Phone Call Blues

Everyday I try my best to be nice which isn't really that difficult since I'm a very non-confrontational person and I've got loads of patience. One of my colleagues at work even said that if I get ticked or if I lose my cool, then it must be really serious. Lately, perhaps because things ultimately do add up, I found myself sighing a handful of times as I talked to a "client" via phone. It's one thing to spoon feed "bosses" but it gets elevated to a whole new level when they're wrong yet still have the gall to throw their weight around and be arrogant about it.

C: Hi, I want to clarify some things.

D: Sure ma'am.

Round 1...

C: I want to know how many responded to this study.

D: (Hmmmm....) Ma'am, if you noticed, in the first slide, we placed there n=xx.

C: Ok... But there are other things I wanted to ask.

Round 2...

C: Like for this item, you asked whether they give this out or not. But so what?! You didn't even ask about the exact rates!

D: (Hmmmm.... hmmmm....) Ma'am, if you noticed (I'm beginning to love this phrase!), right below that chart is another graph with the percentages and ranges of rates...

Round 3...

C: But how about this one? You asked for the mean when you should have asked for the average, 'di ba?

D: (Hmmm... hmmm... hmmm...) Ma'am, the arithmetic mean IS THE average...

C: Ah, so median iyong middle point?

D: Opo...

And finally, round 4...

C: Pero ito, you asked if they give out this birthday benefit but you didn't ask how many times they give it out in a year?!

D: (Hay...) Erm, ma'am, 'di ba po isa lang naman ang birthday ng isang tao sa isang taon?

C: Hindi kasi ayoko mag-assume, dapat exact... (at this point, I was no longer listening to her. magpapalusot pa eh.)

D: Sure ma'am, next time I'll try to refine the questions further (Ho hum).

C: Oo kasi bakit iyong XXX may ganitong details, kayo wala!

D: Sure ma'am, next time we'll ask those things (but what my raised eyebrow really wanted to say was: Duh, you pay hundreds of thousands for the studies churned out by XXX, I'm giving you these results for free. Kung maka-demand ka naman eh parang hindi mo naman naintindihan iyong mga studies na iyan.)

Sometimes work really is frustrating. The thing I'm scared of is that there are already instances when I'm close to losing my cool while talking to a "client" which is really not a good thing... and I don't want to be like that. I'm cool, calm and collected... at least that's what I aspire to be.

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Anyway, in other news, I really felt for KC when she was asked from where she's getting strength and she answered something like, "I've never prayed this much in my life." Hay, I know the feeling. When matters of the heart get me sad or broken, we really do cling our hardest to prayers.

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It's the first of December! Merry Christmas! =)