"Yes, I'll hold."

Just when you think you've accomplished some task and can cross it off the list for good, something happens to set things back. Next thing you know, you lose 2 hours rectifying something you thought was history.

Have you ever had something you take for granted suddenly demand hours to get it back on track? Here is an example. I called my phone provider about a feature on my plan and discovered that they had not received my electronuc fund transfer to pay the bill on time. It turns out that my bank puts a paper check in the SNAIL MAIL when I ask the funds be sent from my account. But I know my bank deducts those funds the minute I request that bill be paid. The kind operator explained that it can take up to FIVE days for the money to arrive at their desk from the date on the check!
"I had no idea that you weren't getting the funds electronically shortly after I send them," I said. "So the bank is using my money during that float. That doesn't seem ethical. ...Yes, I'll hold."
Kindly, the phone company credited back the late fees. They suggested that if I continue to use my bank'sbill pay system that I send the payments a week earlier.
Another phone call to my bank and more time being transferred and on hold verified that the bank uses a third party to cut checks and mail them as part of my "electronic" bill pay service.So I canceled the payments and set up a new system directly with the phone carrier via credit  card.
And there went an hour that I had not planned on spending.

I refuse to let this time drain get me down. I accomplished something. Life is full of such tasks. Slowly, the wheels of our lives grind forward even when we doubt. Perhaps my kindness to the phone operator will translate in a further kindness to someone else in her life. Her kindness to me helped me be patient with the next faceless employee I dealt with at my bank.