Please Hold…

In the course of any given business day, most of us will have the unique and pleasurable opportunity to pick up the phone, dial a “1-800- DONTCALLUS” service line and hear the dreaded …

“Hold, please…”  It doesn’t really matter whether this request comes with a Far eastern accent or not; the point of the issue is that the old Army saying of “hurry up and wait” seems to have reincarnated and actually become a living, thriving motto in today’s network of customer service business … yes, business. The contracts that some specialized answering companies do manage can be measured in Millions.

After many years of managing and teaching sales and marketing, an area of business which includes a heavy dose of phone management, it is almost funny to call in to some corporate structured system and listen to what is said and how. Recently I have been dealing with a major life insurance company (seems to be the script of my life…); this is a type of business which is predicated on service and from the company’s own viewpoint, given to more than one market. One is the public market; the other, is the internal market comprised mostly of those who sell and service their product: the agents.

“Good morning, Sir … and how are we today?” Tells me the syrupy and much too cheery voice after the seemingly never ending sequence of required punches into my quickly wearing out telephone number pad… “Well… I don’t know about “we” but my hand is getting numb from holding this little phone…”  Then, without missing a beat, I hear “I’m so sorry sir, and how’s the weather over there?” Nonsensical repartee? Scripted conversation? Every time a call is placed to the “service office” of this company, this is pretty much what goes on. I have tried to rattle their “cage” a bit but ... I could say that my neighbor was just shot three times in my front lawn, and back would come the faceless voice asking about the weather … AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Our lives, much like these telephone calls, seem to be on “Hold Please” sometimes. At least it feels this way. More often than not, however, we are –without realizing it perhaps- the creators of the very hold we then complain about. Tiredness, pressures, stress, hasty or overly studied decisions … the first taken without much thought and the latter so long in coming that in the end, they are never acted on. Sometimes we base our day to day living on emotional issues, other times –almost like if we were having a rebound reaction- we want to be as cerebral as possible … How many of us have made decisions with the express underlying purpose of impressing someone else? Or a group of folk who, for the most part, will just as soon turn their back on us than look at us?

As human beings we are taking huge strides every day into the impersonal areas of developing society(ies) such as techno equipment, non physical contact, social networks in which we may talk to a ghost of an imagined individual who may turn out to be someone totally opposite to what was originally presented… or imagined. Yet, as “communication” with this ethereal image takes place through a computer, our mind gives this perceived individual a patina of a reality which is closer to that which we would wish to see, than that which may actually be…

We are becoming more and more used to this; there are growing “sub-cultures” (don’t know what else to call them) which are composed of people so given over to their virtual, cybernetic worlds, that they become obsessive about this aspect of their lives and extremely uncomfortable when actually having to deal directly with other human beings… Is this our children’s children's future? A “bubbled” life made up of an infinite number of little virtual worlds? If so I, for one, am glad that I will not bear witness to it.

Perhaps I am wrong… would not be the first or, I’m sure, the last time so being. On the other hand, perhaps this is the future of this world as we multiply like little rabbits (in my lifetime, the world population has grown by a 300% factor, most of this explosion happening in the last 25 years) and overpopulate the areas of the world which can provide a friendly environment in which to live. Unfortunately, these are also the areas of the planet which provide most of the food to us … Hmmm … food for thought, so to speak.

“Hold, Please…” What is the legacy you would like your children and their children to have, coming from you? No… money is not necessarily the only or, even perhaps, the right answer… in fact, this is at times the worst legacy to leave, for it will disunite families, create rifts and destroy years of dedicated familial efforts. And no, I do not mean to say that if you do have the money, that you should “give it all to charity”… but do take the time to structure what you intend your family to accomplish and prepare them to do so. That, then, becomes a true legacy.

Where is today's rambling going? Frankly, I am not sure. There are far too many issues going through my head; I see so many people throwing themselves into such a headlong rush in order to have their 15 minutes in the limelight, that many don’t even understand that life is happening around them as they push forward, with blinders on. Many I have met who, in the waning years of their earthly stay, question what is it they did accomplish? And these include many folk who would be considered financially successful as measured by any standard. It often takes a lifetime, unfortunately, to accept that what is a façade, when the chips are down, just hides an empty lot behind… no matter how impressive the front may be. It may be better to spend a little less money and time on the façade and much more on the substance behind it. 

We will all be the better for it.

Be Well … Be Back!!!

Final Notes:

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