{"id":84,"date":"2013-04-22T06:16:09","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T06:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/?p=84"},"modified":"2014-01-22T11:07:56","modified_gmt":"2014-01-22T11:07:56","slug":"airing-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robinbotie.com\/blog\/airing-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Airing Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BLOG041713\"<\/a>My mother used to say something like, \u201cDon\u2019t hang your dirty laundry for all the world to see.\u201d I never knew exactly what that meant but assumed I should keep shady little secrets to myself. Of which I didn\u2019t really have any. But I did have feelings. Strong ugly scratchy feelings that lurked low in my gut. I thought I could keep that dirty laundry to myself.<\/p>\n

Those feelings though, they\u2019re messy and often uncontainable. They drip out when I don\u2019t even know it. Like when I\u2019m on the phone for what seems like forever with some anonymous guy somewhere across the world.<\/p>\n

The Verizon Tech Support guy is trying to talk me through getting back my lost internet connection. Only I don\u2019t know the difference between a modem and a browser. And I can\u2019t find the blasted yellow-bell icon or the folder of applications. Suddenly the downloads are flying in a line across the screen like a clothesline of tiny white sheets in a breeze.<\/p>\n

The tech says, \u201cPut the yellow-bell icon in the folder, ma\u2019am,\u201d and I lose the icon. I lose my reserve. When I finally figure it out he says, \u201cThe ten minutes have expired, ma\u2019am,\u201d and then we have to go through the whole process again with a new code and a different password. And I cry but don\u2019t dare let him know that I\u2019m wiping tears that drip from my hot face onto the keyboard. We\u2019ve been at this for hours.robin botie having a bad day online with Verizon tech support<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you there?\u201d I ask frantically. \u201cAre you still there?\u201d There is silence. And then I hear choking, a sob, and sniffling over the phone. \u201cAre you laughing or crying,\u201d I boldly ask in a timid voice. He coughs.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are absolutely right, ma\u2019am,\u201d he says in his exotic accent that half the time I don\u2019t understand and have to pipe up to interrupt and beg pardon.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me? Excuse me? I\u2019m sorry, can you say that again more slowly please?\u201d Now the technician apologizes, says he is transferring me to his manager. I manage a small, \u201cWell, thank you for your patience,\u201d with a question mark at the end. And then there is a new voice on the line. And a new window is up on the screen and it won\u2019t accept my old password. And in less than two minutes this new manager hangs up on me.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you there? Are you still there?\u201d<\/p>\n

After sitting for a while in shock and shame, I fool around with where I\u2019ve been left, with a million windows open on the computer. I enter a new password just for the hell of it, because I\u2019m shot now and there\u2019s not much left to lose.<\/p>\n

And in very little time I\u2019m back online. Still stunned, I decide to try something else I never do. On Facebook I post a photo of myself tearing my hair out in front of a tree. It looks a bit like Edvard Munch’s painting, “The Scream.” And then I air my dirty laundry to my whole internet world: \u201cI just spent hours on the phone with Verizon Tech Support and I\u2019m miserable.\u201d But I don\u2019t say I made the poor guy cry.<\/p>\n

What gets you to give up and give out?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mother used to say something like, “Don’t hang your dirty laundry for all the world to see.” I never knew exactly what that meant but assumed I should keep shady little secrets to myself. Of which I didn’t really have any. But I did have feelings. Strong ugly scratchy feelings that lurked low in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-25"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t