As you may recall, I’m not a huge fan of talking on the phone. When you add in having to order services where they try and explain things that I can’t find on their website I get really flustered and mostly go into avoidance mode. Which is why I went so long without setting up internet access at the apartment. The fact that there’s wifi in the ‘e-lounge’ didn’t help my motivation either.
Thinking and Talking
After finally making the call, I found out that to get the service I wanted, I’d need a land line for the DSL to piggyback on. I don’t want a land line, I’m not a fan of the phone company. If I trusted them, I’d just get a phone/internet combo pack.
The salesman started explaining the other packages that were available, which got complicated since they represent a selection of companies and we needed to discuss prices and speeds and if I can’t see it, then I just get lost. So I asked him to email me the information so that I could review it.
First, Gain Higher Ground
Primarily, I just wanted to get off the phone so I could process whether or not getting a landline made any sense or not. As far as politely getting off the phone, it worked wonders, but I never did get that email, which would have been really helpful.
I did some more research and made my decision and called them back. We got the details worked out and he emailed my contract to me, only when I got the contract open, it was for three years. I have no reason to believe that I’ll be here that long and even if I will be, I don’t know that I want to make that kind of commitment to a company, any company.
Then, Fight the Dragon
So, I wrote back saying that I needed the term of the contract to be reduced to one year. I could have fussed over the time frame, wondering if that was the minimum for a business account. And there was a time not so long ago where I would have, I even started heading that way when I got the first contract. Thankfully I realized that it would have been a waste of my time and just sent my response.
And, of course, it wasn’t any kind of problem. He adjusted the contract and I signed it. Done. Truthfully, I don’t hate this kind of call any less, and would still prefer to just fill in a form on the internet, but it feels good knowing that I asked for what I wanted and got it.
How do you handle calls you don’t want to make?
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In the comments:
We’re being open here, sharing and saying things we don’t always say out loud. What helps: Sharing your stories and Ideas. Cheering and telling what works/worked for you. What hurts: shoulds, harshness, and such. (I used to teach first grade, I can’t help it.)
Tags: anxiety, Awareness, comfort zone, Experiment, perceptions
