Letting it get to you

Twice in the last week or so I have let situations get the better of me.  The first time was when the HyWy and I were looking for a parking spot on a beautiful weekend day when everyone must have been heading into the city.  We were trying to park at BART and in the parking lot was a woman on her cell phone talking with her friend.  I should also mention that she was standing in the only available parking spot in the lot.  As I drove up I could see a confrontation coming.  She apologized and said that her friend is 'on her way'.  I argued for a bit knowing full well that the car has no leverage in a situation like this.  I cursed at her and drove off.  As I was driving away I pondered my other courses of action.  Someone suggested that I should have let the HyWy out of the car to argue with her.  Another suggestion was that I should have stayed where I was thus blocking her friend from entering the spot.  I wondered what a more grounded or centered individual would have done in my situation.  What annoyed me more than the absurdity of the situation was that I let it get to me.  Later that day just thinking about it would get me riled up. 

The second situation saw me buy a ticket to Peru for work travel.  After making the reservation on Thurs. and not seeing the ticket issued after more than a day I was concerned.  I received a phone call on Fri evening informing me that the airline was having trouble getting in touch with my bank to verify my address and to call the airline back during business hours.  On Monday morning I called my bank to find out the problems.  The bank informed me that there were no problems.  My address was correct, I was well under my limit, etc.  I called the airline and gave them the phone number they desired as well as informed them that everything is in order.  They checked and said the address was verified, but that my card was being denied.  This is where my ability to stay grounded started to be pushed.  I asked why and was only told that they didn't know and that I needed to talk to my bank.  I hung up the phone and called the credit card.  The credit card said that no one had contacted them about anything and that I had no denied charges.  Without going into the back and forth I will say that this exchange went on several more times.  Each time the credit card blamed the airline and the airline blamed the credit card.  No one would tell me why my card was being 'denied' nor would the denial show up on the credit card.  At the time I clearly remember being aware of how my limits were being strained and I was on the edge of unleashing on someone.  Finally I asked myself why I was doing this.  At any point in this experience I could have given in and charged the ticket to a different card, such as my company's credit card.  I realized I was holding out and fighting the battle because I knew I was right.  What difference did it make that I was right?  I was so furious through this experience that you could tell it on my face right away.  I didn't want to give in to the airline's ridiculousness.  Finally I did the only thing I could see that would make sense.  I cancelled the ticket on one airline and I bought it on another.  The most amazing part is that while I was still on the phone with the new airline the charge (on the new airline) showed up on my card (after spending 7 hrs on the phone with various people trying to get the old charge to show up).  After all that I was informed on Thurs. that my trip would be postponed indefinitely. 

The moral: as easy and obvious it is to say let go of things, don't sweat the little things, don't let it get to you, etc.  It's never that easy when you are in the situation.