
Twice this week I’ve felt the frustration of trying to communicate with a faceless monster. First with the bank that kept locking me out of my account. They would get back and explain the problem, they said. But they didn’t. After a long struggle with digital voices and complaints procedures, the problem was solved.
Then with our new Virgin Media(VM) installation. VM told us that the inside installation would happen next week but engineers would call beforehand we were told, to connect the vital outside cable!
On Tuesday morning, a knock at the door brought network engineers to set up the outside VM connection – or so we thought! They tested the connection, told us that all was fine – and left!
Thursday morning – another knock at the door – same network company but a different pair of engineers - Virgin Media to set up our outside connection. But it’s already been done, we protested!
‘We know nothing about that and they shouldn’t have been here. We’ll tell our boss!’ said the engineer who told us his name was Mickey.
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The blame culture took over but went nowhere! He phoned his boss. ‘Management aren’t organising things very well,’ he told us! He blamed the manager. The manager blamed the first lot of colleagues. The job was done but will we get an explanation? Probably not. Customer service matters less than the bottom line
These were small incidents and no great problem for us. First world problems you might say! But we know we are far from alone in feeling this sense of being caught up in corporate ‘communication’ systems so complex that, even if you manage to speak to a human being, it’s hard to find anyone who can explain what’s going on or be held responsible for anything. ‘We apologise for any inconvenience,’ they say, but compensation is rarely forthcoming and it all sounds fairly hollow. Such are the everyday experiences of dealing with faceless inhuman corporate machines of all kinds.
This may seem naïve, but it seems to me that one of the most important tasks for all of us these days is to hang on to our humanity as lovingly as we can. And one of the best ways I know of doing that is through conversation. As the old BT motto said, It's good to talk'. Conversations with people who are like us and conversations with people who are not, honest conversations, thoughtful conversations where there is speaking and listening and questioning especially between people who are different can keep us human. In a world where blame of ‘the other’ dominates a great deal of political discourse and social media communication, the human skills of good conversation leading to understanding and a richer life are under threat, especially between people who don’t naturally find connection easy.
Last night, I watched a lecture by the Scottish theologian, Revd Dr John Swinton, Restorative Presence, creating spaces for healing and paths to belonging. Swinton is encouraging Christians to create safe spaces where people can conduct conversations with those who are different from them, especially that increasing number of people with mental health issues. Clearly, none of us can change the corporate juggernauts but we can all keep talking and listening to people who are different as we create small supportive microclimates where true humanity can flourish and grow.
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