My wife and I moved to San Antonio last week. It’s been a series of ordeals. My car is broken down so we had to tow it. My TV broke the week before (still not fixed). I have horrible cell service in our apartment. And my cable/internet still hasn’t been set up. I scheduled the whole back on the 12th of last month. They keep canceling.
On Wednesday, I finally got fed up. So I started harassing AT&T. I’ve been calling my local rep two to three times each day…leaving messages when they don’t pick up. I’ve left messages on the AT&T forum. I’ve tweeted every account they have. I’ve called corporate. I’ve just been a pain in their butts.
I’ve decided this is a new pattern in my life.
I’m normally extremely agreeable. If my order comes out wrong, I just suck it up and eat it. If someone calls me the wrong name, I don’t correct them. This is how I am personally.
But I can’t be like that in my job. I’ve decided I need to be tenacious. I need to pursue what I want like a dog holding onto a bone.
I’m not going to be timid.
And my first step is harassing the heck out of AT&T. Next, Best Buy. I’m going to get internet, cable, and a working TV. And you can do it too.
You don’t have to accept “no” for an answer. You don’t have to wait for companies to call you back. You don’t have to sit back and hope good things happen.
Make them happen.
This is such a hard lesson to learn for us that tend to be more timid. It’s not that we are lazy or just don’t care, but we feel like everyone is generally good and are trying to help.
My brother taught me a lesson when I was stuck in an airport because of weather…trying to get on a different flight. He said, “Keep asking and asking. Push. People’s goal in life is to do as little work as possible. You have to push past that.”
I’m the same way. Restaurants, coffee place, I won’t complain. But when it comes to my internet service provider (repeat: Service PROVIDER) I can’t stand it.
In my area I only have 1 choice for ISP, Bright House. Slow FiOS is expanding, but I tweet at both all the time. At Bright House for junky internet and FiOS hoping they’ll finally come to my area.
Hilarious podcast on demanding satisfaction, start listening at 1:12:00 13: Big City Apology