Anger, Tears, and Truffles

We all go through days that involve a series of minor disasters or calamities that will make a person wish that they never got out of bed in the morning. However, every once in a while something good will happen right in the middle of all the misery that will suddenly turn the day-in-hell, into a day that has a little bit of heaven.

I’m a crybaby. I’ve admitted to it in this blog. Pretty much anything will make me cry. I average about one cry every few weeks. I’m as likely to cry when I’m happy as I am when I’m sad or upset. I don’t think I’m more sensitive than anyone else, I just cry easier. It might be an unidentified, unnamed medical syndrome of some kind. But anyway, right now I am not crying. In fact, my eyes are staring at a purplish box of chocolate truffles sitting on my desk at work. There were about 16 or 18 truffles to begin with, now there are only a few left.

I work at a car dealership as a receptionist, among other duties. I am occasionally confronted by customer complaints, but not very often, thank god. Yesterday I picked up the phone, thanked the person for calling the dealership, said that I was Heather, and then asked him how I could be of assistance. Well, the complaining customer, a man, started right off in an angry, hostile tone with the general subject being his car’s audio system. My immediate strategy was to calm down the gentleman and then direct his call to the service department. The trouble was, the harder I tried to soothe the man, the madder he seemed to get. Angry or not, I finally decided to directed his call to the service department, the only problem was, no one in the service department was available – a fairly common occurrence.

I began to talk to the irate customer again, and I told him if he came in to the service department he would get immediate service, no appointment, no waiting. I did not have the authority to make such a promise, but I figured I’d prefer to have the service department manager mad at me rather than listen to any more of the enraged customer’s tirade. Unfortunately my offer was not good enough. The customer insisted that it was time for the service department to come to him. He then asked me in no uncertain terms for the specific time that a technician would be out to address the problem. When I told the man that I did not know if such a service were even possible, his tone went from controlled anger, to shouting.

At that point I started to cry. I probably should have just hung-up, but instead I started to cry. The tears were brought on by a combination of being assaulted by an angry voice, and a high level of frustration. I actually tried to keep talking but it was very difficult. My condition was clearly discernible to anyone listening to my fluctuating, babbling voice tone.  My idiotic sobbing immediately made the customer cease his rant. In fact, he went silent for a few seconds. Then, in a gentle voice, he apologized and hung up.

About forty-five minutes later the sales director usher a man back to my cubicle, in the man’s right hand was a box of chocolates. As he gently placed the box upon my desk, he said that he was the angry customer who had called a short time earlier. He then said, “Heather, I can be such an ass and I hope the chocolates help make things better.”

Naturally I was in total shock. I muttered something about his car but he both waved his hands and shook his head. I think he said, “Hell with the damn car.” Then the man just smiled, turned, and walked towards the exit.

As soon as the man was out the door, three or four bewildered coworkers descended upon me, asking me about both the man, and the candy. Of course by that point I was in no condition to answer. Yes, I had started to cry.

Now I think I’ll have a truffle.