Ma Bell and Me

When Jim moved in I asked him to transfer his cable service here since I've lived a TV free life for quite a few years now.  The only service I was using was broadband for my internet connection.  He added broadband to his package, and I cancelled my broadband access with the competing business.  Or thought I did.  Turned out I failed in my mission because I refused to answer personal questions about why I wanted to cancel.

When you call Phone-Co-Name-of-the-Year and ask to disconnect a service, a 'customer service' person transfers you to what they call the Disconnection Department.  Internally I suspect they call it "Customer Retention."  The purpose of the "disconnection" department is to talk you into keeping your service--whether you need it or not; whether you want it or not.  To learn why a customer wishes to cancel they ask, "Why?"

  

Apparently it is not okay to say, "Just because."  I personally didn't think it was the Phone Co's business why I wished to cancel.  But Mr. Customer Retention persisted in his questioning.  I felt like I was being interrogated and in a way, belittled.  I was certainly not feeling like a respected customer.  I finally said, "Cancel my service and we are finished now," and I hung up.

Darned if I didn't receive next month's bill as if nothing had happened.  Because nothing had happened.  I said a prayer for sanity and serenity and called again.  I spoke with a representative named Carmen who was willing to listen to my belief that interrogation should not be a corporate response to a cancelling customer.  She kindly cancelled my account and credited the billed (but unused) month.

Now that's the way to treat a customer!  Way to go, Carmen.

(As is often the case, I was too befuddled to ask Mr. CR what his name was.  I'm sure he answered with it in the beginning, but who wants to remember a jerk anyway.)    

Corporate Greed and Me

Businesses who know that they have us by the delicate parts can't refrain from upping their prices.  This isn't because they need to improve infrastructure or defray research and development costs.  This is because they feel the need to advertise massively.

Few days go by without a communications company advert in my mailbox; few go by without an advert in the newspaper; and few hours go by without an avert on TV, computer or radio.  Every time I pay a cable bill for my mega-communications provider a huge chunk of the change pays for the company's advertising.  Any time I am prescribed a brand name drug instead of a generic equivalent its high cost will help pay for its R and D, but much will also pay for advertising.  As much as I enjoy our Aussie Gecko character, I don't buy that company's insurance because I need to be paying a fair premium rather than helping them buy advertising.


The only way to fight back is to buy the generic or the service from a company that doesn't advertise wildly.  It means I have to do the footwork to find the reputable company that prices fairly but advertises little.  It's not easy, but in the long run it saves money and helps the company with greater integrity. 

   

So that's today's rant and I'm sticking to it!  (Not wildly exciting, is it?) Tune in tomorrow to learn how to cancel a service from the Phone-Company-Name-of-the-Year.  At least the current incarnation knows how to spell.

Congratulations to Vernon Parker

Vernon Parker, Republican candidate for Congress, is the first candidate to notice me on the Republican voter registration list.

Today I received a hyper vitrolic email assuring me that if I help put him in Congress, he will REPEAL "Obamacare".  It must have been ready for instantaneous release upon the Supreme Court's ruling to allow the Affordable Healthcare Act to go forward without substantive changes.  I'm sure candidate Parker had one ready to release in celebration had the Supremes ruled against "Obamacare."  And yes, he said Obamacare, not Affordable Healthcare Act.  It's time for that to stop.

I found it necessary to communicate with candidate Parker and express my view that the Affordable Healthcare Act is a step forward for America.  It will actually improve access to healthcare on a fair basis.  Now we need to stop congressional squabbling and start to improve accessibility to education and jobs.  We need congressmen and women who can work together for the good of America and make improvements.

I promised him my vote if he promises to work for IMPROVING the Affordable Healthcare Act.  

I'll let you know if I hear from him.

Someday Sasha and Malia Obama are going to be very proud of the nickname "Obamacare " for the Affordable Healthcare Act.

  

The Novel is out of Cyber-Mothballs

Once upon a time long ago, Pat started writing a novel about some social justice issues.  She really was getting into it when suddenly she stopped.  No excuses.  At at same time I was taking a writing class, attending meetings of the Phoenix Writers' Club, writing blog posts. Hey, some of those blog posts are pretty good!  I stopped all those activities, too.  Okay, full disclosure here.  I was distracted by a femme fatale.  A good time was had by all, but not a lasting time.  This is where the 'no excuses' part comes in.  Once stopped, I failed to restart.

I tried to resurrect my interest in writing a couple of years ago.  I enlisted the aid of Julie Smith, author and teacher.  I bought her set of discs detailing many good writing skills, items like development of plot and character as well as practical every day writing advice such as keep your "butt in the chair".  I realized immediately what my problem was.  Butt would not stay in the chair.  Body would not rejoin PWC.  Novel was saved to hard drive and forgotten.

There is no telling what will happen here.  Butt is in chair.  Posts are being written.  PWC's next meeting is calendared for attendance.  Novel has been converted from old Word to 2010 Word.  We shall see!   

But wait! Who is Sweetie?

Sweetie is a mixed breed canine who joined our household last October 9th.  Sweetie was adopted from the Sunnyslope branch of the Arizona Humane Society.  She was billed as a Shih-Tzu/Pug and I can certainly identify traits of those two breeds.  Sweetie is also some kind of spaniel, some kind of terrier, and some kind of Lord-knows-what!

Given a squeaky toy of any shape or size, she can identify and disable the squeaker in a matter of short minutes.  She will then continue to play with it until it begins to lose its stuffing, sometimes in days but usually in weeks.  Then Mom (yeah, me) sews the stuffing back in and it continues like this till Mom 'disappears' it permanently.

When I worked, I felt as though I wouldn't be able to give a dog the time and patience needed.  I lived with a succession of lovable cats the last of whom disappeared (headed for the rainbow bridge?) while I was still living at Michael's. Michael's beloved dog, Skittles, and their new adoptee, Pumpkin, filled an emptiness in my animal loving heart.  I realized I could easily adopt a dog now that I'm retired.  And so I have.

Sweetie was called Pandi Bear by the shelter.  I don't know who her early family people were, but they must have loved her very much.  She is beautifully trained and in excellent  health.  The shelter and vet agree that she was about 2 years old when she and I met.

I can only hope that she is as happy to have me for family as I am to have her!

If you have the urge to play "Name That Dog", feel free to make your suggestions.  Argyle is already in the suggestion box.  Just look at those sox!     

Jim G Joins the Household

My friend, Jim G, has joined Sweetie and me.


Jim is a friend of nearly 30 years who has a car.  I have a house; he has a car; we both have income and outgo.  We also have many friends in common and enjoy playing cards and sharing household chores.  We are both fairly hapless at classic housekeeping, so we are getting the place cleaned for us every two weeks.  Hopefully we can keep up otherwise.


Jim is a very good cook, and I certainly love to eat!  Oops, time for me to do laundry. 

Jim sports a crown of gold.  Is he the original Burger King?