I’ve become unhinged today. The short story is that it involves Microsoft tech support, two separate calls (so far) and four hours on the phone and remote access to my computer. I saw the better side of me slip down the side of the cliff. The truth is that I saw me acting like one of “those people.” I watched as an observer in slow motion as they pressed the reconfigure Microsoft office button. This set in motion an action that not only did I not understand. But I didn’t think had anything to do with the solution I was seeking. In addition I thought it was as close to “erasing the hard drive as I wanted to get in my lifetime. Oh and I was late for a breakfast meeting.
The undeniable truth was I was annoyed before that. It might have been yesterday when I “accidently” said yes to delete certain set of files that included years of historical emails regarding clients. Let’s just say I’d be in a world of hurt if those files actually disappeared. That’s the nice version. I get that it was totally my fault in the action of pressing yes to delete. I get it. Intellectually I don’t really have any connection to the person who was on the phone. Yes, now I am acting like it wasn’t me.
Here’s what I wished I had done:
- Ensure I had plenty of time to make the call. (who knew it would require 4 hours)
- Check to ensure that my end goal was clearly in my mind.
- Find that Zen spot where I could say, “I know I backed up my hard drive a week ago and how much data could be lost?”
- Be nice. Adhere to the adage; if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all.
- Allow for the controlling monster that is Microsoft to set up a Live.com account as a part of the process of getting to that end goal that is clearly in my mind.
- Stop fighting the redundancy of getting through the voice activated phone center.
- Activate my sense of humor.
- Accidently hang up after I realized that I didn’t have enough time, and the woman tech support was unsure on what to do. It’s not like they don’t know who I am or will get back to where we were.
- Get a local (or virtual) technician who would take my call and appreciate the ongoing work.
As someone who clearly has a temper and teaches others to manage that “kind” of behavior there is a lot of shame in what I am writing. But after the better part of my day spent in anger/fight mode I ask myself “how do I calm down?” I thought, spitefully, I am going public on Facebook. But really what was I looking for? I was as much a part of the problem as I was in the way of the solution.
What do you suggest I do when I answer the phone tomorrow for the schedule “level 2 tech support” call?