Friday, April 12, 2019

The Blame Game


In basketball camp, we use the mirror drill to let kids watch each other shoot and then make corrections. We can't see ourselves so we need another pair of eyes. We film the kids shooting, too; many of them for the first time witness their form. It isn't pretty for some but they need their eyes opened. So did I, as the following story from January 6, 2006, will attest.

My phone life is a mess. It started when I thought there would be a chance for me to get a computer so I would need to have the Internet at home. My phone company was MCI which is not an Internet provider. My dad recently changed his phone and computer line to SBC and was satisfied so that was good enough for me. I am a former SBC customer and they always try to get you back so the next time they called, I was more than willing to make a deal. The switchover day was December 16. At about that time, I tried to call my folks in St. Louis. I got that irritating recorded message that said, "We're sorry but the network is currently not working." I was in a hurry so I simply used a Wal-Mart phone card which it accepted. Over the next several days, the same thing happened. On top of that, people kept telling they had called but I was not home when I knew I was home so that made me really mad! My holiday plans took me to Missouri for two weeks but I resolved to get it fixed as soon as I returned to Houston. 

When I flew back to Texas this Tuesday, I called up the SBC customer service line and after pushing a sequence of numbers/options and then being put on hold, I talked to a nice lady who told me it had to be the fault of QWEST which is my long distance provider. I told her it was just too coincidental that the problems started at the time when they switched me back. She was insistent that there were no problems on the SBC end. I called QWEST and the same thing- numbers, options, on hold, and finally another nice representative. She gave me a series of test numbers to call but she was sure the problem was caused by SBC. I called back to SBC and I went through it again, this time with a different person. There still was no answer as to why my phone wouldn't ring. This past Wednesday, I was contacting our school to have someone phone me to see if I could receive incoming calls. I just happened to take a close look at my telephone and I noticed......the ringer was switched to OFF. I had accidentally, in effect, disconnected my own phone. I had been quick to blame SBC and QWEST. The root of my misfortune was right where it always is. All I had to do was look in the mirror.

Applicable quote of the day:
"The search for someone to blame is always successful."
Robert Half

God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1
http://www.hawleybooks.com/

E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

1 comment:

Devin Raechelle said...

Hey coach
jon Its on