LADY ON THE PHONE: “Sir, we are calling from Bajaj Finance and we have a very good scheme for you…”
ME (interrupting): “Madam, I am really sorry to interrupt you. I understand you have my best interests in mind and I know you are only doing your job and you want to sell me your credit card or personal loan but honestly I do not have any such requirement right now. I promise you if I have any such need in the future I will contact your company and nobody else but I would genuinely appreciate if you remove my number from your calling list because keeping on calling me 10 times a day will simply be a waste of your time.
LADY: “OK Sir, I will put your number on our DND list.”
ME: “Madam, my number was already on your DND list but suddenly from yesterday the calls have started again. But thank you so much for your support. I really appreciate it.”
(Then I hung up – sorry bhi bol diya, thank you bhi bol diya, that too dil se.. felt really good about myself.)
60 seconds later (I swear), phone rings again:
(ANOTHER) LADY ON THE PHONE: “Sir, we are calling from Bajaj Finance and we have a very good scheme for you…”
ME: “Madam, really sorry to interrupt you. Just 60 seconds earlier I spoke to your executive, can you please check your system…”
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Every day, life gives you opportunities to practice being calm, being compassionate, being kind, being loving, being empathetic. And you can be a Pro in being all this, but you cannot practice this in front of the mirror.
You need real people with whom you can practice this. And when people are a nuisance, when they are self-centered or outright rude, when they are ungrateful or when they are not the way you want them to be, the practice session is harder but it improves you in your game of life phenomenally.
I’m sure Sachin Tendulkar got more practice dealing with bouncers by facing one over of Shoiab Akhtar than he could have got in 2 hours of net practice.
The game is on boss. Bouncers will come at you thick and fast. Everyday and sometimes every hour. Watch out for mothers-in-law.. they are specialists in googlies! But bouncers or googlies, the more you face them, the more practice you will get.
Today I got not one but two practice sessions already. I’m praying I get more in the rest of the evening!
Food for thought: Who did God send for you as YOUR practice partner today? Did you use your practice sessions well?
Sometimes your practice partner is an irritating call-centre executive, sometimes a careless maid servant, sometimes a disrespectful child, sometimes a rude spouse, sometimes an arrogant boss.
Sometimes it is a 120 nano metre virus.
Did you thank God for your practice partner today?