Operation Achieve Anything: Day Two-Hundred-Thirty-Five, Dateline 8-23-2018
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“Test build our testimony.”
Good morning crickets. Welcome to day number two-hundred-thirty-five of Operation Achieve Anything. Yesterday, I received my the new bed frame that I ordered as my effort to settle into my living space to make my stay on this earth a little more comfortable while I continue to figure out how to make a legitimate living on my own term. This is one of those bed frames with a remote that allows you to raise and lower your feet and head, giving you options for how to lie in bed.
I own a Purple mattress with is comfortable enough on its own, so I figured this new frame would take my sleep comfort to the next level, plus I’ve always wanted this style of bed from the moment I saw they were available. The package arrived early, but the didn’t really matter because I wasn’t planning to put the thing together until after I was done with my work. Luckily(?), right around the time of the arrival, one of my work's servers went down again, freeing up time to start the assembly process while I wait for the system to come back up.
This was actually really nice timing because it would have sucked to have to put this thing together late at night, right before my first attempt to try it out. It was actually surprisingly easy to slap the thing together, other than one bolt that put up a fight before I could get it to fit, but when I plugged it in, it appeared that the thing was broken. It turned out that the wires the go from the motors to the control box were too loose to stay plugged in.
I knew that I would eventually be able to find a workaround but, at the time, I needed to get back to work. For the price that I paid for this thing, I was too outraged to focus, so I contacted Amazon’s customer service. I was actually trying to reach the seller, but I could only find the link to Amazon’s support. I don’t know why I felt the seller could do more, but I had to go with this option.
I was greeted by a cut and paste welcoming about how sorry the representative was over me having this issue and how he would be there to save the day. I told him about my problem and then after the amount of time it took for him to do a web search he told me there was no solution, and then instantly transferred me claiming I got the wrong department, meanwhile, I just clicked on the one and only “Get Help” link.
The new customer service rep then chimed in with almost the same exact cut and paste greeting, took the same amount of time to do a quick search then came right back saying that she would have to schedule a return. Really? I have to break down this hundred fifty pound bed, rebox it, and wait days for the swap out, over a couple of loose wires? That seemed like way too big of a waste of time and resources, so I snapped and told this person that the whole thing was ridiculous and then disconnected the chat.
Minutes later I received an email informing me that I Amazon add a hundred dollar credit to my account for not being able to resolve my issue. This pretty much goes against yesterday’s assignment where I was supposed to actively show more of my appreciation toward others, yet here I got this reward for acting up. That said, I wasn’t appreciative of their attempt to help because the first guy used this as an opportunity to attempt to upsell me a product that wouldn’t work. To add insult to injury, the second representative started the whole thing out by telling me to try to click on the “Get Help” link to get me in touch with someone who could help, which was how I started this process in the first place.
I can’t stand customer service these days to the point where I’m don’t even appreciate the poor undertrained staff's efforts. When I clicked on the “Get Help” button, I was expecting to get an expert not a couple of clueless kids searching around on the internet. I don’t appreciate the scripted sounding responses that, more often than not, make suggestions for solutions that I clearly stated I tried and it didn’t work. This is why I couldn’t do customer service myself, I would be able to live with myself while working at a company that consistently made me look like a jerk.
Other than that, I spent most of yesterday alone in my room doing work. I did head in to watch TV with the family at one point, but I don’t know if I would say that I came across as appreciative. Not that I was unappreciative, it’s just that nothing really came up to show evidence either way. I knew this would be the case going into the day so I’m happy to at least have the above story about the bed.
Oh yeah, speaking of bed, I eventually figured out a way to get the wires to remain in place, but the solution involves knots and strings and is not an actual fix. It’s good enough though because the bed now works and it’s impressively comfortable. I also forgot to mention the coolest feature of the bed which is the fact that the remote has a built-in flashlight that came in extremely handy while I was crawling around double checking the wiring system.
Alright, enough with the bed, let’s move on to today’s assignment which isn’t task-based but instead I’m just supposed to think of how I respond to life’s struggles. This was a lesson that focused on how you can either give up or work through the issues until you triumph. Again, if the over two decades worth of constant work while chasing my dreams isn’t enough evidence as to whether or not I give up or continue on I don’t know what else I could give.
With no real task at hand, we’ll have to see how I handle tomorrows post, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out to share. Until then, it’s now time for me to wrap this one up with my usual saying of, good day and good luck to you and all of your projects.
Talk to you soon.
Sincerely,
The Wicker Breaker
P.S. Below are links to my novel, which I plan to promote as part of Operation Achieve Anything, as well as a link to where you can buy the book that is providing the structure to this project in case you would like to purchase it in order to play along.
