Let’s be a breath of fresh air to someone today!

August 25, 2021

Last Saturday, my phone went through the wash.  Most pairs of shorts I own have side pockets on them.  Unfortunately, my phone was in one of them.  I heard the dryer going thump-thump, thump-thump… and I wondered, “What in the world is that?”  Opening up the dryer door revealed the answer.  Letting it sit in rice for 36 hours didn’t do any good… not this go round anyway.

I was also at home all this week… quarantining.  I have had a gnarly respiratory something that I got from our grandkids.  (Thankfully, not covid… got tested this week.)  One friend said I might have RSV.  Not totally sure what RSV is… but some things in life are best left a mystery.

So I am working from home with no phone… and trying to get my old phone reactivated.  We have a special business account with a major phone company.  Now, for me in the past, dealing with major phone companies hasn’t exactly been the easiest thing in the world and sometimes has left me wondering, “Wouldn’t it just be easier to go back to cans and string?”

I was able to finally connect with a guy through email.  Now we are NOT one of their major accounts… but this guy went out of his way, even after hours, to help me reactivate my phone.  He submitted the order and emailed me and said to wait a few minutes, then restart my phone and I should be good to go.  All except the go didn’t go.

The next day, I emailed him back (he is handling all these big accounts and here he is really going out of his way just for me) and let him know that the go hasn’t gone anywhere.  He replied that he hated to do this to me… but my best bet would be to call tech support and he gave me the number.  And that would have worked… if I had a working phone.

We are now 24 hours into trying to reactivate a phone.  I email Oakley: “Would you mind calling tech support for me?”  Oakley graciously did this.  The first person he got wasn’t very helpful.  But then he got transferred to a girl named Chelsea.  Chelsea was extremely helpful to Oakley.  She was friendly and she treated Oakley like he was important.  She found out that someone had forgotten to click on a button… which she did… and I was good to go.

Oakley responds to her, “You have been a breath of fresh air today!”  She responds back, “Well, you have been a breath of fresh air to me today!”

So two people… at a major company… are going out of their way to help someone who is not a major client and who is a stuck-at-home, RSV, can’t-remember-to-take-the-phone-out-of-his-pocket, old and grumpy grandfather.  For them, it might have been a blip on the screen… but for me, it was a huge deal.

You might think you are just doing a job.  But what you are doing is affecting others.  And for them, that may be a huge deal.

So keep giving your best.  How we do something is just as important as what we are doing.  (Both of these people acted like we were important.)

Let’s be a breath of fresh air to someone today!