FRUSTRATION! Yep, we had better get used to being frustrated by inefficiency! From what we have read on Panama forums and other blogs , living in Panama or any other South or Central American country for that matter , can be rather frustrating at times. But! Wait! We are still living in good old’ U.S . Of A, and holy moly, did we feel the sting of frustrating inefficiency yesterday!
We simply wanted to cancel our AT&T Uverse cable but keep the DSL which was advertised for $34.99 per month. Seemed like a fairly simple request, and we speak the same language as the customer service agent soooooo why did such a simple transaction take a better part of an hour to complete? Well, I have no answer to that mystery but it got me thinking about how much we had read about this very subject from other expats living abroad. When we initially arrive in our new town we will , presumably have many services to establish in order to set up our new home. Electricity, water, cell phone providers, Internet , Tv and banking accounts, just to name a few off the top of my head. And let’s not forget, our Spanish is farrrrr from fluent, so whoever is trying to deal with us may be frustrated by the inefficiency of our grasp of their language, ha, ha! We expect to run into many issues and often frustrating inefficiencies. The whole,” mañana ” thing will likely cause some serious eye rolling from these Gringos. But I for one, plan to remember that frustrating inefficiency abounds everywhere! The thing that kept Scott and me sane yesterday during that long, long telephone call for such a simple transaction, was a sense of humor! Yep! We were laughing at how absurd and unbelievable the situation was. So I’m sure there will be moments when we are tired and frustrated but hopefully patience and humor will override anger and frustration! Maybe “Deep Breathing”, too?
Great attitude! You will need tons of patience and un buen sentido del humor to deal with many challenges. I’m glad to see that you both can laugh about what for other couples would be a reason to get upset.
Lol! Yes, laughter is indeed good for the soul! 😃…….also a touch of patience and a good “eye roll” at times never hurts!!! Lol!!!
Yes, humor keeps us sane! And it’s much preferred to anger or impatience! Life’s too short to be nasty in the face of frustration, for sure! Let’s just all be nice! That’s my motto!✨
Yup—-deep breathing is always good!! I agree with you—inefficiency which breeds frustration abounds everywhere!! I experienced some of both yesterday while dealing with a doctor’s office and trying to make an appointment!! Hang in there–looks like you’re making progress!
Yes, life is just constantly filled with opportunities to practice deep breathing! And I’ve got that ‘Crazy Lady Laugh’ down when all else fails! Wahahaha !!😜
Hopefully you won’t have to deal with AT&T in Panama! I don’t think I’ve ever had an issue with them take less than an hour on the phone. Lol!
Certainly not AT&T but I suspect there will be frustrating phone calls in our future, except they will be in Spanish and the customer service representative will be doing the deep breathing! Let’s just hope everyone has a sense of humor!😳
Just remember Grandma Doris saying “Lets all be happy happy happy” That in itself drove me NUTS” Hang in there 🙂 I am sure you will be tried over and over again just remember to BREATH 🙂
Love Mom XXXXOOOO