I have had Dish Network for coming up on two years now. I signed up for thinking that I was going to be getting this very nice, very expensive 63-inch LCD TV as a gift from my wife's uncle. After the dish was installed and I was on the hook for a two year contract we discovered the TV was damaged in transit (from Dallas) and the repair would cost almost as much as a new TV. So, I got hooked into the satellite service because of my own impatience.
This impatience reared its ugly head all too often when dealing with this company. Generally speaking, I consider my self a very patient person, sometimes even to a fault. However, when dealing with Dish Network and AT&T I cannot help myself. I think part of it is that they always try to double talk you and make you feel stupid. Of course I know that is no excuse, but it is the only reason I can come up with for my lack of patience when enduring these two companies.
My trouble with Dish began almost immediately. The guy who sold me the service of the phone said my monthly cost would be one price, and my first few bills were higher -- plus I was promised two (2) DVR's and only got one (1). After spending, literally, an hour and a half on the phone with countless people I got them to give me a credit for a year that would lower my price to the amount I was promised. When that year passed, my bill was not the same for any two months for more than six (6) consecutive months -- I don't know how that happens and neither do they. I have had to constantly battle these people for almost two years; luckily my battle it is almost over.
Anyway, this last episode was last weekend over HD reception. It has been going in and out for the last month. It got much worse over the week before week. I was dealing with some customer service rep a week or so ago and used a "robotic" voice to talk to them. My wife thought it was hilarious (and creepy at the same time), so I called about the HD last Friday I used a "country" voice. I really wonder what the person on the other end of the conversation thought when I went into great detail about the show we were watching and why I could not turn off the receiver at that time. I was told to unplug the receiver when I could and call back if it didn't work.
That didn't work and I had to call back on Saturday. My wife said I had to come up with a new voice for this conversation. Given my complete lack of any speck of talent in impersonations I would going to struggle with this. The only thing I could come up with was a soft spoken voice, something akin to Michael Jackson. Anyway, during my hour long conversation with 3-4 different people using that voice I was able to get what I wanted accomplished (have the problem fixed at no cost and to waive my HD charges until its fixed) without getting angry, cussing them out or having my blood pressure shoot through the roof. I certainly gave one lady fits because I wouldn't say no, but I had as enjoyable of a time as can be had such a situation.
How this relates to Catholicism or my spiritual journey? I don't know exactly. I do know that anger is one of the seven (7) deadly sins, and I can use less of that in my life. I grew in meekness as a person by using a meek voice. I grew in recognition of how to subtly express frustration. I learned to be persistent in the face of rejection. I learned to stay within myself while being pushed back on by another.
I wonder if I should not expect to have learned these lessons by now, being in my late 30's. I pose such questions to myself daily and haven't found an answer. I hope to never lose the ability to pose these questions . . . because they always eventually lead to growing personally and spiritually.
"If you want to be happy, really really happy, use your talents to serve others." - Eduardo Verastegui
No comments:
Post a Comment