Sympathetic Characters

The snow drop again: my favourite thing growing in my garden.

It's a risky thing when you're a public servant to pick up a call from a number you don't recognize.

I did it twice on Tuesday.

The first caller I knew a little bit about. He had written the ministry in February, got a reply in the form of a letter from me that he felt just did not deal with his problem so he wanted to talk with me about it.

I could tell he was a little startled by the fact I answered my phone. But he got over that. 

After he had explained his problem - six or seven times - I felt I understood him well enough to say back to him what I'd heard him say. He seemed satisfied with that, but he had to explain the problem to me another six or seven times. He finally agreed to let me get on with my day. I promised I'd get back to him.

I conferred with the guy who reports to me, who had overheard a lot of the conversation. We thought the man on the phone might have a point, so we're going to do some digging around and see if we can help him ease his mind.

The thing for this guy was, even though he had solved his original problem, he felt he had not been treated fairly and that was what he could not let go.

The second time the phone rang, I picked up thinking it might be the first guy again.

It wasn't.

A woman introduced herself as an "angry Ontarian" and then scorched my eardrum for five minutes about the smart meters - six of them - lined up outside the building she lives in. She told me she had read information on the Internet that confirms smart meters cause cancer, plus a few other claims. 

I decided not to struggle. I asked her what she wanted. She said her utility company wanted a thousand dollars per meter to replace them. There was no way on God's green earth she was going to pay that. 

So I said, "you're looking for a person who can order the removal of your smart meter for free?" 

"Yes," she said.

"I'm not that person, and I don't know who that person is, so I'm sorry I can't help you."

It took another five minutes to get her off the line. She disclosed that she's a retired teacher, and that her name was Linda but she wasn't going to tell me her last name because this isn't a police state yet. She yelled over and over that she wanted the meters taken away. 

A few minutes after I finally got her off the phone, the other guy who reports to me in my shop dropped by to say he'd just had a very aggressive call. 

"Linda?" I asked. "Did she tell you about the Nuremberg trials too?"

She had. 

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen

89 years old on April 3 -
Ken Clarke
celebrates his birthday.