In my never ending effort to save money, I discovered that our family was probably paying more than we needed for our cell phone. After consulting the internet and various young adults – who are the experts in this realm – I decided to go with a different cell phone provider. Over a year I would save significant money plus upgrade to a phone that had a camera. Wow! (I hoped this might also serve my other compulsion of trying to “pack small” so I would not have to take a phone AND a separate camera when traveling.)
The upshot of all this is that I spent over 8 hours getting this phone thing done spread over two weeks. It consisted of 6 hours online with sales or tech support, four disconnections, numerous automated messages, at least an hour of being on hold, deciphering foreign accents in crowded call centers, and two trips to a local store for additional tech support. I wasn’t even getting a “smart phone.” That would have stretched my learning curve even more. I still don’t understand how to get e-mail on this phone. I may be able to do a text message in an emergency if it doesn’t require me to do it fast.
All this is teaching me patience. I tried my hardest not to blow up at the various tech support people who kept transferring me back and forth which of course meant more time on hold with very raucous music. I kept reminding myself that these employees were only doing their job, needed an income like all of us, and weren’t personally responsible for a convoluted system. I finally started apologizing to the call center personnel ahead of time, telling them that if I sounded irritated and impatient it was because I had been disconnected and transferred many times and still did not have answers to my questions. They were always polite and sympathetic. I’m sure they are trained to be that way. Maybe I need to take their training so I don’t give away my patience.
PS: For those who care, I found a depiction of Job (above). Yes, Advent is about waiting; but perhaps there should be training and limits on this virtue?
