Monday, January 7, 2008

Why mom doesn't have my work number

I checked my cell phone messages during the day to find a ranting, raving, screaming, tearful message from mom. She was unhappy with the Verizon letter. The message went something like this:

A.! I FOUND IT. YOU REMOVED WHAT I HAD WRITTEN. I HAD EMOTION, I HAD WHAT I THOUGHT WAS NECESSARY. THIS DISAPPEARED BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK! YOU'RE ARROGANT! YOU DIDN'T EVEN THINK TO LEAVE THE PART THAT WAS MINE! OF COURSE THEY RESPONDED THE WAY THEY DID! IT WASN'T UNDERSTANDABLE! THERE WAS NOTHING! YOU LEFT SUCH A COLD, ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS, DOCUMENT! IT WAS SUCH ARROGANCE! I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS! GOODBYE!

Then I got a message from dad saying, "Mom said that you changed everything that she wrote and sent it without checking with her. She's upset. Call me please."

I called dad first, left a message: "I did change a part of her letter, but I not only told her at the time, I wrote in the body of the e-mail, I took out a big chunk of your conclusion because I do not think it helps your cause. It sounds overly conspiracy-theory. So yes I did change it but I made it very clear to her that I'd changed it, and I asked her to look at it after every version.

Then I called mom, expecting a screaming fight, but when she picked up the phone she was calm and somewhat friendly.

A.: I told you that I'd changed your letter, and asked you to look at it...
Mom: Actually, I called the MA Communications Board like you said and they were great. I told them I'd send them all the supporting documentation but they said I wouldn't even have to.
A.: Oh.

I'd been telling her to call/write them since she first started talking about this months ago.

Colleague: Did she apologize?
A.: Of course not.

In fact, I'm surprised she didn't keep screaming at me anyway.

Later, I retrieved a message from Dad: I talked to your mom. She seems to have calmed down, so don't worry. It appears the situation has been resolved.

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