A Good Day--Optimism Restored!

I began today thinking that it would be filled with difficulty. To be honest, I tend to be a creature of routine, and I hate to make telephone calls. Perhaps it's my loner nature, or perrhaps it's my hearing difficulty (even with very expensive hearing aids), but the thought of making routine phone calls fills me with dread of automated answering services, surly service representatives, and disappointment.

Today, I had three problems. First, I had made two medical appointments I wouldn't be able to keep. I had made an appointment with my opthalmologist for an afternoon when I had a newsletter meeting at the same time. My mistake, of course, but I hate to ask for changes. I called, and the answer could not have been more courteous. My appointment was rescheduled for only a few days later. One down.

Then, I had an appointment for a stress test that turned out to be on the same day as a luncheon at my old English Department. I"ve missed a lot of these in the past, and really wanted to go. Hospital staffs are overburdened, so I was on hold for several stints, but eventually, I got a real, courteous person, and got another appointment. No problem.

Finally the biggest problem, which I purposely left for last. My large flat-screen HDTV, almost a year old, suddenly stopped working. The screen turned a bright kelly green, and that was it. It happened yesterday. I'd never seen such a thing. My first thought was to call the dealer. After another atomated phone system, I got to their repair service. I was told that the problem was probably in my cable box (also less than a year old). I hated to call the cable company, with its poor reputation for service, but endured more time on hold. I finally reached an amazingly patient and understanding woman. She directed me through a long series of steps: searching for serial numbers, plugging and unplugging connections, pressing various buttons on two remote controls, finally unplugging the TV power cord. All this took nearly half an hour, but somehow, it worked! My beautiful hi-def picture was back.

My kudos to Comcast! The woman I spoke to was so patient; she had me trying vaarious steps, and she never gave up or became irritated. Now things are back to normal, and I can go back to watching too much TV.

Today's experiences have improved my opinion of service representatives, with or without automated phone systems. I somehow never expected that everything would turn out so well. Chalk up one for a more optimistic attitude!