Ok, so my guess is the only one reading this is my friend Gabe, but in case anyone else stumbles upon this let me supply a little background...

I enjoy my job as a data coordinator for Verizon Wireless, and probably talk about it too much I love my family and probably talk about them too much. I don't really have much of a life outside of those 2 things. I have other interests, but don't spend enough time or energy on them to make them count much

Today was very interesting. Normally I spend the day helping correct problems with customers' cell phones, but today I got pulled to take escalated (read: very angry/upset/irate) customer calls. Now, generally I'm pretty good about allowing a caller to vent their frustrations and then making an honest effort to apologize and correct the issue. That being said, there was a particular caller who "vented" on me for over 40 minutes today. This customer, mind you, is not a Verizon wireless customer, she is an AT&T landline customer and her particular issue was that she was not receiving any calls at her business from Verizon wireless prepaid customers.

Hmm, let's see here... She's not my customer, she pays her money to my competition. She has just spent 40 minutes bad mouthing me and my company. She's not receiving calls from pre paid customers (I don't work for pre paid or have any access to any of their information), and I don't have a prayer of fixing a problem that I don't have any access to or tools to fix. At this point my brain is screaming "I DON'T CARE! NO, I REALLY DON'T CARE! IT'S NOT MY PROBLEM. CALL AT&T AND HAVE THEM FIX IT".

I really made an effort to help her and even worked on it for almost an hour after she hung up on me, but was unable to fix it. I feel bad because I know how frustrating these issues can be, and I hate to let customers down (even if they aren't my customers)

Luckily things got better after work. I got to visit my good friends that I haven't seen in a few weeks. We went to the store for their daughter to buy a toy she had been saving up for. While there, Coral (my 6 year old daughter) wanted to know if she could get a webkin too. She even said she would work for it, but Holly and I said no go. This was the perfect opportunity for another assault on my ears, but as it happened Coral was a true gem. She responded with a great attitude, even though we both new she was putting on a good face. I tried to use it as a teachable moment and told her that God would honor her efforts. After we had a great dinner with our friends, we took Coral to her dance class where she received a medal and certificate for completing her year. As the class ended, her teacher stated that only 11 of the 80+ girls would be moving up and that no one should be disappointed because they would be with their same class most likely next year. You guessed it, Coral was 1 of the 11. God is so good. He honors our efforts even when our heart isn't in it, but we did the right thing because it was the right thing to do, not because we wanted to.

To top it all off, on the way home I got to spend some time with Jonah (my 4 year old son) because Coral was riding home with Holly in the van. We stopped to get gas and as usual, he was eager to help. So I let him hand the money to the cashier and as I was pumping the gas, took some time to explain the money/amounts showing on the pump and related that the 3 gallons I bought would equal 3 containers of milk. He was most excited for the receipt the cashier gave him. As we were driving home, he mentioned what a great day it was and that he got 6 special things today. "Really buddy, what were they?" "Well dad, I got a new hoodie, a new race car, stands for my new car, I got to have lunch with you dad, I got my receipt and I got Mr. Gabe" Gabe was our friend who joined us for dinner, and lets just say the Jonah loves him. He rarely gets to take a breath without Jonah assaulting him in some way, or shouting something in his face that would only be exciting to a 4 year old.

Gabe, thanks for being so kind to my boy, we both appreciate it.

What a great day. Tomorrow is my Friday (I'll discuss my weird schedule and the head games I play to keep myself sane some other time) and I have to be there an hour early so it's off to bed. Later all.