Weekly Padgett

No. 0501 min read

What mediation taught me about people (not that kind of mediation)

Fourteen years reconciling billing records at Sprint taught me to check what I know before assigning blame. Applying that to myself is the interesting part.

A person wearing a red foam pointing hand holds continuous paper above printers with long sheets hanging down.
File photoDramatization. No career was harmed.

You can have two systems reporting success and still have a disagreement about what happened. I spent fourteen years at Sprint[1]Ref. 1Sprint en.wikipedia.org reconciling network elements, mediation[2]Ref. 2mediation en.wikipedia.org, and billing, including repairing damaged CDR[3]Ref. 3CDR en.wikipedia.org files that otherwise would have gone unbilled.

Years of investigating discrepancies did make me suspicious of the first convenient explanation. Especially the one where somebody else caused absolutely everything and I emerge looking wonderful.

I don't expect people to hand me a complete transaction log before I treat them fairly.

If I didn't receive a reply, I know that much. I can't tell why from that alone, any more than I know every condition around somebody missing a commitment. I still care about boundaries and follow-through, I just don't need to invent a motive to go with it.

Before I demand somebody else's account, I'd like to remember to check how much of my own I actually observed. Yes, Pat. You too.

References

  1. Sprint en.wikipedia.org ↩
  2. mediation en.wikipedia.org ↩
  3. CDR en.wikipedia.org ↩
careertelecompeople
– Pat

File photoUncropped. Straight off the wire.

Photo deskA person wearing a red foam pointing hand holds continuous paper above printers with long sheets hanging down. Dramatization; no career was harmed.

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