thought "Oh no now this dog is going to go crazy, too!" (Kathy) See why we like our jobs? It's entertaining! But seriously, that bird had hit a window, it was just stunned, and this sweet, elderly couple brought it in because they were so concerned. And then when it flew out like that, they were so surprised that it was OK. Q: But every day's not like that, is it? A: (Kathy) No, we mostly handle a lot of phone calls about hunting and fishing seasons here, not just from the Basin but from the westsiders who come over here. This region has the greatest waterfowl hunting, the biggest mule deer population, the most freshwater fishing, and one of the highest acreages of WDFW-owned lands and access sites in the state. The human population is not here, but the fish and wildlife are — probably because the people aren't! So we get calls from everybody around the state who wants to come to this region to hunt or fish or watch wildlife. We don't get the foot traffic that some other regional offices do, but we get very busy on our phone lines. (Wendy) They want to know how hunting's been going or where we planted fish and things like that, and we become kind of a clearinghouse for that kind of information. Callers will ask about things they read in "Fishing & Hunting News" or other newspapers. (Kathy) And, boy, if it's in print, it must be true. It can be something totally inaccurate, but they believe it. And to convince them that it's not true, is something else! (Wendy) There's also lots of mis-interpretation of our regulations pamphlets. Some people just can't seem to understand them. Q: Do you think our regulations pamphlets could be written better? A: (Kathy) It would be really hard, unless there were fewer seasons, unless it was all generalized. And it's the exceptions to the rules that allow people to fish or hunt more here or there. Q: How do you stay on top of all the information that the public wants? A: (Kathy) We rely on staff in many parts of the agency to provide us with updated information. Sometimes we get that information and sometimes we don't. That's deteriorated some since merger, but our internal communication is starting to get better now. E-mail has helped a lot because it gets information out quickly. But when we don't communicate with each other, the public really gets gypped, because they get information coming from one office and different information coming from another and they're not jiving. Our credibility goes down the drain when that happens. It's frustrating when you're asked something that you should know and you don't know. (Wendy) Nobody likes to look stupid, and sometimes we do. Q: Do you ever get tired of dealing with people? A: (Kathy) There are times when I get really frustrated, and I'd like to tell people to be nicer because I'm a person, too. But actually most people are pretty nice. Some may start out angry, but after they get some time to vent, they're OK. But there are the times when there's nothing we can say or do that will make them happy. (Wendy) You just have to listen sometimes. And sometimes just say "I'll forward your concerns on" or "I'm sorry we can't do anything about that" or whatever. They know darn well that you're not the one who can solve their problems, so if they're standing there at the counter, you take notes so they know you care about the situation and you're not ignoring them, or if they're on the phone you let them know you're listening, and I think it calms them down a little bit. But then you get someone who just keeps going on and on, making the same point over and over, and that gets a little frustrating, especially when you've got other calls or customers coming in. (Kathy) Wendy and I are pretty good sounding boards for each other. Just like some of our customers, we've got to vent, too! (Wendy) You just can't take any of it personally. You learn to shake it off real quick. After working with the public for a few years, you tend to act a little better yourself when you seek public service somewhere. Q: What do you like the most about your jobs? A: (Kathy) In this office and this region, the employees are really good to work with and there's more of a family atmosphere here. There's a real sense of loyalty, and that makes it nice. (Wendy) It's like a small business where we all cover for each other and we all get along. (Kathy) And it's not dull! |
