Thursday 15 January 2009

Life after TV

This company shut our cable off last week. Their fault, and now it will take 5 days and an $80 reconnection fee to get it back. So this week we practiced life the way it use to be done - We read books, played games, talked to each other (that was weird), and did the mundane things you do when you can only receive one channel. I am so news starved! Yes, we still have the internet, but local news is not really available online. I miss waking up to the local news and flipping to the war channel - CNN. It's been an experience. The kids finally realize that the TV isn't the end all be all of life. There is actually stuff to do. I haven't heard 'I'm bored' in three days now. So you might think that with no TV I'd have more time to post. Nope, I've not been here in days. The last time I posted, the TV was on in the background. This week has been nuts.

Kim's school schedule has been as always hectic, and every night this week there has been some place to go for some meeting or another. We just came back from a pasta night fundraiser at 10pm.  Good food, good friends and good entertainment - my youngest was hypnotized. Or at least she thinks so, I think she doesn't have it in her to relax that much to let the mind take over. Or she says, It's hard to let your mind fall under the power of suggestion when your feet don't touch the floor. She sat there for 45 minutes with her legs swinging and a silly little grin on her face. She played along but on her own accord. It was nonetheless, entertaining.

I finally had that hot soak in the tub I've been craving, and now I'm listening to the William Tell Overature while posting, with a nice glass of wine. Shit, I sound like my father. Don't get me wrong, some nights it's a cold beer with Metallica booming away. (Kim loves those nights!)

On top of everything else this week I've been helping a friend with a major project that's up my alley and out of her league. She learning quickly, but she needs the advice of a pro. I should go into consulting.

Tomorrow I will finally have the chance to go pay the cable bill and have my service reconnected. Being that it's their fault, I really want to walk in there with the payment in pennies and throw them at the poor schmuck who attends me one at a time until it's paid in full. Even better, soak the pennies in a foul smelling brine of my own concoction first. Make them nice and stinky before I start pitching them. Hundreds of them. Oh well, I can dream. I just have a difficult time comprehending paying for someone else's mistake. Like we can all afford to do that. GM and Chrysler should just send out bills to all of their customers saying they have to pay a penalty for their idiotic business practices. That's fair isn't it? Have your customers pay for your mistakes? Why would you possibly want to pay for your own when you can railroad someone else into it? That's life. It sucks.

Tomorrow is Friday and I don't believe I have anything on tap. That of course could change at my wife's discretion. Saturday we're taking the kids to the new arena for the first time for a Spitfire hockey game. It won't quite be the same though, new is new and that's great, but the barn is hockey and always will be in my heart.

Until then, I will be content to live life the way it used to be. Much simpler. Back to the days of reading books and using imagination. Only with the internet. 

Cheers.

10 comments:

  1. Hey - I work for a converged telco (phone, cable, cell, etc) on customer service technology projects.

    They're pretty motivated to serve customers and keep them, especially in this economy, although that might be different in Canada - is Cogeco state owned? I didn't look it up.

    Anyway, if the disco is the cable company's fault, I'd recommend documenting that and asking politely and firmly for a credit of the reconnect fee. If the front line agent helping you can't or won't give that to you, ask for her supervisor or manager, and etc. It may not work - it may only get you a partial credit - but it's worth trying for.

    Good luck!

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  2. Thanks Jeri, but I've tried that. I started quite nice nice with them and it quickly deteriorated. It was the manager that told me I had no options. This is a privately owned company that charges 50% late fees and practices negative billing. You pay a month in advance. Just for that reason my bill is always past due because I refuse to pay for something I haven't received yet! The government actually made that practice illegal years ago but many still do it. Stupid.

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  3. "Debt Retirement Charge"

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  4. My uncle once made a weight loss bet with a friend. The friend lost and paid him in pennies that were all glued together in the shape of a pyramid. Maybe something along those lines?

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  5. And I once had an assignment for a class in high school that we couldn't watch TV for a week. My parents had to sign off on a sheet every day. It was an interesting experiment. I noticed my sense of time was off, not being able to tell what time it was by what was on.

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  6. You said 'the government actually made that practice illegal'. Is there a utilities commission that regulates cable in Canada with whom you could file a complaint?

    FCC or RCA complaints get a TON of attention in our company.

    And it sounds like you're stuck - I'm sorry. :(

    I actually watch very little TV - one or two selected shows and do not have it on as background or channel surfing in between, so I probably wouldn't miss it. However, tonight is BSG's season opener - so if you're a fan, you're just in time.

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  7. Keith did in fact go to the cable company today and we will have cable again...TUESDAY. Which means of course no BSG season opener for us tonight.
    I so wish I could get local news on satellite, cause that would be the route we would go. In fact, I would entertain the thought of not connecting at all, but PAPA loves his tv and he HAS to be able to watch the soccer matches on Saturdays. He uses the tv to help him keep in touch with the day/month/year and this week he has been a bit off...so cable it is....for now.

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  8. The true only local news is am800 CKLW. Oh how I miss my am800. Or the BIG 8. The good Ol' days.

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  9. Can you go visit a geeky friend for a BSG fix tonight? You could bring *food*, I'm sure that would be no hardship for you. ;)

    We don't have that many local geeky friends, though.

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  10. It's too bad they don't broadcast BSG and Lost in bars, like they do stupid sporting events!

    Nerd bars. With wireless, pizza and microbrew ale! I think it's a business concept. :D

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