No problem with No Thank You

Recently, I had to call a 1-800 number to activate a new credit card. Much to my dismay, after plugging in the card's number, I was transferred to a customer service rep. Just what I'd hoped to avoid. Really irritates me because I know I'm not going to want anything they're offering. I don't keep running credit card balances these days so I see no need for the balance insurance they're pushing. Anyway, I decided to be nice. I realize the woman on the other end was doing a job and probably ran up against negativity often. I simply allowed her to go through her script and at the end politely said "No, thank you, I'm not interested."

Now, in my world NO means I'm done. I mean what I say. Of course that's not how it is in her world so she moved on with script #2. I did interrupt her this time and said, one more time a little more solidly, I thought, "NO, thank you. I AM NOT interested." At which point she continued right on and I had to interrupt yet again.My face warming, my blood pressure rising a smidgen.The older I get the easier it's become to say NO and mean it the first time around, unfortunately,when my request is being ignored, I do tend to get a tad exasperated with the other party. I could hear her voice change from eagerness to complacency and then finally thanking me for my time and the call mercifully ended.

This episode got me to thinking how much easier NO comes with age. I honestly don't care anymore what the other person thinks of me during these types of phone calls.  After all, I don't know the person on the other end, they don't know me and once we're disconnected, that's the end of our short life connection. I know what I want and what I don't want. I'm not wishy-washy. Years ago, at times, I'd want to be nice because I was trying to show I was an adult, I guess. Not really sure. It's not that I'm not nice now, but I'm more forceful in my opinions and my actions when it comes to me. This may come from "Gray Power" or it may be a personality trait that evolved over the years. 

As I see it, one positive aspect of moving to fifty and beyond, at least in my world, is feeling the empowerment of saying NO, meaning it, and not feeling guilty about it.