Two days ago I had such an experience with wrong speech that I was shaken and crying a lot afterward. It involved a bank and the investment firm that I was contacting about my brother's estate. Both entities were abrupt, insensitive and callous with me, even though I have been a client of both for about thirty years. I was apalled. Neither offered condolences for the death of my brother, and acted as if I was a shady criminal out to trick them. I never got the signature guarantee from the bank, after three tries and numberous private paperwork they insisted on seeing. I've heard nothing since from the investment firm, though they promised to call me. At one point I said, "I'm your client. I've been your client for thirty years. Why are you treating me like a stranger?" The whole experience felt Kafkaesque.
Contrast that experience with the kindness and and compassion of everyone in Texas, and it sheds a new light for me on what's important. I may live in a cosmopolitan area, but it's also ruthless, bureaucratic and greedy. Here's it's "What can you do for me, and if you can't, I don't want to do anything for you, or even pretend to." I'm appreciating the down-home quality of Texas, and repelled by the lack of service to clients in my own back yard. I spoke up for myself, but I felt attacked, as if I was a criminal perpetrating a fraud. At the least, the phone people should have a little more training in right speech. Instead of right greed and right bullying.
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