When Things Go Wrong, Stand Up for Yourself

Posted On 9 February 2024

Last updated on April 4th, 2024

Standing up for ourselves is something that takes practice. It can be hard at first. As with any exercise, though, the more we do it the easier it gets. When things go wrong, we need to stand up for ourselves.

A little while back I had a couple of financial surprises. When the dollar amount is small, it can be easy to just ignore it and pay it. Sometimes that is the best solution. An example of this would be having to pay for parking when you were not aware of it ahead of time. Shrug, pay it, and carry on.

There are other times that we need to step up and figure out what happened, or get the situation resolved. The first surprise I had was being charged two cents interest on my line of credit that was paid off! I got to looking at the statement for the account and discovered that interest is calculated DAILY on any balance in the account.

Next was a “Cash Advance Fee” for purchasing a gift card. The bank changed their policy on purchasing gift cards – calling them cash advances. Well, I’m not using that card to purchase any gift cards in the future!

Just after New Years I bought my youngest son a sandwich and drink at Tim Horton’s. I used the “Scan & Pay”. For some reason, I got the points, but the payment didn’t work. The cashier instructed me to pay again because the payment failed. I used the same card and it worked. The next day, the app payment went through as well! This was the first time I ever experienced something like this. It was the first time that the owner of that location had ever seen that happen as well.

Here are the steps you can take to get misadventures such as these resolved.

Don’t Be a Jerk

This is the most important thing to remember! Yes, you are upset. Yes, hold times can be very long. I’ve heard that hold times are long on purpose. Why? People get tired of sitting on hold and hang up – and the problems or questions simply “go away!”

Nobody likes dealing with a jerk. A secret to getting a problem resolved in a satisfactory way involves being pleasant and understanding. We are welcome to stand up for ourselves. In fact, others will respect us for doing that. You can be firm while not being a jerk.

Check Your Account / Statement

The first thing to check is your bank account either online or through their app. This is where discrepancies appear. You might have to look at your account statement to learn something like the fact that interest is charged based on daily balance.

If there is nothing there that can help you, you need to check with the merchant BEFORE you talk to your credit card company. Don’t call your credit card company because they will instruct you to contact the merchant first. The only thing worse than sitting on hold is having to sit on hold twice! This is one way that we can Learn the Rules of The Game. Then, we can start playing the game to win!

Employees Are Your Allies

The employee you are talking with is the person who can help you. Remember this when you are standing up for yourself. If you can’t understand them, politely ask if there is someone else you can talk with. If you find that you are just going in circles with the employee, you can ask for a supervisor. Take notes while you are on the call, write down their name, and use it when you are talking with them.

Both you and the employee want to get your problem resolved as quickly as possible. If you call them names (other than their given name), or complain about the hold times, do you think you will get the best service possible? Exactly!

Sometimes there is nothing that can be done about the situation. It sucks, but we can use the experience as a lesson. Most of the time, the problem can be fixed somehow.

Call The Merchant

I don’t enjoy complaining. Standing up for ourselves can feel like complaining. When we need to have something fixed because it is not up to standards or not what we were expecting, that is not complaining.

There are numerous things that can cause us trouble. Human error, computer glitches, and misunderstanding are just a few examples. When these put a wrinkle in your plans, calmly stand up for yourself and get it resolved.

Pro Tip: You go through the maze of the company’s automated phone system, and you have gotten to the department you need only to find that it appears to be a dead end. The problem is that there is no option to speak with a representative! Pressing 0 (Zero) will often get you to a human – even if the option is not stated.

Be Honest

We know if we are telling the truth or not. We also have to live with ourselves. Honesty is the best policy. There can be times when we stand up for ourselves only to find that we were expecting something to be different than it is.

Don’t worry about looking like a fool. We all have to take turns being wrong. When that is the case, we need to apologize, then thank the employee for helping us straighten out the matter. We are all human, and we all do make mistakes.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Whenever there are small discrepancies, it is a great time for us to speak up for ourselves. We remind ourselves how to deal with companies. This way when there is a big thing that comes up, we are able to deal with it with confidence.

If we are wrong about something, and we apologize it is hard for the other person to remain mad at us. This isn’t something I came up with, the principle can be found in the Bible and the book “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie.

In Summary

We all live in a world that is imperfect. Our plans can have wrinkles in them, and sometimes things can go sideways. When we stay calm while we stand up for ourselves, we can usually get problems resolved (or learn how they work!).

I encourage you to go out there and practice standing up for yourself. When you get used to speaking up about small things, you’ll find it easier to speak up about big things. Everybody wants to get their problems resolved as quickly and as easily as possible. Having a great attitude is the grease that helps the process go smoothly.

You can do this. Keep working at increasing your financial durability and you will be amazed at what can happen.

Go to Canoosa Finance’s Getting Started Page to learn more about financial durability.