A Story of One Day in the Year 2020, in Four Parts

 

It's been a rough week, and it is only Wednesday. Let's start with the latest first. I opened my cable television bill Tuesday afternoon and it was $335. I about crapped my pants... again. So I angrily called RCN cable and bitched out the first human I encountered. Which was about fifteen minutes after the RCN robot operator relented and connected me to the, 'waiting to talk to a human', waiting list. When I was finally connected I was informed that I was being charged for the RCN technician that came out to fix my wifi last week.

"Nobody told me that I was going to be charged."

"Ummm.... yes sir. It says right here on the ticket the technician submitted that he informed you of this."

"No he did not. I would have heard that. I am not an idiot."

"Sir, it says right here on the ticket that he did inform you."

Steam streamed from my ears, I gritted my teeth and through those clenched teeth I managed to insult the technician without cursing. (They hang up on you if you curse. Don't ask me how I know that.) Calmly, the RCN representative told me that she would remove the charge "Just this one time as a courtesy".

 

Last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, I realized that I had never received the rebate from Lowes for the dishwasher I had bought. That was way back in July. So I called Lowes and was informed that the rebate department was closed for the holiday. You know, the holiday that had happened the day before. So I was forced to wait until Monday to call back. They were busy on Monday, so I tried the little chat bubble on the website. That got me nowhere. I then fired off an angry email. Finally, after calling again and getting through to a nice young person who mumbled a lot, I was told that they would look into it. Yesterday morning, Tuesday, I checked my email and there was a message from Lowes. They had sent me my $149 rebate. All I had to do was click on the button to redeem it. Which I did. This is what I got. "We're sorry. The payment you have tried to access has expired." It had expired on November 30th. The email was sent to me at 5AM, December 1st. That situation has still not been rectified as of this writing.

Wednesday of last week I ordered a new phone. It was sent via the United States Post Office. Funny how I remember the USPS as being one of the most stable and reliable institutions in the country. But that was long ago. Anyway, I kept getting texts informing me of where my new phone was.

"Package in transit"

"Package arrived Chicago"

"Package in transit to postal facility"

"Package out for delivery"

"Package delivered. Left in mailbox"

That last one got me excited and even though it came through at 10:30PM, I ran down the stairs to the mailbox. Nothing. So the next morning I filed a 'Proof of delivery' request. I guess the delivery guy needed a new phone. This is the proof that I signed for it.

Finally, I awoke Tuesday morning. I reached over and grabbed the television remote next to the bed and hit the power button. The television came on, a picture and sound appeared. Thirty seconds later the picture fluttered, the sound went out, and the television died. The television that is only two years old, failed. It was dead. I laid there in the bed, in the dark, while the dogs whined for me to get up and feed them. Which I did. Because I had a big day ahead of me. I still had to deal with RCN cable, Lowes, and the United States Post Office.