Self-Actualization through the Financial Aid Office

You can catch more flies with honey ...

As most of my friends know, I can tend to be a little too nice. So much so, that I dedicated a blog to a friend telling me I am too nice. All the people I am close to know that I will do whatever I can, whenever I can for them. All they have to do is ask.

But today I realized I have a limit. Yes, there is a limit to my kindness. And its not about my friends ...

I have a short fuse with customer service representatives. And I do mean short. And I didn't realize this until today.

My mom is here visiting, mainly helping me to get motivated to go pay outstanding tickets and finish up some financial aid stuff (that she actually needed to be here for).

First, the lady at the Financial Aid Office was not helpful at all. She asked if I had an appointment. I told her I specifically called on Friday to ask if I needed one and they said no. She pretty much said "That sucks, you aren't getting seen today." Now, here is where I should have realized my short fuse, because she didn't say it like that at all ... but it's what I heard.
I paid attention to myself the rest of the day, because I was talking to my mom while we were driving all over the city on our day of errands. I told her about the issue I had with SACU on Saturday, in which I was so upset that I made everyone in the branch stay 45 minutes past closing until I got what I wanted. I told her about the fit I threw at work because I keep getting screwed over as far as scheduling goes (since I never get help even though I should be getting it every morning). Then, I told her about the time they wouldn't cash a check for me at HEB and I talked to the supervisor, the supervisor's supervisor, and then the Store Manager until they cashed the freakin check.

During about the third story is when I realized, I'm not all that nice to customer service people. I eventually get what I want, yes, but I probably go about it the wrong way. Mom was right, saying its always better to kill them with kindness.

What really gets me is that I work in customer service. Granted, I work in the healthcare field, so the customer is definitely NOT always right, but I do work in a situation where I interact with 40 patients a day. And when they get angry, I get ticked off that they would treat me like they do. I'm no better than them.

So, hopefully with this self-realization, I can do a little bit better with customer service people.

Or at least until they don't give me what I want.

And so goes the life ...