Couch 225: 2+2=5, Sheeple!

pollyanna is probably the wrong word.

That would be me.

I had a conversation last night with a long lost cousin and it made me realize how absolutely destructive my mother was to the extended family relationships while i was growing up, so that may have contributed to my "cant we all just get along?" sunshine attitude.

Ah perhaps pollyanna is the right word then. Not so much that I pretend everything is wonderful, but that I feel the same exact way - "can't we all just get along?" I'm going to have to stay away from facebook again there's so much dang hatred being spewed among my friends. Or maybe I'll just get rid of it entirely, I mean almost all of my friends on there are people that I re-connected with after years of not being in touch, so you know, maybe we fell out of touch for a reason and I need to accept that. Life would probably be simpler. I don't text or call or see in real life most of them (except some I have visited when I've been back in the midwest but that's been a couple years now). Well there's one that we text occasionally. But she's not one of those being hateful. I need to declutter not just my house, but my entire life.

I feel like I'm in the middle of something dang big here.

I don't think it is possible to think kindly of a corporation whose sole purpose is to keep costs down for itself at the cost of someone's health. Corporations are not kind. Fighting to get medicine you or a loved one needs or to even understand the system and its barriers to relief to suffering is not conducive to kind. The policies may not be the fault of the person on the phone but who else is there? You have to be wilier than a therapist to get to yell at the CEO.

Arrggh! I wish i never got involved in this therapy thing in the first place. It just shits me and i cant deal with anything at the moment.

Therapy can certainly eff people up

Hey Artie you must be better than you think because i only lasted 3 months on my help desk job. I couldnt imagine dealing with people who need medication and cant get it.

I know. It's my own damn fault for working there. Another thing to accept, that as long as I choose to stay there, I have to let myself be a punching bag. I think about trying to find a job elsewhere but at 58 I think it would be difficult. One of my friends here who is a couple years younger than me is having no luck at all finding a new job.

ha, once again, Artie is the author of her own misery.

I'm going to CBT you (as much as I hate it for myself, sorry!) and ask you to reframe this thought. You are tremendously helpful in your job EVEN WHEN YOU HAVE TO SAY NO because the person at least got some kind of answer and isn't just hanging in limbo on hold for 6 and a half hours.

I worked in a call center for 10 years; sick angry frustrated people called in and yelled at us, cursed at us, called us names, even maligned our characters and cast doubts on our parentage etc. It's very easy to feel resentful and internalize their emotions. The truth is I couldn't change policy to get them the answer they wanted and they didn't have anyone else to take it out on. I was told by my supervisor that even though it wasn't the answer they were hoping for, it allowed them to move forward in the process and request appeals so hopefully they would get the answer they were hoping for quickly.

We offered them a listening ear, an explanation they could understand, a list of resources they could apply for, and instructions on how to move forward with their case. Some people were satisfied with it and some weren't.

As you say, the world is full of assholes. I'd rather talk to them anonymously than be coworkers or underlings of them. If you're generally satisfied with your bosses and coworkers, your salary and benefits, your perks etc. then I would suggest looking for a commensurate position and researching the company's policies and employee reviews (if available) before you just up and quit.

Good luck Art, I'm sorry today sucks.

I mowed the lawn now i feel like i am not wasting my time.

People yell at attorneys all the time. When I was a public defender, they would threaten to kill me or their families would threaten me. It wasn't necessarily fun -but it wasn't personal. They were having a much worse day than I was what with prison and all. I often agreed with them that the judge was unfair (often they are) and the cops lied (often they do). I had one guy who had videotaped himself committing a somewhat heinous crime - and he threatened me at every meeting and he eventually sued me for not raising an insufficiency of the evidence claim - with a clear video he himself had made of him doing the acts of which he was accused. Poor guy didn't win that one either.

With western medicine - I prefer to be dead over dealing with any of it. I am not going to beg any of them for drugs or their endless tests (although I do often wonder why I have to pay for insurance I rarely use and would prefer to just pay the md out of pocket). I will use herbs and Chinese Medicine and I have the final exit book memorized. I would rather die from a disease than from an aneurysm from dealing with the pointless bureaucracy.

I really don't think most of them are assholes in general. Just frustrated with a callous and often cruel bureaucracy they can't understand or control or change and they are sick and frightened.

One time I had an insurance company call me and ask if I could just put my client on hospice because they didn't think he would get better and it was costing them money.
I said no.

I'm thinking about people who harrass customer service workers in general, not just the insurance company workers. The fact that they vent their frustration on someone who is not allowed to defend themselves or retaliate in kind, just makes me think they are assholes.

I don't know - I have dealt with a lot of customer service workers who I thought were the assholes. The post office and Verizon come to mind.
"we are the phone company. We don't care because we don't have to"

I try to be nice to customer service workers because they have a thankless and comparatively low-paying job. Most of them are fine, but some of them are so incompetent and even rude.

And generally relevant to this discussion but not the quoted post, and I fail at this all the time, but I feel better when I do remind myself there is a difference between being an asshole and acting like one. Like 2ex is an asshole, I saw enough of him to know that. But the guy who cut me off today may not be.

I agree with trying -but some of them make it a lot harder to follow through than others. Verizon - I am looking at you

I worked for a private hospital in my country and they dumped patients who had run out of health insurance on the pavement outside the hospital and told the patients to ring an ambulance. I didnt work there very long either this was run by a religious organisation too.

Why are you trying to talk to verizon? They do everything in their power NOT to talk to their customers! They put everything on their apps / online. Call me, i will give you "customer service". And insert a chest tube at the same time.

Hugs.

I guess I'm worried because some time ago, I slowed down and T said we plateaued. Then alters came up.

Now I don't feel safe asking to slow down. :/

Morning couchies. I will have a better day today at work, even if it's just because today is my friday, even if I have to pretend!! I can do this.

You will have a better day at work, Artie. I like the sound of that. *hugs*

A year ago today I had my annual checkup. Then the rest of the day turned into covid declared a pandemuc, state of emergency declared, school went remote, awful Oval Office speech, NBA season postponed mid-game, and Tom Hanks.

I’m off to my annual checkup again today. It’s been a very short and yet a very long year.

*Also I am already irritated with the staff at my doctor’s office since they persist in communicating with me by phone instead of email (preferred because of hearing). I’ve stopped answering their calls accordingly. If that gets me booted from the practice, so be it.

Did you find it helpful to slow down regardless of what T said?

How do you feel with the alters showing up? Maybe the slower pace allowed you to work through whatever they need to work though.