Goodbye 2009
New Years Eve is a party holiday for, well, everyone. But for me…. okay it’s *that*, but it’s also a time of reflection. It’s the one moment when an entire year is behind you and you can see exactly where you’ve been. You have that one moment to reflect on what was and make decisions about how to change it, or not. You can take a finite measurement of time and really look at who you were and what happened. I know I’m a little crazy, but that’s pretty cool to me. So every year on this day, I find myself taking stock of what was. And tomorrow, I will take stock of what could be.
So there’s a lot about this year that I’m not proud of. There is, most notably, Big. And the fact that he nearly wrecked everything for me. There was the unforgettable moment he moved into his own apartment….. only to move back the next day. And then dump me when I put my foot down. Yeah… I’ve gotten pretty used to glossing over all of that but there it is. There is also my return to the land of common sense when I went back to LC and asked him to forgive me. He said yes, but we had a rough time of it there for a while. While it may not have been his intention to punish me, he was angry and, well, he did. And we both know that. But by the grace of 2009, we somehow rode it out together. And now we’re here. We moved into our new apartment 10 days ago. We’re nearly unpacked. We go to bed every night together. In the last six months, our life has turned around 180 degrees.
At the beginning of last year, I was full of hope for us. I talked about giving us a real chance. I was ready. And now, at the end of the year, I am surprised to find that I actually achieved that goal. Believe me, no one is more surprised than me but facts are facts. And we may have taken the scenic route to getting here, but get here we did. And hey, at least I know now that the car we rode in can take it. 
My hope for next year is to take more of a freeway to my goals, rather than the twisty windy scenic route. But all in all, this year wasn’t quite so bad after all.
Filed under lucky charms, retrospective | Comments (5)Sales Pitch Gone Wrong
Please read the updates at the bottom of this post.
Tonight the phone rang. I checked caller ID and it was unavailable… some random 1-800 number. I almost didn’t answer, but I thought better of it. I’ve been able to stop most of these random calls by picking up the phone, hearing them ask for someone I’ve never heard of, and telling them they have the wrong number. So yeah, I was a little sharp when I said “Hello?” A woman was on the other end of the phone and the conversation went like this:
Her: Is Mr. Wonder there?
Me: There is no Mr. Wonder.
Her: Oh…. Mrs. Wonder?
Me: No, there’s no Mrs. Wonder either.
Her: Ummmmm… I’m calling for…. Jane Wonder?
Me: I’m Jane Wonder but I’m definitely not married.
Her: Oh. This is Comcast and we recently got your order to disconnect… [insert sales pitch here]
Now let me tell you something. I have had this cable account for two years. In those two years I have always been Ms. Wonder. There is no Mr. Wonder nor was there at any point in our cable relationship. Nor was I a Mrs. at any point. Which makes this an incredibly grave error. Especially on the part of a company which has had a two year relationship with me.
Let me be clear. This is not a random sales pitch. It’s not a cold sales call where some telemarketer doesn’t know what they’re walking into. No. This was a call from my cable company of two years. My cable company which I have paid, on time, a rather large sum of money every single month. My cable company who ought to know exactly who I am or at least have a cheat sheet attached to my file so they can pretend to. Furthermore, the cable company was making this particular call to try to entice me to give them yet more money and not cancel my service. They were trying to strengthen our relationship.
How can you strengthen a relationship with a customer by assuming because she is a woman she must be married and because she must be married her husband must be the default person in charge of the account? Especially when there has never, not once not ever, been a man’s name on said account? How do you expect to sell anything to a woman after telling her her non-existent husband is their preferred person to talk to?
If you see this Comcast, never fear. I terminated service because I’m moving. And there already was no need for me to transfer my service. However, if there had been a chance for me to do that, you would have ruined it the moment you asked for Mr. Wonder, my non-existent husband that your sales rep made up because every woman must be married and her husband must be in charge of everything. And if you intend to continue to do business with anyone, you need to train your people to pay attention to the names on those accounts and not assume every woman is a voiceless little housewife. You’ll certainly piss off less people that way. And less pissed off customers equals better business for you. So I hope this turns up in your tireless searches through the internet for dissatisfied customers. Because I’m dissatisfied Comcast. I’m dissatisfied because after two years of taking my money, you can’t even figure out who has been paying you all that time.
Hmph. Glad I got that out of my system at least. Now pardon me while I take out my aggression by packing some boxes.
Update: Comcast formally apologized to me after this entry was posted. Unfortunately, later this same week another Comcast rep called me about my internet service AND DID THE SAME THING. When I complained, she told me it is their policy to ask for Mr. or Mrs. on every sales call. So Comcast lied to me when they said it shouldn’t have happened. And Comcast in fact trains their staff to behave this way. Not only is it unacceptable to assume everyone is married, but it is unacceptable for any business to ask to speak to someone who has never been listed on a given account. I recommend everyone take this into account when deciding whether or not to use Comcast as a cable/internet/phone carrier. And I firmly recommend that you find another alternative. An alternative who will only speak to the account holder. And an alternative that does not, by policy, assume everyone is married.
Crazy
This is your official warning that I am low on free time lately. Work is crazy, moving is crazy, and several other things are crazy too. So if you could, please be patient while I move in with a boy, navigate my job, and try not to ruin myself or anything else. I may be a bit quieter than normal until sometime next year. But I’m here, and I still love each and every one of you.
Yes, even you.
Filed under Uncategorized | Comments (4)
