the news is full to the brim with all manner of evils visited upon others by those of mal intent. what doesn't make the news that often are people of good heart, and there are many. it's just that any positive news is all too often reduced to the feel good story at the end of a broadcast filled with all that is wrong in this world.
my aunt Christine passed on palm sunday. on the Wednesday after, I called in an order for flowers to the House of Flowers there in Farmington. the nice lady on the other end of the phone, Wilma, was all that is right in this type of situation-- solicitous, caring and kind. I hung up the phone knowing that a lady I've never met would do her best to convey to my aunts family that we, here in little a-town and in Conroe, were sharing in their loss.
fast forward to Wednesday evening. I got an email from Chase telling me the statement on the card i'd used was ready. I pulled up the account and was puzzled by the balance outstanding. investigating further I saw that the House of Flowers had entered a charge for $1240.67, not the $124.67 I had expected to see. I was alarmed, thinking that surely this was an honest mistake, but how would I go about addressing it. Should I call the store first and give Wilma a chance to answer for the error? Should I call my credit card company, or the police if no option tendered a resolution? I went to sleep pondering how to best proceed.
fast forward again to Thursday morning-- early!! the phone rang. on answering, i found that it was Wilma at the H of F calling to apologize for the error, telling me that my card would be credited back for the $1240.67 and asking how I would prefer to settle the balance. I chose to charge it to my card. it was an honest mistake, quickly corrected I thought, and I thank you very much, Miss Wilma.
i'm not known for my patience, so I monitored the account daily checking to see if the "mistake" had been corrected. days went by with no change reflected in statement activity. not wanting to, and against my better judgment, I was thinking maybe the H of F was trying to pull a fast one, I filed a dispute.
I continued to monitor the account, once, or sometimes twice daily, looking for a new entry to the tune of -$1240.67. Finally today I saw what I'd been hoping for. the thing is the -$1240.67 was time stamped for the same day Wilma called her apology, telling me she had taken care of the oops. it had taken Chase that long to make the correction. the problem was not with Wilma, she did what she said she would do, it was with me. I plead guilty to having a jaded perception of the world, to thinking there is a lot of merit to murphy's law. a pinch of faith and a grain more patience would have spared me a great deal of angst. in the end, all is well.
this might have been a cautionary tale had the result been different, but it wasn't. it just goes to show that with all that is wrong with the world there are still good and honest people who get up in the morning with only the best of intent, people who go about their ordinary lives, who at the end of the day will have held a candle's flame against the darkness in the world. because of people like Wilma at the House of Flowers there is hope the light will not soon go out..
thank you, miss Wilma, for your honest good works, for all you do for others-- in times of joy and in times of great loss. you're the best.
aio
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