walking home from the store yesterday, i thought about how much i love autumn and how i’m glad the leaves are finally turning. the first leaves to dry and fall from the trees were strewn about the sidewalk, and i made a concerted effort to step on at least one per step to hear them crackle underfoot. somehow with each sound, i felt a little more evolved.
then after i got home from my walk, i tried calling at&t to change a rate plan on my cell phone. because of their terrible coverage in my area, trying to talk to the automated voice response system was near impossible. finally i got through to a customer service rep, who i explained my problem to, and was then told that he was in the wrong department to help with my specific request. so, i was forwarded back to another department, with another hold time. the next guy said he couldn’t help me either, so he transferred me back into the automated system. after about 5 minutes trying to fight with that again, i hung up, called back, and fought my way through the system back to another customer service rep. i told him, in no uncertain terms, that after 20 minutes trying to fight the automated system, i was demanding that he help me or find someone who could, because if i was transferred back into the automated system, i was not going to continue service with them. so… he puts me on hold to go get “authorization” to help me, saying it’s just not normally done that way. he comes back a few minutes later, says he’ll help me this once as a “one-time service” but i should expect to use the automated system in the future. he then changes my rate plan at a record lack of speed, then reminds me i’ll need to make a payment soon. so i say ok, and he then transfers me back into the automated system. needless to say, i hung up, called back, and said i won’t be renewing my service. after having been with cingular/at&t for years, they have officially lost my business.
this morning, a mormon couple came knocking at my door. i thought it was awfully devout of them to be proselytizing before noon on a saturday, though that didn’t keep me from brushing them off. to be honest, i think i’ve only had them come knocking at my door about once in my life that i recall, and i often thought i wanted to be nicer to them the next time around. this time, though, i blame it on their approach… i opened the door seeing a man and his wife dressed in really shiny black… him in a suit, her in a sort of dress-suit[i forget the proper term for this]. right off the bat, he just introduced himself and his wife by name and then went straight to opening up a bible and asking “can we get your opinion on this piece of scripture?” this made my head spin, especially since it was before noon on a saturday, so i just told them i wasn’t interested. i honestly think though that if they had a better set up, i might have at least talked to them for a couple minutes out of courtesy.
Filed under: Thoughts by stephen h @ 12:12 pm on September 15, 2007
TAGS: [at&t | autumn | mormons | safeway | Thoughts]
