30. Practicing
Patience
“Did I tell you I might get fired?” Gerry asked. I shook my head. He continued, “So I’m at work in my uncle’s
store. A woman in Delaware calls with questions about our air purifiers. She says, ‘Your brochure says it’s approved in
all states. Including Delaware?’”
“I say yes, it’s approved in Delaware. She asks me if it runs on house current. I say yes.
She asks if that’s regular house current, like people have in their
houses. I say yes. She asks if you just plug the unit into the
wall. I say yes, again.”
“She wants a discount.
I ask if she’s a veteran, a senior citizen, or has certain medical
conditions. She says no, but she thought
she might get a discount just because. I
could feel my patience slipping away. I
want to say we don’t offer ‘just because’ discounts, but I tell her I’m sorry,
she doesn’t qualify. “
“She asks if we’ll share her payment information with
anyone. And that’s when I ran out of
patience. I told her I’d immediately
forward her information to an identity thief in Libya. I said he’d use it to make passports and to open
credit cards. He’d hack into her
computer and send the most graphic porn ads imaginable to her and everyone on her
contact list.”
“Oh, not good customer relations,” I said.
“Which brings me to my point,” he said. You said recovery takes patience, and I’m not
sure I have enough.”
“Patience is a virtue,” I said, “But most people learn it
through practice. Sounds like you practiced it for as long as you could.”
Today I will remember patience is a skill that requires
practice to master.
Needles Not For Knitting is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between the
characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.
Needles Not For Knitting (c) 2017 by Ken
Montrose
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