Venting

I was tempted to call this post ‘Purgatory’, but that seemed sacrilegious.

Just hung up the phone after wasting another two hours of life with a computer company for what would have been a really simple question, had somebody there taken the time to hear it. If I were a humor writer, this could be a great little book. Not an article, a book. It’s been weeks of technological meltdown that finally seemed to be over when, a few days ago, a technical expert spent eight hours straight (after an accumulated stretch of hours and days and weeks of really, really unbelievable problems and multiple other technical specialists spending time on it) finally reaching ‘The Great Breakthrough’ and delivering all systems to ‘Go’ and green-lighting the way forward.

Until I tried to record an mp3 for radio commentary, which I do every single day. No go.

I would say ‘you wouldn’t believe it’ except I know you do, because you’ve experienced your own version of digital deviousness, and I’m hearing it everywhere.

So what can we learn from it? Helplessness. Humility. We really control very little.

We also learn how we handle adversity, which is very instructive. Did I remain patient after my 17th phone call was dropped yet again….or re-routed to the wrong department only to be told to call a differnet number and then being dropped after holding for 20 minutes….Or, did I remain charitable, knowing that the human person on the other end of the phone line didn’t design the computer or build some flaw into it but is sitting at some help desk trying to answer relentless calls from people suffering on the other end of the spectrum from flawed systems?!

Well, I tried. It’s instructive, alright. I know that in the grand scheme of things, these problems are so petty compared with major trauma and life-changing crises people are facing. I fully appreciate that. ‘Problems shared are problems halved.’ Which is probably why I’m venting. It’s not like me to do this, usually. But this isn’t ‘usual.’

Why are life’s lessons best learned when they’re learned the hard way? And…..when will this ever end?

Thanks for listening. I’m here for you, too. And at the end of the day, I hope we’re all laughing.

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