Troubling thoughts roaring through my brain

I just saw my old job advertised and was thinking of applying for it again but really don’t want to go back and work for a company that didn’t appreciate my being different.

I used to keep getting into trouble for not apologising quickly enough to customers who called in with problems either with their broadband or with their mobile phones so I thought I would give you three scenes to think about and see which one gets your vote before I tell you which option I used to get told off for doing.

1. Customer calls in and phone is answered by saying “Good (morning/afternoon/evening), my name is Dave. I’m sorry you’re having problems but I’m here to help you sort them out”
2. Customer calls in and phone is answered professionally “Hello, you’re speaking to Dave how can I help you?” Then after finding out what the problem is the apology is given by referencing the issue.
3. Customer calls in and phone is answered thus: “Hi I’m Dave, I’m here to help sort your problems out so I’m sorry that you’re having some issues right now. How can I help?”

I’ve used my name in all the scenes but there are only two I ever used, one of them I was told off for doing all the time and when I asked what I should be doing instead I was told to change to the other one. There were a few of my colleagues who did the third one but I would never dream of handling calls that way. Please leave your comments on all 3 and when I have enough answers I will tell you which I used and was told off for doing and which one I then went on to use. If enough ask I may even tell you which company I worked for.

It kind of hit me today…

My world came crashing down around me 31 years ago last July when my mum died. 16 years ago I met my current wife’s mother who was every bit as endearing as my mum had been. She’d been fighting cancer for years when I first met her and also had type 2 diabetes. She never complained and I used to call round and sit with her for hours on my days off work. Lovely woman who had some fantastic memories of her time as a young girl living through WWII, and her time in the army after hostilities ended.

3 years ago today she died after her cancer had returned and spread through her bones into her entire body. Having lost my own mum I was able to offer support and comfort to my wife at this time and through the years since. It was hard for me as well, having lost my mum and then finding another who was just as kind only to lose her so soon after. Still my life has been so blessed having both of these women in it.

This is offered as hope to all those who have recently lost a parent, or have a terminally ill parent. Don’t beat yourself up because death is a part of life. If you are still around to grieve that is how it’s supposed to be. No parent should outlive their children, but it happens especially during war. Look back on all the times you spent together, whether long or short, and remember with love.

If you can remember more good times than bad then that helps the healing process, but in time the bad times fade and don’t feel as bad as they did. As long as you have good times to look back on you can remember fondly, smile and relive those good times to keep your parent alive in your mind.

Life goes on and memories fade but remember with love and enjoy again all the good times you had.

Maybe

Let’s give it a try, can we?

Adventures and Musings of an Arch Druidess

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Sitting on the bus someone restored my faith that all is not yet lost

I was sitting on the bus heading home tonight when an elderly lady got on the bus, she struggled to walk so I didn’t get up to offer my seat as I didn’t think she’d be able to climb onto it.

She walked past me and past the two men talking by the door, clutched the post and was clinging on for dear life when a young lady in her school uniform stood up and tapped her on the shoulder. When she looked round the young lady said to her “Would you like my seat?” The elderly one said “Yes please” and they swapped places.

This used to happen frequently when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s but everything changed in the 80’s with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher introducing the FU mentality to the Western World.

Why did this take me by surprise? After all I’ve seen it happen before and have given up my seat recently for a person less able than me to stand. It’s just the age of the young lady took me by surprise as she could only have been around 14 or maybe 16. Things recently (Brexit and US Presidential election) have been so full of hatred anyone would think the world is returning to the dark ages of the late 17th century. Then something as innocuous as giving up a seat for someone less able to stand brightens the darkness and restores the faith in our humanity that had been lost.

Another weekend – This time a long one

Work finished for me at 15:45 GMT on Thursday and doesn’t start again until 07:45 on Tuesday. I thought I’d share some of my favourite cartoons and give you something to contemplate while you wait for the weekend.

Love and peace everyone and whatever you’re doing this weekend don’t panic over things you can’t control.

Oh well, Trump is President Elect but how can you trust a man whose election rhetoric was full of hatred, violence, misogyny and racism? (Point worth remembering about Melania (the First Lady-elect) she used to take her clothes off for a living so most of the men on the planet have seen her naked).

