Sending Karma With A Mute Button

It was one of the sneakier things I've done in a while but it taught me a lot about motivation. You see, I've been spending a lot of time speaking with my insurance company. There's been some little problems that should be easy to fix but aren't.

During a recent call, I explained the problem to the same person for the third time. I could tell that she just didn't understand the problem, so I asked if there was a supervisor or a "fixer" with whom I could talk to.

I was reluctantly transfered to someone but the original operator stayed on the call. Right from the start, I could tell the mood was hostile and that I wouldn't get any assistance. I was told that there wasn't anything else that could be done, that I should hang up, and that the two operators would stay on the line to talk about something.

I was curious, so I didn't hang up. Instead I hit the mute button. The two operators then started to discuss me and my call in unflattering terms. I let this go on for about a minute and then I unmuted my phone.

"Ladies, I'm still on the call," I said. "That's an interesting approach to customer service."

There was silence on the other two lines. I can now report that my ongoing problem suddenly became solvable.