I didnt know how good I was having it.

For the past 2 years, Ive had it easy, relatively speaking.

Few bills, few rquirements, little contact with organisations providing services for money.

Hell, didnt really have a mailing address.

Now, in the last two months, Ive been inundated with paperwork, so much so that I need to have a filing system.

And joy, I didnt have to deal with banks, utilities etcetra etcetera.

My life was not spent on hold.

Fast forward to now.. Ive got papers in piles spread across my desk and Ive got to deal with..

DSL Customer Service Clerk

".. and the due date for this order was... oh.. today. Im sorry sir, your order was lost and hung up in the system."
"Why?"
"Dont know."

I think I actually growled then.

This was after a week of waiting for a DSL modem to arrive in the mail.

And if I hadnt called and been transferred between Tabitha, Gwen, Nancy, back to Gwen, called back when their offices opened back to Gwen who transferred me to Jeff, who was now expressing surprise that my order had inexplicably disappeared.

No trace that there was ever an order placed for DSL.

Im surprised I stayed as calm as I did.

Well, having worked in customer support myself, I had a bit of sympathy for how large, monopolistic telecommuniation companies work, and why this happened (someone didnt understand the code and shunted my order for someone else - preferably in another ofice in another state- to deal with) but I didnt let that blind me to the fact that they werent giving me any satisfaction, so I politely stayed on the line and made sure that the order was found, finessed and rammed through by someone who had the AUTHORITY to make changes.

And I always take names and locations now.

Kate said recently that one of the big differences between me now and when she first met me was that now Im less likely to take shit from people.

Absolutely right. I'd rather choose the shit that I have to eat.