Online Again At Last.

Trying to get our landline phone, and internet services hooked up here, was an exercise in dedication, tolerance, patience, and forebearance. The provider we use has a firewall of "customer service representatives" who are nothing of the kind. Over a 3-day period, various of these individuals insisted it would be hooked up "sometime today" (it wasn't) "in two hours" (not) "in one hour" (no) "soon" (fat chance)  until I swear I could feel my blood pressure  rising to dangerous, blow-your-eyeballs-right-out-of-your-head levels.

I spent hours on the cell phone, wearing down the battery, attempting to break through to an employee who might actually be able to help me, and only managed this by calling the Complaints Department for a second time.  The first time, I was transferred from Complaints to Technical, back to Complaints, to somewhere unspecified, and then, over my loud wails of "NO NO NOOOOOOOOOOO!" back to the place I'd first started - Customer Service, where a new person promised that my service would be activated in an hour, offered to stay on the line with me while I waited, and then promptly disconnected me.

I took in a few deep breaths, laid my head down upon my kitchen table, and with my voice somewhat muffled by the placemat, asked my spouse, "Can I please beat the phone to death with a sledgehammer?" They suggested that might be counter-productive, then offered me in quick succession: coffee, a square of chocolate, and a happily wiggling dog.

Refreshed and renewed, I bent once more to my task, and called Complaints for the second time. Luck was with me, and I reached a person who was wonderful - cheerful, no-nonsense, and quickly able to discover for me that there was a break in the line at my end. (So all those promises of the service being hooked up within an hour or two were arrant nonsense, it was impossible.) He explained that the competition will often cut the lines when they disconnect the services; this proved to be the case, when the repairman came today and worked his magic. The repairman was another friendly, helpful man, who removed my ancient modem and set me up with a wireless connection, all at no extra charge, because of the hassle I'd been through.

We were talking last night, about the fact that because of Al-Anon, the moment I hung up with a timeframe for the repair guy to appear at our door, I'd been able to completely let go of any feelings of annoyance or frustration. I had a solution, so I could let it go, and enjoy my day.

We still don't have cable yet, but I'm saving that phone call for tommorow.

I went to an Al-Anon meeting last night, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The topic was "Alcoholism is a disease." There were about a dozen women at the table, and the sharing was varied. Everything from members who have a fairly good grasp of detachment, to those who are just beginning to grasp the concept, and still struggling quite a bit. I was too shy to speak, (hard to believe, right?) but hope I never lose my sense of awe at being able to go to a new place, find a meeting, attend it, and feel right at home. I felt so grateful for the honesty, and the sharing.
Now, I'm exhausted, more tomorrow.