I don’t always get what I ask for, or even what I think I need

Thank you for your prayers and positive thoughts. In countless ways, they make my life better. I truly feel so fortunate every single day to wake up and get out of bed, and I know that your actions and energies are the driving force.

That is not to say life is without challenges. For example, every month, I order colostomy supplies. The system I use comes in two parts: the pouch (in boxes of 10) and the wafer (in boxes of 5). The pouch attaches to the wafer so, ideally, I need the same number of pouches and wafers.

In the past couple of months, some glitch in the ordering process ships 10 pouches and 20 wafers to me. To fix this, I need to call customer service, and every month, our conversations start something like this:

Me: Can you check my order? What should I be getting?

Customer Service Rep: You are getting 10 pouches and 20 wafers.

Me: Can I get 20 pouches and 20 wafers?

CSR: Probably not.

At this point, my frustration level jumps, and if I go with it, the conversation gets more confrontational and less productive. And the following month, I again get 10 pouches and 20 wafers.

On this particular day, a friend posted this clip from The Ellen Show:

http://www.ellentv.com/videos/0-any43oh1/

It gave me a good laugh, AND I particularly admired how the customers went fully with the flow of the craziness in the transaction. I know that I would have been frustrated working with someone like that and truly annoyed at not being able to get my order.

They gave their donut order and, short of jumping the counter and getting the donuts themselves, they really had no control over what they actually got. Just like I cannot fulfill the order for my colostomy supplies: I have to rely on the person helping me to give me what I ask for. Being frustrated and annoyed with them only hurts me.

I tried to remember that, like the clerk at the counter, we all have voices in our head, telling us what to say and even making up stories about the other person. Often, the voice appears to be nonsensical to others. So when I contacted the customer service rep this month, I tried to keep that in mind. (Well, mostly, I assumed that she had the nonsensical voice and I was to go with the flow. I still assumed my voice was right.)

We’ll see next month if it really impacted my order, and either way, I’ll try to keep a sense of humor about whatever I get. After all, much of my life is what I ordered, and much is most certainly not.

Still, I hope you get the wonderful things you want in your life, or something even better!

Love,
Marie