The Call Centre

 

          Words cannot express the depths to which I despise phoning call centres. Everything from the music than seems to be intentionally chosen to being irritating, to having to repeat my phone number to verify my account, to being put on hold as if the person taking my call has to run down the hallway to ask someone else a question, is beyond frustrating. I do my best to curb my crankiness, and I am grateful that God seeks progress not perfection. Yes, I am aware that this is a first world problem, but I take it as a sign of how far we have fallen.

 

          I had been putting off the phone call to a certain home services provider to avoid the aggravation. But when that part of me that hates paying bills for services I don’t use got the better of me, I called.

          Now, I have been doing a study on the Sermon on the Mount and am currently reading through Jesus’ teachings regarding anger. Anger is still an issue for me, but it has improved. My brother relates a story of me yelling at McDonalds “If I wanted fries with that I would have asked!” I have removed the obscenities from the quote. There was more than one. There has been enough progress that I kind of feel comfortable working my way through that section. It has been a while since I have had images of causing bodily injury in my mind. Then, I read, “Anyone who calls a sibling ‘Raca’ or ‘Fool’ is answerable.”

          I thought of this as I made my call to customer service. The call was typical, the artificial intelligence answering service asked me why I was calling in order to connect me with the right agent. After repeating why I was calling, the service asked for my phone number so that they could connect the call with the right account. When I got to talk to a human, the first question I was asked was why I was calling. Then, the next question was my phone number so they could pull up my account information. At this point I was praying, asking what Jesus would do. The answer was, “Tell him.”

          Over the next half-hour each question I asked required the call to be put on hold. After a few minutes the agent would come back on the phone. This happened more than a few times. Each time, the agent had an involved answer to my question. As the call progressed I my patience began to ebb. At the end of the conversation, when it became clear that for any changes to the services I receive would result in my paying more the call ended. I am still not sure how cutting services increases the cost but apparently it does. As the call came to an end, I had not called him names, I rarely do anyways, I had not sworn at him, nor had I yelled. To be honest, I had been frustrated and it showed in some of my comments to him.

          All through this phone call, I had been praying, and asking what would Jesus do? How would he handle being put on hold for the fourth, or fifth, or sixth time? Yes, he would realize that the person on the end of the phone was deserving of God’s love. Would he counsel the agent to make better career choices? I knew Jesus would not yell. Yes, the public utility is a den of thieves, but it has always been so. Jesus would not swear, yell, or belittle the person. I almost made it through the phone call.

       Then, well, I asked him a question. “Who do I send my bill to?” He misunderstood the question. So I asked him again. "Who do I send the bill for my time to?" I pointed out that I had been over half-an-hour talking with customer service. That each time I asked question, I was put on hold. That my time had resulted in nothing more than being frustrated. I realize that I should probably not have asked this question. It was insolent of me. As I write this I am glad God forgives me and is interested in progress not perfection. With that in mind, maybe I will call again next week. Just to practice. Maybe at the start of the call I will ask if we can pray?”

 

Anyway, that is my opinion