I’m beginning to wonder if patience and acceptance are the two most challenging lessons I have to learn in this lifetime. That’s only because it seems that just when I feel like I’m really stating to master either of them, something happens in my life to show me I still have a long way to go for both. And most recently, that became clear to me when I clashed with UPS.
Whether I‘m going to use UPS or FedEx is never something I find I have to ponder these days. Usually I’m just at the whim of whatever package carrier is being used by those I order from online. About a week ago though, UPS was the carrier being utilized for a new mattress I ordered from Overstock.com and was going to be delivered by them to my new residence in Ohio. Unfortunately the day they were going to be doing that was not one I was going to be around for. This prompted me to contact UPS and ask if they could put a note on the package to have it be delivered around the back of the house outside of plain view due to the sheer size of it. I never would have expected the result of that inquiry to be something that would pose such a challenge for my levels of patience and acceptance of things outside my control.
What I discovered over several phone calls was that approximately four weeks ago, UPS implemented a new system called MyChoice. They informed me that it, and not them, was the one now responsible to handle these type of tasks, including the one I was asking them to do. As I had them guide me through the steps online to sign up for this free system, I kept receiving error messages indicating it wasn’t able to verify me. Upon further inspection, the agent asked me if I was new at this residence and I promptly replied I was. When I was told that I’d have to wait for at least three to six months to be established at that residence before the system would be able to verify me, I asked if they had a workaround to handle my request. The long and short of it after talking to various agents, technical support staff, and a supervisor is that they didn’t. What’s even worse was my realization that the system verification could take even longer for me than that time frame, or maybe even never at all. That’s only because it’s my partner’s house and I don’t have any bills being established in my name there. As for everything else I receive these days from companies I deal with, all of that comes online. Needless to say, I lost my cool a few times over several of these conversations, especially when I was told the only solution was to leave a note on the door for this package and all future packages from them.
Whether you may be able to believe this or not, I’m actually grateful that all of this happened to me. It truly showed how I still have a lot more work to do in those areas of patience and acceptance of things outside my control. There are times my ego has tried to elevate my thinking lately into believing that I’m some type of spiritual guru when in fact, I’m not. This is one of those times that I really love remembering this saying I heard a long time ago in my Buddhism studies:
“Just when you really think you are starting to know everything, the reality is that you know nothing at all…”
I thank my Higher Power today for helping me to see the areas I still have room to grow in such as this. I think it’s important for me to have daily reminders like this because they all help me to keep growing closer to the Light.
While UPS does have a serious loophole in their system that needs to be addressed, the people I spoke with there were not the cause or source of my impatience and lack of acceptance. I was and I definitely have some more work to do in these areas. The good thing though is knowing what one of my teachers once told in that a true test of someone growing spiritually is being able to admit when they are wrong. I freely can admit that in this case and I send out my forgiveness to both UPS and myself for my actions. In the meantime, I also have come to the acceptance that a note on my door for the UPS driver will have to do for now…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
