Learning patience

From wikipedia, patience is the ability to endure waiting, delay or provocation without becoming annoyed or upset, or to persevere calmly when faced with difficulties.

People who have known me for a long time, know that I am not a man of patience.  In business we always had to deliver to the client before their expectations (we almost always did), in sports we always had to win (although we didn't) and sometimes (many times?) in my relationship with Jo Ann I demand perfection (which is also a major fault but we can discuss that later).

So moving to Mexico is opening a whole new chapter for me, it is the need to learn patience.  I have three examples of why you need to learn the art of patience if you are going to move to Mexico.

Last week we were suppose to start a project to re-grade the front yard of our property.   The current slope has all of the water from the rains run down to the front door of the house and creates a lake outside the front door.  Although we have never had it flood into the house it has been close so this needs to be done.  Well they were suppose to start last Tuesday, but did not show.  We got an email from them that said that they had machinery problems but would be there Wednesday.  Guess what no shows on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  My old self would have been going nuclear demanding that they get over here and start, etc. etc.  However, I was able to just let it go and they did come this past Monday and are doing a wonderful job.

We are also almost done with the renovations to the house, we have four relatively small open items left on the contractors punch list.  Well I have been calling him for three weeks and sending emails, he finally called me yesterday to say that he was going off to vacation this week but would be out that afternoon to close out three of the open items and arrange for the fourth to be completed.  Well guess what another no show, and I can either blow a gasket or I can just continue to try to reach him this week before he goes on vacation.

Finally and probably the most frustrating is the problems I having with my Internet provider.  I love the Internet, the ability to research new things, to view various photoblogs, to communicate with friends, etc. so to me high speed Internet is a requirement.  We don't have a TV but I can not live without high speed Internet (you get my point).  Well for the past month I have been trying to get my Internet access stable, it is up, down, fast, slow, just completely unstable.  So yesterday they came out and swapped my broadband modem saying that would solve the problem.  Well last night I was down for the entire evening and this morning it has been up and down.   I know that these guys are trying very hard, but they blame TelMex (who provides the DSL connection), the need for a new high speed router in their back office, and who knows what else.  I probably get most upset about this problem but I am learning to live with sporadic connectivity.  However, I do have hope that this one can get solved.

So moral of this posting, is if you are coming to Mexico, don't expect customer service like you get in the US.  It is a different culture and the people you are working with don't have all of the latest technology and tools.  They try the hardest that they can but sometimes things just don't work out as you planned.  That is just part of the adventure.