HappyUP!!! Day 2 Jan 2007

Was this ever a good call to put myself on the HappyUP!!! program this week! - because, even though I know this stuff like the back of my hand, it is good for a disciplined refresher a couple of times a year.

You see, we humans are a funny breed - homeostasis kicks in. You know.....this is when we tend to revert back to old comfortable habits. Without the extra HappyUP!!! boost, a very trying day today would have been a mess!

HappyUP!!! 1 - I discovered I lost my cell phone

Why did it happen - it must have fell out of my pocket

Why did it make me happy - well, the losing it didn't. In my business, I am pretty dependent on the cell phone. The HappyUP wasn't as much about the loss....it was in the dealing with it. I am not going to kid you....it was a pain in the south side not to that piece of wireless mobile metal. I realized it was gone early enough this morning that I could do a thorough "try to call it from my home phone and hear it ring" job so that, before I left the house, I knew it was lost. You know, "hear boy...hear boy." I called the cell carrier....they told me that I had to change plans to get over to the new Cingular (soon to be the old AT&T) but the hold time was minimal. The person was helpful. She assured me that no one was using my account....that was a HappyUP!!! inside the HappyUP!!! She knew I needed a phone. Rather than try to sell me one, she insisted that I go down to the local store to guarantee that I would have my phone prior to heading out of town on Wednesday. Anyway, the HappyUP was that I handled the loss much better because I knew that I had to look for HappyUP!!!s.

HappyUP!!! 2 - Renee at the Cingular Store

Why did it happen - I went to the store....she was the one available with no line

Why did it make me happy - I just wanted an inexpensive phone. I didn't want to make a lifetime PDA decision. Even though it wasn't the featured one, she was able to replace my old Motorola Razor with a new one cheaper than the "deal" ones that she first showed me. She switched me to another plan that gives me more minutes for less money. She set up my new razor to look like my OLD Nokia that I had for years.....I hate playing with gadgets. I just want to talk on a phone. I don't want to learn a new video game every time I switch telecommunication equipment. She did such a good job, I said, "the law says I have to get a bluetooth pretty soon, right?" ""Yes, Jan 2008," she courteously replied. "Can you just hook me up with the right one and make it work?" Effortlessy, she got it all ready...gave me the codes....as soon as that earpiece is charged up, I will be in business without reading a dang manual. Awesome customer service!!!

HappyUP!!! 3 - I got my wireless card working on my laptop

Why did it happen - I took the extra couple of minutes that I had and called the help desk

Why did it make me happy - I have to be out of town in a couple of days. My work laptop's cell modem wasn't working since I made the switch out. While it took a little longer than I would have liked (but don't all technology fixes?), the guy on the help desk walked me right through and had me up and running while I was multi-tasking in the background. Trust me.....this call could have gone a lot worse!!! He could have had to call in a supervisor and open up a "special ticket" which means I wait for them to call me back. When they call back, I am not near my computer, etc etc etc. 20 minutes all done and ready to go.

My regular job was challenging today - even if I had no tech problems. Happy-ingUP!!! made the day go much better. It would have been easy to say, "if anything could go bad today, it did." But, you know, from a little different perspective and despite the challenges, it really went as good as it could have.

It is all how you look at things - and I could have looked at them a whole lot differently today....and it would not have been to my or anyone else around me's benefit.

HappyUP!!!