I received a call Wednesday afternoon for someone wanting to talk to my husband. This person was someone that the hubby knew, but I had never talked to in my life. She started rattling off her phone number before I had a chance to grab a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. I said, "you gave me that number so fast, can you give me it again?" Her response back was, "didn't your husband "train" you to take messages?" Wow, I was caught so off-guard by what she said that I didn't say anything. First of all, she never once asked me who I was (I guess she assumed I was the wife). Second, I felt that what she said in regards to my husband "training" me was kind of offensive. If I knew her, maybe she could say something like that. She doesn't know me from a hole in the wall. Lastly, after I told her that I would send my husband a message at work through e-mail to let him know that she called, she made a comment about my husband that was out of line too. This isn't the first time that I've been caught off-guard by someone. Lauren tells me I "shut down" when someone says something that I don't know how to respond to. I have never been one to think quickly on my feet that way. I can usually think of something after the fact that I should have said, but by then it's too late! When the hubby came home and I explained more in detail what this woman said, he at first didn't think it was a huge deal. A little while later, he said how I might have been bothered, especially since I didn't know the woman. I told him that this woman's boss should know the way she talks to people on the phone. I was a receptionist and I answered the phones as part of my job. I never would have talked to a client's family member like that. When you answer the phone for a business, you are the one that gives the first impression of a company. I never in a million years would have asked someone if their spouse had "trained" them on how to answer the phone. I guess this person thought she was being funny, and maybe I was being a little overly sensitive, but it was still rude! How do you handle things when you're caught off-guard? do you "shut down?" or do you have a witty retort at the ready??
When Dominic was diagnosed with Autism at 2 1/2, I went to our local library and took out every book I could find about Autism. Sometimes I would bring back 20 books. This was 2006, so a lot of the information was very "dated." I guess I was looking for a book that would tell me what I should do next, like a "manual." Autism doesn't quite work that way! The saying is, " if you know one person with Autism, you know one person with Autism." Every mom to an individual with Autism follows their own "path." I think as moms, we judge ourselves much harder than anyone else does. I was 41 when I had Dominic. Did he get the diagnosis of Autism because I was an older mom? because I drank a lot of pop? I could sit and think about that every minute of every day. I am pretty integrated into the Autism community around Lansing and have told more than one person that it took me about two weeks to come to terms with Dominic's diagnosis. It is so incredib...
Very rude of her to use "training". I do the same thing you do. I don't think of a good response until I finished talking with the rude person.
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