No temper tantrums!

So….yeah, my day can accurately be described by this picture right here. You see, today I started having cell phone problems. Well, not just today, but it kind of all built up to explode today and I was forced to call customer service. And if you know anything about me, you’ll know that I really HATE to talk on the phone, especially when it comes to customer service where I swear their motto is, “Hi, tell me your problem and I’ll pass you on to 7 more people who you’ll have to repeat your entire realm of issues to that can’t help you either and will have to pass you on again.” Did I mention I’m an introverted perfectionist? Not only do I hate talking on the phone, but I even have to write down what I want to say in a little ‘script’ so that I don’t mess things up. When I don’t write it down, I say things wrong and mentally kick myself for not taking the pre-phone-call measures I knew I should have.

ANYWAYS, when I found out I was destined to spend what I assumed would be hours on the phone, I kind of threw a fit. I got mad, I called my sister, I called my mom, and I vented about how awful it was going to be and that I was NOT in the mood. I didn’t have time, I hate trying to get anywhere with customer service (if you’re in customer service, please don’t take offense, some are fantastic and some are so painful I’d rather have my wisdom teeth out), and it was going to take way too long and I would only get started before I had to get off the phone and go to work. Besides the fact that my phone had decided to be stuck on headphone mode and was only usable on speaker phone, handy right?  Thankfully they both gave me some good info and I ended up having to wait an hour to call because the store wouldn’t have been open yet, so I went to work out.

After blowing off steam at the gym, I resigned myself to call. Well, guess what….it was a truly wonderful experience (well, as wonderful as it can be telling someone about your problems) and the two guys I ended up talking to were super helpful. I could understand what they said, they were polite, they made sense, I wasn’t smarter than they were, and they were actually thankful for my input. And consequently, my phone was no longer stuck on headphone mode without even having to do anything. Long story longer, I got mad and grouchy for no reason. The same thing I get onto my kids for. Yeah, it was a humbling moment. I felt bad that I was, in a way, expecting better behavior out of my kids than I had just shown. Now, I don’t make any promises, but I do hope that I use this as a learning experience and remember that just because I think something is going to be awful doesn’t mean it is. Just like when I tell my kids to try a new food, most of the time, they actually like it 😉