Have you heard this recently?
“At this time, all of our customer service representatives are attending to other callers. Your call will be answered in the order received; please visit our website for online assistance. If you would like to speak to a customer service representative, the average wait time is 45 minutes. Thank you.”
After waiting the absurd time, I am then put into a different queue with an additional waitlist time. It is frustrating, especially when some of those nightmare calls are to health care providers.
At times it seems that nothing is working as expected anymore. So many of our systems are worn and stressed, with a shortage of service providers, coupled with tired workers frayed from the pandemic, coupled with continuous disruptions in our supply chain.
In her blog The Corners, Nadia Botz-Weber, a Lutheran pastor, wrote about her five-hour drama stuck in a plane on the tarmac, only to find out after a 30-minute reprieve at the gate that the flight was canceled. She suggests it is time to create a survival guide to life. The first on her list is to find gratitude in the moment.
Gratitude? That sounds like a Hallmark channel’s simple guide to a better life. How can gratitude really help?!
Gratitude doesn’t change the system, it changes us. In the midst of the wait time for a doctor or nurse, it reminds me that I am thankful for having a doctor or nurse. It helps me find the patience with the person who does answer my call and to be thankful for their service. It is simple and powerful.
Gratitude flips our way of thinking from what is going wrong to what is going right, and that makes all the difference!
