Lost Patience... twice...

Well finally happened.... My patience got lost, and got lost good. Fortunately I found it, but then I lost it again. WARNING: If you like a quick read, you might want to skip today's post.

Yesterday was going to be a great day, because it was a vacation day, and only things I chose to do would be done, and done at my own pace. I took a vacation day because the marital home needed the heat turned on so the pipes wouldn't freeze this winter, and also so the house would be more appealing to the future owner. Running water, working electricity and heat are good selling points, I think. Columbia Gas scheduled an an appointment with me at their earliest, which was Wednesday morning. They said a technician could be there sometime between 8AM and 12PM, and since they had no weekend or evening appointments available, I accepted the appointment and submitted a vacation request.

Being that work is so important and I didn't think I should miss any of it at all (smirk), so I briefly considered taking only a ½ day off, and saving the rest for the holidays. But I reconsidered and submitted a vacation request for the entire day. Besides, it was Halloween and I wanted to enjoy the holiday, by cleaning up the marital home yard, getting the gas turned on, checking to make sure the furnace was working, and still have a little spare time to relax and get ready to take the kids out for "Trick or Treat."

Halloween morning started with me awaking in a panic. It was 8:15AM, and I was late for work. Slowly when the Halloween cobwebs cleared, the panic subsided as I remembered that it was a vacation day, and that I only needed to get up and get ready to go to the marital home to get the gas turned on, and to clean up the yard. Before I packed the car with the yard care equipment, I cut the grass at my Duplex, and picked up the street garbage from the sidewalk and the side of the building. I then packed and arrived at the marital home around 10AM.

Since the lawn mower is incapacitated, I had to use the weed-whacker... (remember I bent the blade back in September). It was slow going, and I hadn't gotten very far when the phone rang. While it was ringing, pleasant thoughts were going through my mind, about how smooth the day was going; I was not at work, grass was getting cut, the gas company is calling right on time to tell me they are on their way. Surprise! The call was from Sweetie, and my day was made perfect. It just couldn't get better.

At this point, it should be mentioned, (and it is pretty close to a scientific fact) that I have really bad luck.

Sweetie called not to be sweet, but because she was upset because her son "Other Two" was sitting in the principle's office at school, and she was stuck at work. I offered to go, but she said that her Ex (his Dad) was going, so I didn't need to, just that she was upset and worried because she didn't know what had happened. To help her calm down and get some answers, I suggested that since she couldn't be there, she should call and talk with the principle. She liked my idea and she called the school, and then quickly called me back and and gave me the scoop, with even more concern than before the call. She told me that he was being suspended, but didn't give me any details, because she didn't know all of the facts yet. He was OK, just sitting in the school's office waiting on his Dad to pick him up. She went back to work, and tried really hard to not worry too much about "Other Two", and I went back to work on the yard.

BTW: Patience was still there at this point, but with that bit of bad news, I felt my luck was starting to run out, which doesn't bode well for patience.

As it started to near lunch time, about 11:30AM, I called Columbia Gas and asked where the technician was, since he was supposed to be at the duplex in the morning, and morning was just about over. The gas company representative politely put me on hold, apparently did a little research and told me that the tech was in the area, and I would be his next stop, but it would be just a little after 12. After a brief complaint that my morning was wasted waiting, I asked if they would make it up to me by giving me a credit on the account. The response was "Sorry. I can't do that." The phone call was ended with a snide comment on my lips about how "convenient" it was for them to not be able to help or make me feel better... Patience almost got lost, but it held on.

An hour later, 12:30PM, still no technician. A second call to Columbia Gas and a different representative, that told me some interesting facts I hadn't heard before. The appointment was listed in their system as an "all day" appointment and that the tech would be there sometime before 4:30PM, instead of before 12PM. My explanation to the rep that I had a morning appointment, and that I had recently spoken to another representative that fell on seemingly deaf ears. The representative told me sorry, there wasn't anything they could do to help, I would just have to be patient, and the tech would be there sometime today.

That's when the patience got lost.

