Post Discussion

Reply from Jochen on August 15, 2008

Señora. perhaps you meant this one:

http://www.heavenletters.org/department-of-the-universe.html

or this one:

http://www.heavenletters.org/what-hat-are-you-wearing.html

Then there is something delightful and highly entertaining here:

http://www.heavenletters.org/node/2277

and even a rather precise description of the whole situation:

Dealing with Anger
Heavenletter # 2474 Published on: September 3, 2007
God said:
There may be greater or lesser intensity to anger, yet anger is anger. Something makes your blood boil. Even though you well know that anger is not worth its salt, you still have it. First there is upset, and then upset bare its teeth and becomes downright anger. Odds are the anger
seems to be caused by a relationship, some kind of communication barrier. You do not feel you are being heard. Whether the apparent cause is an insensitive customer service representative, your wife, an employee, a traffic jam, or obtuse bureaucracy, you feel stymied, as if you are up against a stone wall. You do not know how to make yourself heard. At these times, you are forgetting yourself, beloveds.
—————————–
It may not be the first thing one expects to find in Heavenletters, but click the blue search button, enter “customer service” (I even used quotes), and what comes up is really comprehensive — “serving”, “anger” etcetera.

Reply from Charles Fines on August 15, 2008

Gloria, I sure do understand going off on that customer service rep. About the only thing I can think of to get outside that trap is to remember what a miserable job it must be answering that phone being overworked and underpaid and knowing that most people calling in are going to be irritated over the long wait, nevermind the problem they are calling in about.

I find that these situations seem to come in bunches so that the next one arrives while I’m still steaming over the last one. Like when someone has made you late for an appointment, that’s when someone else is sure to pull their car out in front of you and drive slow. I have come to think of this as working on my PhD in Anger Management in the School of Life. Now if I could just remember that when I’m on the way to another blowout.

There is a place where chronic anger and sadness meet with the borderline disappearing. I have learned from observing that when I totally lose it in anger, depression is most likely going to follow along behind.

Now God and my wife and your daughter are all happy to point out how senseless it is to continue in this pattern. “Just stop doing it!!!” Somehow this adds to an already heavy load.

I keep on trying to do better but I think reading Heavenletters gives me the best chance of finding my way out of this labyrinth.

Reply from Gloria on August 15, 2008

What can I say, beloved Charles, but thank you.

Reply from Jochen on August 15, 2008

Dear Gloria, I made a comment several hours ago which vanished after I had submitted it. This has happened before, probably because of links I included (they were all to Heavenletters). Is it gone for good or still retrievable from some spam filter?

Reply from Gloria on August 15, 2008

Oh, no!

I am laughing at the idea that someone thinks I might know something technical!

We need to bring it to Heaven Admin’s attention.

I also will tell the computer program that runs this blog — in no uncertain terms — it is not to lose any comments and certainly not yours.

I know the feeling when something you’ve put your heart and time into disappears, and we know you are computer savvy, and it isn’t anything you did.

If it is lost for good (which I suspect), will you be willing to reconstruct it?

Reply from Carol Maurer on August 15, 2008

Dear Gloria, I got a great chuckle out of this because the last time I took such major offense was also at the phone company — only it was a cell phone company. In my experience it has been cell phone companies giving the poor customer service, rather than the land line companies. I still have a collection agency calling repeatedly for a cell phone bill which was paid by Larry almost a year before he died. Each time I faxed proof of payment, the collectors would send it back to the cell phone company, which would turn around and send it to ANOTHER COLLECTION AGENCY. I had to do a lot of spiritual work on this, forgiveness work and explaining to my granddaughter, who was with me when I lost my temper at the cell phone office, about how if I didn’t totally forgive I would keep having problems (and I’m still getting the calls, but I have caller ID so I disconnect them before answering). It seems what you resist does persist! Imagine that!
I see T-Mobile is advertising a land line for $10 a month. And of course there is Skype internet phone, essentially free. And in the NW we have package deals and get high-speed internet, cable TV and cable telephone in one package deal. So it’s not just cell phones which are competition for the telecoms–they must be in a big scramble to stay in business at all. I’m sure that’s why they don’t hire enough people and why they don’t repair lines.
I’m so glad you are still capable of losing your temper. It’s actually encouraging.

Reply from Sally on August 15, 2008

Gloria,
I might know the answer to the mystery note. Did the bag you found the note in have a William Shakespeare picture on it?

Reply from Gloria on August 15, 2008

Sally, I’m pretty sure it does! Did you drop something in that bag when it was hanging in the hall?!!