An Open Letter to the Disunited UK.

While on the other side of the Brexit fence I agree wholeheartedly with the comments expressed here. The Brexit camp won the referendum but let’s keep our humanity as we leave.

barsetshirediaries

I’m depressed. There, the cat’s out of the bag. But depression isn’t the feeling of self pity many people will claim it is, and not something you can pull yourself together from as some will tell you to do. The days of the father in a working class home telling you to get on with it are far in the past as these days those fathers have tasted it too.

Why am I depressed? Well I’m suddenly having to re-evaluate so much I thought I knew about my country and the people in it. Some are people I thought I knew, and others are those I thought I could trust.  When Brexit came about David Cameron left his post as Prime Minister because he had been a staunch Bremain supporter. The competition started for a replacement and I wasn’t too worried when a Bremain supporter won as she promised the…

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Thoughts from a troubled mind

If you look around at the moment you can see trouble, war, hatred, bigotry and angry people everywhere. This is not where we should be going in the 21st century, we should be more tolerant of each other, respect that our views may not be 100% correct and also listen to others.

If we can accept that everyone is the same as us even though we are all unique and different then we can move away from the faults of the past and into a more enlightened and spiritual future.

Every one of us has the right to be treated with respect, regardless of gender, sexual preference or skin colour. If we move away from the idea that the white man is here to rule all other men and accept that women are our equals then we can forge a new world where everyone does what they can to make lives better.

There are people going hungry yet we can feed everyone on this planet, we grow enough crops, there are animals aplenty and there is no need for anyone to starve or go hungry. So why do they? Look around at the areas where there are people starving and you’ll find a war zone there. Look closely at those who are fighting those wars and you’ll see they are being fought for one or more of a few “beliefs”: Religion, race (so-called ethnic cleansing) or desire to own more land/hold on to land already won.

Isn’t it time we found a better way to settle differences without death and destruction? Working together we can clean up the war zones, make them habitable again, remove the hunger that follows war, lose ourselves to help others and, in doing this, we can create a planet and environment to be proud of.

If we can mass produce the de-salination plants which are powered by wave-generated electricity we can bring good wholesome water to everyone. If we can build solar farms in the deserts of the planet then we can power every home on the planet. Building wind farms under water (again powered by waves) will generate more electricity than building them above ground or water as wind is notoriously unpredictable. We can work together to cure all the ailments given the technological advancements happening around us over the last 10 years and they are still not showing any signs of abating soon.

Women and children should feel safe in their neighbourhoods, safe to play and learn, women shouldn’t be worried that dressing this way or that way is making them prey to the whims of men. Children should enjoy their childhood as it doesn’t last very long. Together we can achieve so much and the best person to do something should be the person tasked with doing that something.

I feel that we can achieve so much more working together as a species than working alone as separate nations. We can go on to dream, create and travel further if we can all work together and try to get a grip on our fears. We owe it to each other and this planet we call home to try and work things out, work together, everyone equally committed to helping others and being the best citizens they can be. If we help others then we feel good about ourselves and it shows in our attitude and demeanour.

Let’s at least give this a try and stop trying to pretend we are better, cleverer, more powerful, more righteous or just more than anyone else. After all when the student is ready the teacher will appear (that doesn’t mean the teacher hasn’t been there all along just that he was waiting for the right question to be asked).

2016 and the race for the Whitehouse

You know what scares me this year about the forthcoming USA POTUS election? The amount of foreign involvement in it. Trump urged the Russians to hack Clintons emails, they did. To publish said emails to damage her campaign, they haven’t found anything damning so haven’t done that, they have hacked the Democrat email server, passed these to Julian Assange who has published them on Wikileaks.

The last time someone used dirty tricks to win an election, the President was impeached, arrested and his VP had to publicly grant immunity from prosecution. This time round the election is still waiting for the country to decide who is going to become the most powerful person in the West.

Will America allow Russia to choose their next President? Seems very likely to me, that’s scary given the regime in Russia would rather spend on weapons than people, diversity is frowned on and people jailed for being different.

Given Trumps views on Russia he would likely do the same in the USA.