Today was a very frustrating day! My husband wired money from his bank to another for a friend. It was supposed to take three days and after eight days, he got the word that it had not gone through. Some information was incomplete or wrong. Both of us tried to work with the bank to find out how to correct the problem to no avail. We could not. The woman at the bank was with a client every time we called. The two times we reached her she was absolutely no help and seemed rather annoyed that WE were having this problem. The BANK was having this problem and we and the Money were in the middle. We were stuck between banks for days until they figured it out! They finally did this by writing to our Brazilian friends (who speak Portugese) in Spanish.
No customer service there.
While the bank thing was going on, I was trying to get my other computer connected to the internet; finally, I had to call Verizon. I called, turned on the phone speaker, and prepared to sit on hold for at least a half hour. When finally reached someone and, after some he decided my computer was broken, after some 0discussion. At the very least, he suggested that I probably should sign up for premium service. (15$ a month) Oh. and he would send a link to In Home Agent. (This program has never been able to address my issues.)
My head begins to hurt. In frustration, when my computer asked me if I wanted to delete the problem network to which I was trying to connect, I said yes. That worked. I was then able to take the needed steps to connect the thing!
These are just two examples. I have many more.
This is as boring to read as it was to go through, so I won’t go on. A little taste of modern life. Three hours after these forays into bureaucracy and technology, I had lost half of a day that had been set aside for fun. I was ready to turn back the clock to simpler times. Modern Bureaucracy is not only often user unfriendly but the customer is never right. And technology is fast, but trouble shooting is Sloooooow. And technicians are often a world away.
I got a headache. Its all behind me now until next time. I take no spiritual or religious meaning from this except to yearn for humans being human to one another beyond the machines and systems by whom we are employed. I don’t think these institutions or technologies bring out the best in human beings…including me. The answer often seems to be, “pull the plug.” Begin again. Maybe we are learning patience. But I am not fooled. Patience is not a virtue in this context.
I write this to get it off my chest and out of my tightened muscles. I know not to sweat the small things. But, obviously, today they did get to me. I love those times when those of us contacting those working in bureaucracies and those doing the work, actually listen to and side with each other as human beings. We are all so often just worn down.
The thing is, I am a minister and chaplain and supposed to be kind and at the very least civil when interacting with others. For the most part, I am. But, there are times when I find myself driven to frustrated anger. Sorry. When that happens to you, I’ll try to understand. Together let us try to repersonalize our business interactions with one another.