Have a Great Day, Neighbour!

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Ever had one of those enormously frustrating days where absolutely nothing goes as it should? 

After waiting for nearly six weeks, I attended a very disappointing appointment yesterday. I had been almost looking forward to it in the hope that it would bring a resolution to an ongoing medical issue that I’ve been having, only to be called ‘darling,’ talked at for five minutes and then be told that what I needed should have been done by the person who referred me six weeks ago, which she hasn’t been able to do because of the condition that has warranted the referral in the first place. I left, and upon attempting to ring (and failing) to contact the original person who referred me, I physically turned up to speak to them, only to be told to ring the following morning for an appointment. This was followed by an attempt to contact a complaints service who told me they couldn’t help without listening to what my complaint was, another phone call to a different complaints service who stated that the original complaints service were the people to contact, with instructions that if they ignored me a second time I was to ring the second place back again and then THEY would ring them. I eventually achieved a minor success with the first complaints service after threatening them with a phone call from the second service if they ignored me again, and after taking down a note of my complaint they told me to ring the place I had the appointment at yesterday morning, which resulted in switchboard sending me to the wrong department twice and cutting me off once. Just over six hours after my appointment, I received a return phone call in response to my complaint, upon which I was told that nothing can be resolved until I book an appointment at the original place and get the tests that I needed.

Confused? So was I.

Twelve phone calls, four different services, a whole bunch of stress (and a few tears) later, I found myself no further on than I was at the beginning of January, I took the day off work for nothing and was beyond furious.

Suffice to say, I was feeling a bit low this morning. However, I managed to get an early morning appointment and as I was walking down the street I passed a man who was putting his rubbish in the bin outside of his house. He smiled and said ‘Good morning neighbour, hope you have a great day.’ My inner cynic checked for sarcasm, but he actually seemed to be quite genuine. I smiled back and said ‘you too, lovely’ and he said ‘thanks! It’s a beautiful day!’ 

After the frustrating events of yesterday I was feeling low and struggling a bit this morning, but that single message from a complete stranger immediately cheered me up.

How lovely it would be if everyone did that for someone else regularly, and how sad that I had to question and analyse before I accepted a genuine comment…

27 thoughts on “Have a Great Day, Neighbour!”

  1. Oh Suzie, your issues with multiple points of contact for one thing sounds like my problems with my car service yesterday!
    Breathing through the stress and tiredness now!
    Hope you get a resolution though to what is worrying you xxx

    • It’s such a pain isn’t it! You’re being passed around from pillar to post and nobody can give a specific answer… luckily my GP is a bit of legend so my appointment this morning was good! Did you get your car service sorted yesterday?

      • Glad you had a positive appointment hun!
        It took another day for the car issues. In fact just waiting for it to be delivered back now. Not ideal with Lil Princess’s birthday tomorrow and so many things I couldn’t do today… And I’m £370 lighter… That’s another few months ill be waiting to sort book business out…

  2. I’m so sorry about getting the run around, Suzie. How frustrating indeed. I am happy that the neighbor’s well wishes happened just at the right time. I think this is why we’ll never know how much impact we have on others. To the person who we smile at walking by, or what happened to you with your neighbor putting out the trash bins and saying hello. Thank you for the reminder my dear. And I do hope you get everything sorted! Big hugs from across the pond, Cher xo

  3. There is NOTHING more frustrating that getting stuck in “the system” that seems designed to frustrate and disappoint the very people the “system” was designed to help…it’s great that a ray of sunshine, in the form of a friendly comment, gave you a bit of hope!

  7. Have you ever watched a dog running in circles chasing its tail?

    What happened to you sounds like running in circles.

    I went through something similar with Sears once. My experience with the run-around wasn’t a health issue and I didn’t run in circles as long as you did but every number I called at Sears told me the problem I was having wasn’t their responsibility and they referred me to another Sears number. Eventually, I was referred back to the first number I called. That was when I decided enough was enough and I’d never shop at Sears again. It was a few hours wasted and not the whole day.

    Soon after that experience, Sears started on its long road of what seems like endless financial problems and ankruptcies. I’d like to think I had something to do with that but suspect I wasn’t the only victim of the Sears run-around.

    I hope you resolve this issue soon without being given the run-around again.

      • Thank you, but no reason to be sorry. I consider every experience like this one with Sears to be a learning experience, and because of that event, Sears lost a customer for life.

        Who knows, maybe this type of abusive, incompetent management style is the real reason Sears is a shrinking company headed for the trash can after a final bankruptcy. If they keep abusing customers and losing them, Sears is doomed. I do not think I’m the only customer that went through something like this. Sears and its leadership and stockholders deserve what happens to them if Sears sinks into the bottomless quicksand it built.

  8. Sometimes that’s all it takes to turn your day around. And if someone can do that for us, we can do it for someone else and twice-blessed. Good luck and I hope things get resolved soon.

  9. OMG! I would have hung up in tears!
    So glad today was better. Perhaps, your neighbour had something to do with that 🙂

  10. Like this post for the neighbour’s comment 🙂 Unlike the medical establishment, more than ever we all need to be aware of our rights and have the energy to gain that care. For most that need it, are usually lacking energy and perhaps time to fight. Good for you that you stood your ground and got the issue resolved or on the way to being solved.

  11. We all go through experiences like that, Suzie and, when things do go wrong, they can quickly escalate. So it’s good that you were even able to see the comment for what it really was. We should all smile a bit more and be pleasant to the people we come into contact with. I’m reminded of the Spike Milligan poem Smiling Is Infectious (here’s a link if you haven’t read it: https://www.miketurnerphotos.co.uk/smile-a-poem-by-spike-milligan/). Hope everything gets resolved soon.

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