Thursday, January 09, 2014

A Small Reward For My Effort, Please

Oh my Foo.

I want a pat on the back. No, a massage, and candlelight dinner. I need recognition, and praise, and gentle waves of soothing affirmations.

I have been entering phone call labyrinths, traversing the paradoxical and enigmatic underworld we know as customer service. These are dark and mysterious places, where nothing is as it should be, and no one has an actual heart beat. I will spare you the gory details, the senseless messages, the circuitous trails, the red herrings, the deceptions and subterfuge... we've all been there, on hold, punching in numbers, creating passwords, hoping to find the key that opens the next chamber!

It's just one more instance, one more mind desiccating experience to make us feel helpless, indignant, angry, and to wonder... why have we surrendered reason and elegance, human engagement, to these massive and soul-less, coddled corporate institutions? And did you know the NFL is tax-exempt? That's a non-sequiter, sort of, but good grief this is an absurd reality we've come to live in.

I'm sorry. I've been meaning to focus on light, on gratitude, on beauty, because my foot-stomping frustration never gains me relief or satisfaction. Happiness, and celebration, at least, enhance in me the courage to keep moving forward, the will to try again, to spread some good.

Oh my Foo, you are good. You are a soothing tonic, and... an imp, but at least I can call you an imp, and scold you to your furry face and put you in the garage when you have been unreasonable, and then you come out repentant and good, and cuddly.

No more phone calls, today. I will turn my effort to laundry, which now seems almost appealing, welcome and wholesome.

4 comments:

judy in ky said...

Believe me, I know the feeling! It is an absurd reality we live in, but at least we recognize how absurd it is.

Alison said...

I avoided signing up for cable tv for years, because I did not want to get into bed with yet another faceless, soulless company that would do whatever it wanted, because who has the time to figure out customer "service?"

We had quite the round of impishness last night when we were experimenting with glass etching cream, and Miss McKenna needed to be intimately involved. She ended up on the floor eventually, which is good, because we don't have a garage.

Unknown said...

This American Life - The Middle Of Nowhere - Act 2. Enjoy! :)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/253/the-middle-of-nowhere

nikkipolani said...

I wonder if my unruly felines would come out of a garage-exile "repentant, good, and cuddly"? I think not. But I'm glad it works for your darling Mr. Foo! May you escape the labyrinth.