Kids, meet Moira.
Moira is a person used to getting her way. She believes that, if people could just see her point of view—the undoubtedly correct one, in her opinion—they would realize she is correct and things would go her way. That she isn’t especially articulate bothers her not a whit. Most of us understand that increased passion for a subject and increased volume in the delivery of an opinion do not make the argument being made any more or less valid. Moira, of course, believes otherwise.
Moira goes through her life with a conviction of her own correctness that would be admirable if it weren’t so unfounded. Like many of us, she overestimates her knowledge and comprehension of the world around her. She fancies herself expert on subjects with which she—in reality—has little more than passing acquaintance.
While a presumably irritating quality in a friend or partner, this trait is downright devastating for the customer service staff unfortunate enough to stand in her way, isolated as it is in their interactions with her from what are surely balancing positive qualities in other spheres of her life.
So it was, one summer’s day, that she called her insurance company to dispute their determination on a claim she had submitted. She had, you see, read the policy from beginning to end and just knew that an error had been made. It hadn’t, of course. You and I both know that. But Moira didn’t. She still doesn’t. It is unlikely that she ever will.
Through the hour-long back-and-forth with at least three different people, Moira clung to her interpretation of what the policy meant. She insisted that a “plain” reading of the text could only lead to one conclusion—hers. She argued with the people who’d been trained to understand insurance in general and the company’s policy in particular and told them they simply weren’t getting it.
Finally, she decided to read the excerpt in question aloud, to demonstrate her point. When she was rebuffed, she read it again. When she was told it didn’t mean what she thought, she repeated her reading. When the correct reading was explained, she read it louder and then once again, louder still.
“Moira, Moira, Moira,” came the weary reply. “Saying it louder doesn’t change the meaning.”
In the end, Moira decided she would just call a lawyer, who would certainly agree with her reading of the policy and then she could sue. He didn’t and she couldn’t.
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