Be Calm

A friend who will remain nameless told me the other day that I seem to have a shorter fuse than I did years ago, and that I get more easily frustrated. While I know this to be absolutely true, I was dismayed to realize I wasn’t hiding my impatience better. Even strangers are noticing. Let me tell you a story about that.

As you know, after my car break-in a few days ago I felt compelled to buy security cameras: probably a waste of money, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I snagged myself three Arlo Pro 4s, which were extremely expensive but highly rated and purportedly easy to install and use.

When they arrived in the mail I proceeded to attempt to put them up, but soon learned that my stucco is impenetrable by electric drill. Way up on the ladder, I tried and tried to grind through the concrete, with no luck. I’d been determined to do everything on my own, but I was stumped. Nick had offered to help, so I crabbily texted him for advice. What I needed was a masonry bit, he replied, so off I went to the hardware store and bought two of them. Back up on the ladder, I  jammed my Makita into the wall with all my might but made no progress. Another text exchange revealed that what I also needed was something called a “hammer drill,” which I don’t have but Nick does. Thoughtful guy that he is, he showed up a while afterwards and quickly (but not easily) drilled a series of holes for the three camera mounts. As soon as he departed, back up the ladder I climbed, successfully installing the devices and connecting them to my iPhone app.

Then all hell broke loose. First of all, the cameras started going off randomly, without reason. I made a bunch of adjustments to the hardware and software, with only partial improvement. Furthermore, when the cameras do make their motion-activated recordings, they’re supposed to be visible on my phone. I mean, isn’t that the whole point: to see the activity? But nope. I get  the alert: “Person detected on front porch,” but when I go to view the video I find it doesn’t exist. Oh, and also, sometimes when I walk by a camera to test it, it doesn’t trigger a recording at all. Other stuff is going wrong as well: the batteries, which should take two hours to charge, take more like ten, and one of the batteries is nearly depleted after only a day of use. (It’s advertised to last for a month.)

At this point I realized I had no choice but to contact tech support. Now, dealing with tech support always makes me insane, so I do it only as a last resort. The first thing that aggravates me is that they never read my careful explanation of the problem, or what I’ve done to address it. The second is that we always go around and around and around in circles, with my having to repeat myself endlessly. It tends to go like this:

• They ignore my specific questions.
• They direct me to do all kinds of things that I’ve told them I’ve already attempted.
• After a long, convoluted discussion, they get tired of being unable to help, and thus
• They try to bring a premature end to the conversation, suggesting I get back in touch should the problem persist.

Well, of course the problem will persist, because it hasn’t been solved in the first place. And indeed, that’s exactly how today’s chat with the agent at “Team Arlo” unfolded. Forty-five minutes into the conversation (after s/he sent me back up my metal ladder to unscrew the camera, instructed me to reset it, had me reinstall the software, and more) s/he said all was well on Arlo’s end, so there was nothing more to be done. I was exactly where I began, except much more pissed off. Before I let the person go, I asked my initial question for about the thirtieth time:

Not only is there nothing that boils my blood more than being told to calm down, especially when I have reason to be angry, but what the hell did I say to provoke that reaction? Now I was truly mad, but I believe I was a paragon of dignity in my response.

Five minutes later, still without an answer, I gave up before I did in fact say something I’d regret. So here I am, with malfunctioning equipment and a bad temper. Maybe the problem will go away when I go East the day after tomorrow.

Or should I say “…if I go East.” Just in from Ma in Delaware: American Airlines has been canceling flights left and right.