First, I will continue my Month of Thanks. I've had good feedback from this little project, and I am considering doing something similar in December. That is still in the works and may or may not come to fruition, though if it does, you will be the first to read it!
November 6: I'm thankful for take out restaurant computers that pull up your address when you give your phone number, saving me at least 2 minutes of spelling and respelling my street name.
November 7: I'm thankful for craft store t-shirts.
November 8: I'm thankful for best friends and baby boys that love me.
November 9: I'm thankful for the stomach bug that has kept me home from work today, allowing me the time to support a great friend going through a rough patch.
November 10: I'm thankful that people who understand health care and the insurance industry are making their voices heard and working directly with a local senator to try to fix the plethora of problems in the House bill that was passed on Saturday.
November 11: I'm thankful for all who gave their time, energy, expertise and life so that I may enjoy freedom. I'm also thankful that I am not an idiot. These two things are totally unrelated.
November 12: I'm thankful for temperatures staying well above freezing, thus preventing the current Nor'easter from snowing me in and cancelling my vacation.
And now, on to volunteering for RESOLVE
Many of you have probably heard of RESOLVE, but for those who haven't, it is the National Infertility Association. Having been through infertility and looking for positive projects in my life, I decided to volunteer for RESOLVE.
What I really wanted to do was be a Peer Group Leader; however, I can't commit to a year long leadership role when I could very possibly be on bedrest and giving birth within a year's time. Instead, I'm currently a helpline volunteer and also on the list to contact for ad hoc work. So far, I have had no ad hoc work requests and only two messages in four weeks (five days of work) on the helpline to return. I try very hard to be a kind and giving person, but sometimes that all falls by the wayside and my Inner Bitch comes out.
On my first night as a helpline volunteer, I picked up two messages from the same woman left within minutes of each other. In the first message, she paused for about 30 seconds so I was totally unsure if she hung up or was just momentarily struck dumb. Turns out it was the latter. I picked up the second message and she basically repeated the exact same message she had just left minutes before, but without the confusing pause. I listened to what information she was looking for, went to the RESOLVE website to be prepared for her question and called her back.
Why, oh why, on my first night of volunteering, which by the way happens to be my first time volunteering for anything, did I have to deal with someone who was so utterly maddening? She printed out a list of Peer Groups from the website in her area, but didn't know when they met. That didn't bother me, as the site is confusing on this matter. What did bother me was when I directed her to the online calendar and she told me she had been there, but didn't understand it. It's a calendar. It has links. Find the group on the calendar, click the link and voila! instant information! She then continued to ask me to find the groups on her list and tell her the contact info and when and where they meet. Annoyed, but trying to be a good volunteer, I looked up the information and gave it to her. -- At this point, I began to grow restless. --
She was also wondering about mental health professionals and if RESOLVE endorses anyone. No, they don't endorse anyone, but doctors and therapists can choose to have their contact information listed on the site. I directed her to this information. She was once again confused and asked if I could print it out and send it in the mail to her. Really? I offered to email her the link so she could get the information she was looking for immediately. No dice. Fine. -- Restlessness turned into repressed annoyance. --
She then moved on to fertility clinic listings. Again, I tried to direct her to the page where she could input her zip code and a radius to search in. "Can you send that to me in the mail as well?" *sigh* At this point I decided that resistance was futile and printed the facility name/address listing of fertility clinics in a 50 mile radius of her home. -- Now, I'm pissed. --
We hung up. I was thoroughly annoyed while printing all of the information and expressed this annoyance to DH in not-so-pleasant terms. He reminded me to think of how I felt when we were first diagnosed as infertile - how upset I was, how confused I was by all of the information, how vulnerable I felt. See? Inner Bitch strikes again.
To counteract the negative karma, I looked up all of the phone numbers to the clinics and wrote them in for her.
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1 comment:
I have to say.....I would probably find the caller maddening too, and my DH would probably respond just as yours did....I guess we find the spouses we need for balance. I love your month of thanks.
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