A tone started to develop in my voice, which was hard to contain, and I expressed that waiting was unacceptable as I had already waited a long time. I tried to calm down and ask the representative if they could find out how soon the tech might arrive. They said they had no way of knowing. My teeth started to grind together, and between the clenched jaws, I attempted to ask politely for the rep to check with the dispatch department, or a supervisor, or a manager. "Sorry, I can't do that" was the immediate response. At this point the jaw came unclenched, the lungs filled with air, and my voice got very noticeably louder, and reminded the rep that "I am the customer" and I demanded I be helped and helped now. "Sorry, there is nothing we can do for you". My voice rose a few more decibels and demands to talk with someone else, another representative, a supervisor, a manager, or any other living person working for their company. "Sorry sir, I can't transfer you, no one else will be able to help you". My face when deep red and the patience didn't just get lost, it fled! In my loudest, angriest, nastiest voice, which is usually keep reserved exclusively for "Ex", I said, "Give me a supervisor NOW!" And after repeating those words multiple times, I finally got transferred to a supervisor.

The supervisor came on the phone all polite and kind, and immediately called the dispatch department and found out that the tech was detained on an emergency call, and that they apologized for my inconvenience. With just a little consideration my face returned to normal colors, my noise level generated by my own voice lowered so I could hear the music on the radio, and patience returned. I quickly explained to the supervisor that I had scheduled a morning appointment but that it was put into their system as an "all day" appointment, and that I was pretty upset at the amount of time I have been waiting, and how upset the representative I was just speaking with had made me. To appease me even more, the supervisor gave me a $40 credit on the account, and almost all feelings of displeasure left me.

Hopefully that phone call was recorded or monitored for quality assurance, and the representative is told to find another job where their talents could be used... maybe they should work for Comcast.

Patience was recovered, and all was right with the world again.

After I got my $40 credit for the wasted morning, I went to lunch, and read the newspaper. The technician finally did arrive at 4PM, after a third call to Columbia Gas in which I was politely told that he was still on his emergency call, but would be there shortly. When the tech arrived, I found he was a very personable guy and we started talking about the day. He said his day a pretty bad one. He was at a house that had a pretty bad leak right outside and he was trying to fix it before there were any major problems, like explosions.

He took a few minutes and adjusted the gas meter, and quickly got the gas turned on, checked for leaks, and even went above and beyond and helped me insure that the furnace would light.

While we talked he told me that his son was looking for a cheap place in the area to fix up and move into, and I said I was selling this place, and maybe his son would be interested. He asked the price, and I told him and he said he thought his son would be very interested. I showed him around the place, and he was the first person I showed the house to that saw potential instead of problems. I gave him my business card. Now the question is, was he blowing gas up my tail pipe, or was he serious? If he was serious, I could finally get the Albatross off from around my neck, without the need to hire the Realtor, and all of the other repairs.

Later that night, I took the kids trick or treating and afterwards I went over to visit "Sweetie" and "Other Two," since "Other Two" was not allowed to trick or treat because of his school suspension. From talking with "Sweetie" earlier I knew she was short on dinner and that "Other Two" was still a little hungry, so I offered to pick up a hamburger on my way. I brought a couple of hamburgers, and some ice cream to smooth Sweetie's nerves. I also brought some for myself and "Other Two" since he didn't get to go trick or treating. We ate and watched a little TV and when it was time for "Other Two" to go to bed, things got a little out of control. I don't think it's fair to give the details, but needless to say, my patience got lost again. My face didn't get red, nor did the voice get loud, but I stormed out of Sweetie's house angry and upset.

I wrote her an angry Email that was quite a bit longer than this post... yeah, I tend to be a little verbose... Maybe I should change my Blog title to "Rambling Verbosely Along..." (Is that a word? "Verbosely"?) After I wrote the Email, I re-read, edited it, and re-read it, considered not sending it, and then promptly hit the send button.

I don't know if she read it or not, but she called me this morning, and we apologized to each other, and all is right with the world again. The only problem now is that I am back at work, and I didn't get to have any fun on my day off, except for a very short time during trick or treat.

I am bowling tonight, and for some reason when I try to hit ten 3lb wood sticks painted white, with my 16lb ball and get them to all fall down, my patience tries to escape again. Hopefully I can keep a hold of it tonight.

Later Lou