Stories From My Past: In All Things

"In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
    1 Thessalonians 5:18

I used to work Technical Support. I was the poor dork you'd call when your computer upgrade didn't work out right.

I've heard it all. There were a few folks who were genuinely polite and thankful for the assistance. There were plenty willing to dish out a "by association" guilt trip, where the customer knows I'm not at fault but is going to yell anyway. There was plenty of furious screaming, as if I personally was responsible for the customer's bad experience.

And once, there was quite possibly the only guy who actually read that "give thanks in all things" Bible verse and put it into practice.

Right from the beginning, it wasn't a normal support call. "I bought this sound card," he explained. "I hooked it up, [techie details], and praise God it's not working."

I could hear him smile as he said "praise God". He continued, "We're gonnna be using this for [plans], but praise God we're stuck right now."

There was no sarcasm in his voice at all. It continued throughout the call. "Advanced Settings... yeah, praise God that's showing an error." Every time, I could tell he was smiling as he said it. He actually meant it.

I heard his wife in the background. "Have you got it fixed yet?" "Not yet," he replied. "We're gonna have a big long distance bill, praise God."

During reboots, he'd tell me stories. "I got cut on some rusty metal about 3 months back, so praise God my tetanus shots are up to date. I'm still a little sore, but... Oh! Praise God, a General Protection Fault!"

We eventually got his computer working, which earned a predictable response.

I think about that call every now and then. I'm pretty sure I should have learned a lesson from it, but praise God I'm not sure I did.