Experiencing Life Through T-Mobile
- Rosetta Mandisa
- Jul 17, 2020
- 3 min read
Not long after I graduated high school my parents, who had been divorced for about five years, decided to remarry. My father, born and raised in Florida, wanted to move back home and prepare for retirement. When I followed my parents to Florida, it was probably the best decision I could have made. I am so very grateful that my son was able to grow up with his grandparents.
When I moved to Florida I was about twenty years old. Considered an adult by most standards, to my parents, I was still their baby. Of course, when it came to my son, nothing was off limits. That kid had the best of both worlds. My parents hovered, they took control, they took over, they told me what I could and couldn’t do. To say that I was frustrated is an understatement. Being so young, I had no idea at the time the positive impact all of that craziness would have on my life and my future. My parents not only wanted my son to be great, they wanted me to be great so I found a job at Target and enrolled in community college.
My ever-doting father bought me a car and then eventually, put me on his cell phone plan. Back then our cell phone carrier was a company called Cellular One. Over the years as cell phone carriers changed, the big fish ate up all the little fish and when the water settled, dad and I ended up with T-Mobile. Fast forward twenty some odd years and I am more of an adult now then I was back then. I graduated college…three times, found a career that I enjoy, raised my boy and now get to dote on grandchildren of my very own. When dad passed away eleven years ago I kept the plan we shared. I paid the bill each month, added lines, deleted lines, made changes and their was never an issue.
Well, as with everything else happening in 2020, T-Mobile made changes within their company and with how they handle accounts. July 1st is the day my dad passed away and for some unknown reason that was the day I decided to call the T-Mobile customer service center to make an attempt to replace my son’s phone which he had broken a few days prior. When I woke up that morning, I was already feeling a little anxious and unsettled. Without having to rehash all of the details, I made the call only to learn that I would no longer be able to make certain changes to the account due to their new policies.
Photo by Tatiana Syrikova on Pexels.com
While my head completely understood, my heart was deeply torn and confused. I was upset and at the same time felt so bad for the customer service representatives who had to deal with me because I knew that they were just trying to do their jobs. To me, however, they were tearing my heart out. Explaining to me that I would have to close out my dad’s account and create my own in order to do what I needed to do in replacing my son’s cell phone was literally heartbreaking to listen to. Honestly, it got so bad that my Love had to come sit with me and hold my hand just so that I could get through it.
The process had to happen in several stages over a couple of days with each day being just as hard as the one before it. I will say this, T-Mobile has some of the best reps working for them! I know I was a mess but all three of the reps I had to talk to were sympathetic, patient, kind and calm. I don’t know how they did it.
For years I’ve known that I should have changed my cellphone plan but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. With the death of my parents, I lost pretty much everything that belonged to them and I know it sounds weird but that cellphone plan, three photographs, and a small stereo set are all that I have of my father. As silly as it may seem, I didn’t want to part with not one of those things. With my Love’s help and patience I made it through one of the most difficult weeks I’d had since my father’s passing. On July 5th, I spent time at his gravesite celebrating what would have been his 75th birthday. On that day, God reminded me that even though dad’s gone, he still lives on in me and in my son and in my grandchildren. I must thank T-Mobile for pushing me to do something I felt I wasn’t strong enough to do on my own. Grief is a tricky thing. You never know when it will catch you off guard. Something as simple as changing a phone plan can stir up feelings you thought you’d long ago buried.
Never feel guilty for having emotions of grief. Never let anyone tell you, you should be over it by now. Never forget to ask for help. Talking about it can work wonders for your mental health.
For the love of my dad…:)
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