I am going to tell you know what can happen with my emotions in just one day, these seems to present my "hot buttons" perfectly.
I went to to an optician yesterday, for the first time in 15 years. (I have always had some problems with my sight, but it was OK to cope without any corrective glasses; only recently my age has added to that challenge and I though that it may be good to do something about it). So I went to a "posh" eye care centre, because my family used to go there before. It was a nicely presenting practice, with convenient waiting area, I was being offered coffee while waiting. The reception ladies were a bit earnest, but I managed to disarm them with some humour interwoven in the conversation while they were registering me as a patient. My nose smelled something potentially wrong there, but my reason told my intuition to shut up, as there was no evidence, and I may have been getting paranoic.
Then a lovely young lady came to ask some details, and took me to a dark room to check the basic eyesight, intraocular pressure, photos of the fundus, etc. I connected to her right away, and it was a pleasure (so far).
And then I was taken to the doctor's office. He appeared a few minutes later, and that was the end of the nice day. First, the way he looked was disgusting. He was not dirty, but just the way he dressed and groomed - I am not sure if I can describe it properly, but he looked as if he did not care. Everything was in brownish-beige colour, and looked as if unpressed and worn out. His hair was uncut recently, and overall he gave me an impression of a man that had no control or vision of himself (do not get me wrong - I am completely not into trends or labels, or excessive grooming, I would not mind him not being shaved as long as it all as it was a part of his style). So I thought, well, maybe it is his style, let's see. He may be a great person.
And then he started speaking to me. He spoke to be as if I were a complete idiot, using his standard script, and explaining things as one would perhaps to a 5-year old child (even that could be done better). He spoke about a few options, and I said I wanted to try one, so he went somewhere, brought a pair of contact lenses, put them in my eyes. My distant vision was perfect, but my near vision became horrible. He said that I needed reading glasses. When I told him that I would prefer progressive contact lenses, because I do not want to be bothered with glasses, he said they did not have them. I knew they were available, but he apparently did not care. I felt unconvinced. I felt ignored, and that no one wanted to really listen to my needs and help me there. Then he clearly wanted to go, because he asked if I had any other questions in such way that left me no doubt. I told that to the ladies who were teaching me how to put the lenses into my eyes and how to take them out, they tried to remedy that by not charging me for the lenses. Of course, it helped, but I was so angry - I wasted several hours of time and did not get what I wanted.
I checked once again on line, and the progressive lenses I wanted seemed to be available. On the way back home, my wife had an idea that we go to Costco, as they had very nice optical department there with good prices. So we did.
Of course, at Costco one does not get the luxuries of the 'posh' opticians. But when I explained what I was interested in, the lady who was helping me asked the manager. And that was a fantastic experience. The lady checked their catalogues, explained to me in detail what can be available, that they have to order the lenses for fitting, etc. She was friendly, nice, connecting personally to me and my wife, genuinly interested. A whole different approach to customer service. I was so glad about going there. I ordered a pair of glasses too.
I do not need to tell you who my optician will most likely be going forward.
The reason I am writing about it here is to show you how my emotions went through a full swing, from being disappointed, angry and desperate, to being happy and satisfied. I have been through similar situations many times in my life, and I was always trying to ignore any emotions underneath and just suck it up and stay with my initial choice, especially when it was based on some logic and reason. After a while, my emotions would explode. Yesterday I did something simple and different - I did not express my anger and did not expect others to change, but I just managed it myself by actively changing the circumstances.
It also showed me how important it is for me to interact in a personal way that suits me. The ability to connect personally to the staff at Costco, receiving their full attention and quality information, is worth 100x more than the velvet sofas of the waiting area at the posh eye care centre.
But there must be people who value the latter more - otherwise that business would have no customers? I would be curious to listen to your views.
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