And let me tell you, if satellite systems in this town were at all reliable and not prone to weather disturbances, variations in tree foliage, and the like I would /so/ be switching right about now.

On August 31st I used the online interface at Comcast.com to request and schedule an upgrade from Analog to Digital cable. Because I did not wish to miss work I scheduled the next available weekend appointment, which was supposed to be today between 1 and 4. Did you catch the use of ‘supposed’ in there? Oh, yes, you see, apparently the online chat person (‘Larry’ I believe it was) never completed the order processing.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. At about 3:10 I decided I would call and confirm that someone was, actually, coming out today. After holding for a while (inevitable, eh, that’s what speakerphones are for) the guy on the phone told me that since the order was placed online he didn’t have access to that system and suggested I check it online.

At which point we have two issues: 1. Comcast.com is being very sluggish and not accepting logins at the moment (because I tried that while I was on hold doncha know… I’m not totally daft). 2. What do you mean that its two separate systems and never the twain shall meet? Huh? How can they be so de-centralized that any tech that answers the phone cannot look at my account and see any scheduled service changes or technician appointments?

Finally he was able to find someone who could access that system (gee, what a surprise, it is possible) and, bad news, there was no such appointment scheduled. And, oh, poor little dears, all the technicians are booked solid today and tomorrow and the next opening they have is Thursday the 20th. Now, I’d already explained to the little pipsqueak that I didn’t do week-day appointments because missing work to meet the cable guy was not really an acceptable use of my time. The next weekend appt? Sat. the 29th. Which happens to be the Harvest event. Did I really want to miss it on account of someone couldn’t do their job? Not especially.

Supposedly they agreed to call me 20 minutes before the tech is supposed to arrive but the last time we made that arrangement? Yeah, didn’t happen. They called as they were pulling into the complex and had attitude because they had to wait on me.

You know, I realize that cable is not one of those necessities of life, that it’s a luxury. But for a convenience it’s pretty dog-gone inconvenient. Why can’t people do their job? Why was the ball dropped? I mean, why is it that we have a community of worker-bees so uninterested in where their paycheck is coming from that not finishing a job is no big deal. They get paid whether the customer is happy or not and because they’re pretty much the only game in town they really don’t have to work to get customers. It’s almost enough to make you want to boycott the whole process but whose getting hurt? Not them. Me.

It’s stupid to be so worked up about it, as well. I know this. But it’s just so incredibly frustrating to have people unwilling to help. So cut off from the people they supposedly serve that they just don’t give two pins about the fact that someone else, another representative of their company, essentially lied by making an appointment that never was, casting a pall on the entire operation. They just don’t care and that’s incredibly sad.

And what makes matters incredibly worse is that I could have been doing other things today. I could have been running errands or what have you but instead I was here. Sure, I was doing stuff around the house, but that’s not the point. I was tied to my apartment for the imaginary cable guy for three hours. I spent 40 minutes and 49 seconds arguing with the customer ‘service’ person on the phone. My blood-pressure and stress levels were elevated and no one gives a damn.

I really shouldn’t let it get to me so much but, well, tihs is me and those who know me know that I really have no emotional sheilding to speak of (probably should work on that) so encounters like this really drain me. Of course I get angry and frustrated on the phone with the cable company; who doesn’t? But unlike most, I then feel guilty for such outbursts (even though I totally believe they are justified) and the up and down just kills me. So now I’m looking at the clock, it’s not even 5 yet, but I know the rest of my day is shot because of this. All I really want to do is crawl into bed and try and hope for a reset button to magically appear.