Blogger1947: Often irritated, never duplicated
Help us find Annie
A Personal Mea Culpa
posted Saturday, 18 October 2008
I try diligently not to make a fool of myself, because when I do, it’s usually spectacular. As it was this morning. My phone rang about an hour ago, and the call was from a remodeling company that has been (according to my caller ID records) pestering me for at least a year. I have never done business with this outfit, and never will. (In no small part because I believe that any remodeler who has to resort to telemarketing must be desperate for business because he is incompetent. All the good ones I know are already busy.) This morning I happened to catch the call “live.” It’s usually a hang-up, although occasionally they’ve left voice mail messages. I asked the woman caller if I had ever done business with her company, and she said no. I asked her if she was aware of the National Do-Not-Call Registry, and she said yes. When I told her that this phone number is on that list, she said rather snottily, “Well, good for you” before slamming down the phone. I was irritated, but went on with reading the news and personal messages on my computer. As time went by, anger was growing in my subconscious about the way this woman had arrogantly hung up on me. Finally I couldn’t take it any longer. I punched “redial” on my phone and delivered a tirade of profanity to the woman who answered.
Five minutes later the phone rang again, and the number on the caller ID was that of Matt, one of my closest friends. I answered cheerily, to learn that the call had come from Matt’s wife Kathy, who had been the recipient of my verbal abuse! She was calling to offer me the opportunity to apologize, and as things stand, I think she is still offended.
God knows, I am embarrassed enough. Because, as you may have already realized, the “redial” button on the phone dials the last number called from that phone, which happened to have been Matt’s. When you want to dial up someone who has just phoned you, the *69 keystrokes are required.
So there you have it. I have once again demonstrated that anger is pointless and destructive.
Ironically, in my last conversation with Matt, he related that he used to have a bad temper, but that over the years Kathy had helped him get past that.
Thank God I hadn’t said worse than I did; heaven knows I am capable of worse.
But I am embarrassed because I try not to lose my temper or act childish around my friends; otherwise I might have no friends. Thus this public apology.
I did subsequently file a complaint with the Do-Not-Call registry, by the way. I'm not a total fool...
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