It’s been a week and I can honestly say I have no buyer’s remorse regarding the kittens. Juanita and Donovan are chasing each other all over the house. Juanita climbs up to the computer desk and walks over the keyboard. (I have to watch her…I don’t want her inadvertently downloading any child pornography!) Donovan likes to chase a string. Life is good. Daisy is surprised that a cat doesn’t not regard her with fear. (That would be the incredible One-Eyed Juanita.)
I have changed my internet services from the local cable company to A T & T. The reason is that I can go to Starbucks and use their wifi services. I did have the “Charter Bundle”, but I decided I wanted to shed the land line, since I never answered the phone when it rang anyway. But, I still wanted the Charter Cable services—and I wanted to add a DVR to my account because, well, you just can’t watch too many “encore presentations” of Gilmore Girls.
I kept procrastinating this big move, because I knew this would be a monumental task of coordinating services. And, frankly, I just didn’t feel up to it.
So, I called A T & T to install my internet. (Actually I spoke, in person, to the guy that works at the A T & T store, while we upgraded Sandy’s cell phone—more on that later.) The guy looked up my address and told me yes, I could get their super high speed internet in my neighborhood. I was happy because I didn’t want their crappy low speed internet even if it cost less. (My brother tells me that it doesn’t cost them any more to give you high speed internet. I believe him, because my late mother always said about any gimmick, “They’re just doing that so they can charge more.” Ah, yes, it’s good to have cynicism modeled to you early in life.)
They guy at the A T & T store told me a tech would be at my house on Friday between 8 and 10 am. That went along my yoga schedule, so I said sure. Do you know the tech came the night before to set it up? He worked in my back yard, complained about the trees not being trimmed and possibly being electrified by the super high speed A T & T cables. I tried to act concerned when he told me all this, but my thoughts were greedy. (GIVE ME MY FAST INTERNET!) I was afraid he’d want me to get the trees trimmed and I remembered how hard it was to get the landlord to fix our bathroom with the tiles falling off the wall and the possible mold growing between the walls. But after complaining a little, he went about his work and left and never came back the next day.
I set up my A T & T modem myself and am enjoying A T & T internet. Sandy has taken it upon herself to watch every episode of Bones , so we are definitely using the streaming video.
Now the tale of my cable TV and internet unbundling goes sour. Every main character needs a foil. A T & T’s foil is Charter Communications.
I called Charter Cable and told them what I was planning to do. I said I wanted a DVR. Silly me, I assumed that that would entail a Charter Cable employee somewhere flipping a switch. But, no, I needed a special cable box. They suggested I bring the cable box to their office and exchange it. That way I wouldn’t have to wait for a tech to come out to my house. This seemed a good and sensible idea to me. Charter Communications is notorious for scheduling their appointments far in the future. So after my internet was safely taken over by A T & T, I took my cable box and drove all the way across town to the Charter Communications office.
I waited in line briefly. People were being helped. Some were turning in cable boxes. One man was angry because he swore he paid his bill but apparently he had no proof of it. (People! They’re not going to believe you paid your bill just because you said so. They can’t deposit the words ‘I paid my bill’ in the bank. You need a receipt or something. Especially when you look like a lowlife.)
When it was my turn, I stated that I was changing my services and I would like to trade in this lovely black cable box for a lovely black DVR box.
The lady was courteous. She didn’t say, “Now just wait a minute there Missy—just what is your angle?” But she did have bad news…They had no DVR boxes. I must admit I was a little skeptical. After all there were stacks and stacks of cable boxes on the back counter. I did not believe that one of them wasn’t a DVR.
I decided to make the best of this bad outcome. I left the cable box with them…I’d have to go for about 12 hours without channels above 75. No Discovery ID. for me in the living room. See, a tech was going to come to my house the next morning between 10am and noon. I believed them. (As Paul McCartney sings, “That was your first mistake….)
Since I was in the traffic ridden south part of Reno, I decided to pick up dinner at Whole Foods on the way home.
The next day, Charter Communications was a no call no show. I even remembered to tell them to call my cell phone number instead of my now-defunct land line. I just thought they were running late.
So I called. I’ve learned something about trying to reach someone from Charter Communications on the phone. You get that automated dimwit but you need to keep pressing 0 so you can talk to a live person. I talked to a lady named Bernicia. I explained the situation. The first thing she said was a tech will be out on the 20th.
I was outraged. She didn’t ask if that date was ok. She didn’t even tell me she was sorry that nobody showed up or that nobody was going to show up. One of the reasons I eschew internet dating is that I hate being stood up and now my cable company rejects me? I I started having a major fit. I’m a little ashamed to admit that tears were involved.
So here’s why it was my fault (?) that a week after ordering it, I am without a DVR box and don’t have a stack of Eureka episodes to watch.
I told them I’d pick up the DVR box. If they don’t have a DVR box in the office, a tech can’t come and bring me one the next day. If I’d arranged for the tech to come out and install the DVR box, well, I’d probably have to wait until the 20th anyway. I know—the excuse sounds flimsy and illogical.
Anyway, I’m having varicose vein surgery on the 20th. I hate how Charter Communications assumes that any date they pull out of a hat would be fine.
So…a technician is coming on Saturday the 22nd. Hopefully he or she will have DVR box in hand and a smile on his face. (Actually I don’t care about the smile. Smiling customer service people are highly overrated. As long as he does his job and doesn’t complain about my unkempt trees, I’m good.)
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Since I’m having my varicose veins removed, I decided to celebrate by buying myself shorts to wear. I went to the Legends Shopping Center in Sparks. I wanted to pick up my special Fekkai shampoo that makes my mousy hair glossy. (heh heh Fekkai…sounds dirty). They have this shampoo—no—let’s call it what it is—hair nectar-- at Bath and Body Works.
I looked around for a likely store that might sell some attractive shorts an in-shape 50 year old woman might wear. I tried the Guess Outlet Store.
Guess sells all their pants by waist measurement, not sizes someone would recognize. I wear a size 8/10. So I tried on a size 31. They actually fit perfectly with minimal muffin-toppage. But I can’t trust that. Things shrink in the wash. Or the dryer. I aspire to let things ‘air dry’ after washing, but I always forget. Do you think that the Guess Outlet Store had any shorts in a size 32? No! It was like trying to find a DVR box at the Charter Communications office. The good thing is they played The Ramone’s I Wanna Be Sedated over the p.a. system.
And, lastly, Sandy’s brand new cell phone mysteriously stopped working. So we boxed it up and took it to the A T & T office. Her screen was all messed up. It was mostly black, but had some colorful stripes on the side. I didn’t examine the phone closely or I would have seen the tiny crack on the side, where she had accidently rammed it with a shopping cart. This was when she was with her father. (I don’t really know if that’s indicative a larger problem or not. Probably not.)
So, I was a little embarrassed when the A T & T guy pointed out the damage to me. I expected him to call me Little Missy or something, but he was too young. He signed us up for cell phone insurance and told us to make a claim in three days. I tell you A T & T is awesome!
Here's a cool video which reflects my sentiments.!