So today The Pods arrived, which was a bit of a surprise, since I had arranged for only one pod to arrive today. The woman driving the truck checked her paperwork, then looked up at me quizzically.

“You only wanted one?”

I explained to her the brilliant solution that I had fallen into the other day, suggested by her company’s customer service agent. I would have one pod arrive today, then when I filled it up, the truck would drop off two empty pods and deliver the filled one to a local storage facility until all three boxes were ready to ship to North Carolina.

She listened to me explain all of this, and then replied:

“Well you know, if we send the truck out a second time, you’re going to get charged a second delivery fee.”

Oh no, I explained. That was the beautiful part. The woman on the phone had reassured me that I wouldn’t have to pay the second delivery charge.

She looked back at me, and didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Let me check with my dispatcher.”

She got on her phone for a few moments and chatted with her dispatcher. When she came back to talk to me she confirmed:

If the truck came twice, I would have to pay for two deliveries.

So…I got a little frustrated. My voice gained an edge. I started asking barbed questions (like: “Why do you suppose your customer service agent would lie to me like that?”) I probably had my arms crossed tightly on my chest the whole conversation.

And the truck driver? She just listened to me. She asked me if I still wanted just one pod delivered now or all three. She assured me that what her dispatcher told her was correct, but I should go ahead and call back customer service.

And then she carried on with doing her job and started to unload the pod.

I went into the house for a little while and started to reflect on what had just happened. I had expected one thing to happen, and something else was happening instead. I was rightfully frustrated, but had started to take it out on the wrong person. And how did that person respond?

Not at all.

She managed to let me vent my emotions without becoming reactive at all. She seemed to get that my emotions had nothing to do with her at all. That’s an amazing skill, and one that I still need to practice often if I am to learn it well.

I went back outside, and the truck driver had just finished setting down the pod with a forklift. I made some small talk with her. We laughed a bit. I apologized for getting frustrated, and she told me she understood.

She obviously did.