. . . the country is becoming more dysfunctional by the day.<\/p>\n
Reason One:\u00a0 I report this because we need to make a modem and wireless network change and if it doesn\u2019t work we may be out-of-contact for a short while.\u00a0 We got fed up with the phone dial-up connection in the summer of 2008 so before the CWU term started we agreed to unload a bundle of cash and signed on with the local phone company for a high-speed (DSL) connection.\u00a0 Most everyone I talk to seems to have a bit of a problem with dropped connections and we have been no exception.\u00a0 The problem has gotten worse.\u00a0 About six weeks ago the cute little red light on the modem started coming on every time a national politician said or did something that was stupendously stupid.\u00a0 This finally initiated a response.<\/p>\n
Last week we called the Company\u2019s customer\u2019s service line, and this being a national company got someone in North Carolina (we think).\u00a0 The nice lady looked at our digital records and agreed that the connection was dropping frequently.\u00a0 This I had just told her.\u00a0 She said she would write up a ticket on it.\u00a0 We said \u201cThanks\u201d thinking this meant someone would do something about it.\u00a0 By this Friday we hadn\u2019t heard a word and began to wonder what \u201cwriting up a ticket\u201d actually meant.\u00a0 I now think it means that if their caller-ID shows it\u2019s us \u2013 no one is supposed to answer it.<\/p>\n
This morning I wrote a friendly letter addressed to \u201cinternet guru\u201d and carried it into the local office \u2013 passed it through a hole in a glass barrier \u2013 and left.\u00a0 I wrote about the mysterious lady from the East Coast \u201cShe then told us she would write up a ticket.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know what that means.\u00a0 The only tickets we have ever gotten were concert tickets or speeding tickets.\u00a0 What is a DSL\/modem ticket?\u00a0 When should we get it and what do we do with it once we do get it?<\/em> \u201d<\/p>\n An \u201cinternet guru\u201d called a few hours later and suggested our modem was likely worn out \u2013 \u201cthey only last about 18 months<\/em>\u201d, she said — and if I would stop by she would have a new one at the front desk for us to install.\u00a0\u201cGreat<\/em>,\u201d I yelled as I headed for the door.<\/p>\n Reason Two:\u00a0 I\u2019ve mentioned a bill we\u2019ve gotten.\u00a0 There were two charges for $110 each.\u00a0 A month ago, I wrote a letter.\u00a0 It was a nice letter.\u00a0 I ended with: \u201cI will send a check upon hearing from you if these are charges I should pay now<\/em>.\u201d \u00a0This week a new billing arrived.\u00a0 One of the two charges was settled by the insurance company paying $99.60 but they still wanted $110 from us for the other \u2013 no explanation included.\u00a0 Nancy called this morning.\u00a0 That charge had now been settled by another payment by the insurer and our balance was $0.00.\u00a0 \u201cGreat<\/em>,\u201d I said, \u201cwill you be sending us a statement saying so?<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 Does it not seem logical that if they have billed us for $110 but now we don\u2019t owe anything at all that they would tell us.\u00a0 Oh no.\u00a0 They don\u2019t send out statements like that.\u00a0 Nancy shut me up before I got to ask what they would have done with my check for $110, the envelope, and the cancelled 44\u00a2 stamp. \u00a0Nancy has an appointment in that office in April.<\/p>\n Reason Three:\u00a0 Mail.\u00a0 Forms.\u00a0 Rules.\u00a0 Reports. Okay, that\u2019s four things.\u00a0 We signed up for Social Security in October and Medicare shortly thereafter.\u00a0 A flood of mailings followed.\u00a0 Some make sense.\u00a0 Some are unnecessary.\u00a0 Some are undecipherable.\u00a0 Each one has a cost.\u00a0 To the government.\u00a0 And to us.\u00a0 If we can\u2019t determine what we are supposed to do, then it takes a phone call (more cost to them).\u00a0 One letter this week came and a phone call revealed that in the fine print on page three (or was it page 4) it stated that we could ignore this form (page one said respond in 10 days) if Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus were all aligned ten degrees right of Pluto on the day it arrived.\u00a0 Who could have guessed?<\/p>\n Oh, Nancy was back at the hospital for another poke with a needle today and as she sat in her walker the doctor that saw her in the emergency room and instigated the \u201cfind the bacteria\u201d blood draw way last year appeared and greeted her as though he\u2019d treated her yesterday.\u00a0 He is what they call a \u201chospitalist\u201d and confirms our belief that these folks (all the medical professionals) \u2013 are amazingly good at what they do.\u00a0 She was pleased that she got to relate her ongoing story to him because she thinks of him as the first of the life saving professionals in her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" . . . the country is becoming more dysfunctional by the day. Reason One:\u00a0 I report this because we need to make a modem and wireless network change and if it doesn\u2019t work we may be out-of-contact for a short while.\u00a0 We got fed up with the phone dial-up connection in the summer of 2008 … Continue reading “FRIDAY — John thinks . . . 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