I might need a little Anger Management

I’m not talking about the movie with Adam Sandler and Jack Nicholson… I really didn’t enjoy that one.  I’m talking about my recent reaction to a phone call that I made.  I called an insurance company to get a question answered.  It wasn’t a difficult question, but not one that would be answerable by any automated system.  I had to speak to a person.  My problem was that there was absolutely no option offered to speak with a person.  After about 5 minutes of going around in circles with the automated system and getting nowhere, I pressed the zero key about eight times really quickly.  Usually, when you need a live person, you can press the zero like twice.  Every time I tried that, I got, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t get that. Please say or press 1 for blah, blah, blah, Say or press 2 for …”  Still no choice offered for a live person.  So, I just about threw the phone across the room.  After I did finally get a person to talk with, she ended up transferring me to the proper department… of course, when you get a person by pressing zero eight times, you shouldn’t expect that first one to be able to help you, right? Yeah.  So, she transfered me and I thought, “Oh well, at least I’m getting somewhere now.”  Right? NO! She transfered me to another automated system! Only this one was worse!  Especially since I was starting to get really angry, aggitated, frustrated, and impatient.  So, I started swearing at the recording, “You’re a fucking IDIOT!!!”  “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that. Please say or press 1 for blah, blah, blah…” “No SHIT!!!” “I’m sorry, I didn’t get that…”  “That’s because you SUCK!!!” Finally, I just pressed zero repeatedly until I finally heard, “I’ll transfer you to someone who can help you.”  By that time I was so angry, of course the nice guy who was unfortunate enough to be the one to help me got my wrath and blame.  Luckily for both of us, he was able to answer my question within a short moment.  I had calmed down just enough in that minute or two to thank him and  wish him a nice day before hanging up. 

A little later, my husband came into the room and asked me, “Were you slamming the phone earlier?”  I had to confess.  I told him I know it’s very childish, but I cannot help it.  Every time I get one of those damn things, I feel the heat raise up in my face and my whole body just tenses up.  I tell myself to be patient and follow the instructions and maybe the automated system will actually be able to answer my question.  Then, I find out (EVERY TIME) that if I have a question I can’t answer on my own, it’s NEVER a question that can be answered by an automated system.  So what good are they?  I can only suppose that they are for real boneheads who can’t figure anything out on their own.  What else could it be?  They might be boneheads, but I’ll bet they don’t slam the phone and swear at recordings.  Lord, help me!