I am a life-long learner. I like to consider myself as teachable. Sometimes I am.
Have you ever had an experience that wasn’t to your liking, and then made up a story about it? Since we are meaning-making beings, it is a normal thing to do. However, if the story makes you a victim, it is spiritual malpractice on yourself to rehash such a story.
Several months ago, a friend showed me her Apple Watch and explained how it tracked her steps and kept her motivated to be active every day. Immediately, I knew I wanted a watch like that.
I did my homework. I went to the Apple Store and researched online. The watches seemed pretty expensive and at this time of year, I want to have some cash left in my budget for gift-buying. So I said to myself, “Not now.”
Then on Black Friday, a friend sent me a link to a T-Mobile promotion, in which T-Mobile was giving away an Apple Watch Series 4, the kind I was lusting over! That was almost unbelievable, but I convinced myself that I should check it out.
The T-Mobile promotional rules included:
- need to transfer two lines
- only available online
- need to have good credit
- cannot already be a T-Mobile subscriber
I have been a Verizon customer for years. I appreciate them very much, but I was tempted to leave them to gain a new Apple Watch. (Okay, so my value of loyalty may be mid-range and not the highest.) I started the application several times but would get confused and frustrated by some of the questions so I decided to make a quick trip to the nearest T-Mobile Store. The saleswomen were very accommodating and answered the questions I was asking but explained to me that the promotion could only be done online! So back home I went and started again. Again, I got to a place of confusion so I called the number on the promotional site.
I was helped by a very agreeable and helpful salesman, who assured me that he could help me complete the deal over the phone. After taking all my pertinent information (credit card numbers, date of birth, name of first child, etc.), he returned to tell me that I would need to pay a down payment of $240!!
That did not sound like a free phone to me!
So I asked him why it could not be done and he said that there was an issue with my credit, that I had a “D” credit rating! I was shocked. I didn’t know that the credit bureau had an alphabetical credit reporting system. I thought someone must be monkeying around with my credit.
So I got an online credit report. The three reporting agencies had rated me Excellent, Good and Good.
I was really curious about what a D meant to T-Mobile. It occurred to me that I satisfied their requirements and that they were playing a bait and switch game. Now I was angry!
My prayer partner and I prayed about it.
Playing the victim, fuels righteous anger. I knew I was not being treated fairly. Wednesday afternoon about 5:00 pm, I called T-Mobile and explained the situation and asked to know what a “D” rating meant. Six different men, from six different departments, put me on hold. Either person number three or person number four told me that “D” was used internally to identify a person whose history with T-Mobile was too short. Now I was irate! The last person who put me on hold told me that his supervisor would call me back in two to three hours. I did not receive such a call that night.
Meanwhile, I was composing a letter to the Better Business Bureau, protesting this treatment. It really did appear to be a bait and switch scam. I sent the letter.
Then somewhere in my mind, I remembered that we are one and that while we hold anything against anyone, our prayers cannot be heard.
As soon as I said I forgave T-Mobile some healthy-minded ideas started coming to mind:
- I had NOT kept the rule of doing the process totally online
- Maybe the first fellow I talked to did not have the ability to authorize this transaction for free
- Maybe he was doing the best he could
- He said he had had a difficult day
- I am committed to compassion; not self-righteousness!
So eventually, on Sunday morning during my talk on “Our Need for Forgiveness,” I spoke my forgiveness of him and of T-Mobile.
On Monday afternoon I was contacted by a T-Mobile person who apologized for the confusion and was prepared to honor the original promotion.
My new Apple watch should arrive by next Monday. I am blessed because I changed my mind.
