I have spent alot of time on hold lately- Service Canada and Telus. Being on hold though is both annoying and frustrating- you are forced to sit there and do nothing while you wait. You don't want to set the phone down and do something else because at any moment your call may finally be answered and you can get on with your buisness. At the same time companies provide you with that cheap and horrendous elevator/hold music to occupy yourself. With Service Canada you get poor quality classical-esque music and a voice that interrupts every 5 minutes ensuring you that you have been placed in a "priority sequence" and "your call will be answered by the next available operator." With Telus I got a mix of cheesy 80's music and Rick Rolled- oh yeah you know- that annoying song - 'Never gonna give you up' by Rick Astley. I laughed through the whole thing.
Lately I have also been feeling that my life is on hold as I am sitting and waiting for news on the status of my job. I have no idea when or if I will be able to return to my job with the Ministry of Natural Resources. On one hand I have a lot of free time and should be able to enjoy it. The last time I had this much free time was summer vacation after Gr. 8 or 9. However on the other hand I can't commit to anything or plan anything for sure since I have no idea when or if I can finally return to work. I don't want to commit to vacation plans or volunteering or anything only to have to turn around and cancel or to find out that because of them I missed out on a career possibility. So I am stuck with my life seemingly on "hold" and streamed television shows as my cheesy hold music.
Last night I was thinking about this and I realized how pathetic it is that my job has so much of a sway over my life. I mean it is reasonable to expect a certain level of disruption and frustration, but it has spilled out to affect my whole life. My entire routine is affected- I sleep in because I don't have to get up for work. I am not paying attention to time so I miss meals and stay up late. It is not a healthy lifestyle. And although I am not any less sociable than usual, because of my abundance of free time I feel incredibly lonely. It is kinda scary how much influence my career has over my life. I am not sure that I like it. Not that I have any solutions yet just thinking about that right now.
The results of my telephone on-hold situations were my unemployment cheque and a cheaper cellphone plan.* Hopefully something constructive can come of my life-on-hold situation.
* if you want to know: a great way to get a cheaper deal from your cell provider is to tell them you are switching to a different carrier because they are too expensive, suddenly they become very helpful and offer you all kinds of deals - Hurray for more stuff for less money!
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