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Monday, November 7, 2011

To Augie.....

In the circle of life we have good times and we have not so good times. The not so good times are so we can appreciate the good times. The calm after the storm, the moment after the baby is born.....the minute a party is over and it was a good time. All good times....

But the not so good times pretty much stink. And when we are in that particular curve in the circle of life we depend on a few tender mercies to give us a will to live. To think the sun will come up tomorrow. And if you look real hard you will see all kinds of kindnesses. I know we have...

But to Augie.....not so much. In fact, he is a big donkey. And I don't even know him except for a brief, unpleasant time on the phone this afternoon. There was a bill due...on the 5th, but the 5th is on a Saturday, so they took out the automatic payment on the 4th. The 5th was fine, I had the money there on the 5th, not the 4th....so I received an overdraft fee. Yikes!! So embarrassing, so annoying....and of course, that would just start an avalanche of problems. So I called the bank...and got to talk to Augie. He was the most difficult, unhappy man I have ever spoken to. He told me he would send me the paperwork that showed on page 5 of 7 pages in one paragraph that if the due date is on a weekend then you have to pay on Friday. And NO we will not help you. And then he did the most amazing thing, he hung up on me!!

I calmly called again, actually because I was stunned, and spoke to an angel at Wells Fargo. I didn't even know that angels were bankers, but yet I found one. She saw the problem, refunded the money and wished me a great night!

How about that?

Did you hear that Augie?

And to everyone else, never take no or NO for an answer. Talk to everyone, after someone tells you no, call again. Never give up.....when you are right, or at least can prove an honest mistake, often people will work with you....unless of course your name is Augie and you work at Wells Fargo.

And to everyone who works with the public, or anyone who even just ventures out in the world, treat everyone as though they are having the worst day of their life and you will be right 50 per cent of the time. There are lots of folks out there who will be affected by a kindness, any kindness.....because the world is beating us up pretty good right now. Isn't it amazing how one smile, one honest kind word changes everything? I want to be that element of change.....

So to the woman at the store who raced around me to get to the checker when she had a cart full of fattening and disgusting food and I had one thing...and then pretended not to see me....let me introduce you to Augie........Enjoy......

Life is good and life is hard....I just want to make sure I behave myself at both ends.




8 comments:

  1. Wow- both extremes. I'm so glad you stayed with it until you got the nice woman. Augie needs help.

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  2. I ran into the same thing with AmEx. First guy was an Augie. Second guy couldnt do enuff for me.

    Now you have a new Saying, "Dont be an Augie".

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  3. Funny, I had the same thing happen to me with Sirius radio, the first guy spoke broken English and we just had a hard time, he hung up...I called back and got an angel and she fixed it all up! I think you are right! ;D

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  4. Life truly is full of opposites. Thank heavens there is an up for most of our downs--an angel for those dang Augies. You're right to try not to be an Augie. I must strive for that too. I so dislike those ladies with the shopping cart. I thought they were only in Arizona.

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  5. Augie sounds like a real treat.

    Glad you called back and got a "good" one! And I agree with your policy about never giving up. It works, in the end.

    =)

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  6. I think I've probably talked with Augie before. I'm happy you had a great outcome after a stressful phone call.

    ~Emily
    The French Hutch

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  7. You just gave me a good lesson about not giving up. I get intimidated by rude people, and I need to persevere. Nicely - but persevere. I've spent a lot of time working with the public, and there's never any excuse for bad behavior - on either side. Unfortunately, everyone doesn't see it that way, but I will never be an Augie. Other than the Augie experience, I hope you're doing well!

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  8. Well, you said it! We surely do see the extremes in behaviour out in the world, don't we?

    Good for you for pressing on until you reached the angel. My husband is a retired banker, of the old school where it was a privilege to serve the customer, and he is appalled at the lack of training and plain old bad manners he sees today.

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