Customer Service Thugs

I am one of those people who spends a lot of time on the internet. I'm old enough to have genuine appreciation for the convenience and wonder of endless information and entertainment, and I'm young enough to not be intimidated by it all. In my life it is my tv, my music, my news source and to a certain degree my social network.

And now it's gone! Obviously not completely gone, one can always find somewhere to plop down with their laptop and for a cost of a cup of coffee grab some free wi-fi time. And there is still my phone, another technological miracle to those of us who grew up with network tv and land lines telephones. So it's not really all that bad, is it?

And yet I feel like an junkie who hasn't set up that next fix, I'm ok for now but I'm waiting for the dreaded jones to set in and it's a scary kind of anticipation. Like many addicts, I'm maintaining with the denial fueled bravado that says "I don't really need it" and "I can go without it, I just choose not to".

When I was arguing with the customer service representative from my internet provider I was quite certain that I did not need the junk she was peddling. After all, I manage to stay away from the hard stuff they're always pushing, the Cable tv with primo channels. They were offering me a taste even as I had been wheeling and dealing for a delayed payment plan ("just front me til the 21st..") In spite of my refusal to try the hard stuff the last rep was agreeable to my offer...sure well take your payment in 2 weeks. Somehow she left out the part about cutting me off cold turkey. Maybe she took a bathroom break during that part in training that says an overdue bill can't be extended beyond 7 days. Maybe it was the end of her shift and she just didn't really care anymore, we've all been there at one point or another. Whatever was going on all I know is I felt pretty betrayed and naturally I rebelled by asserting I didn't need their damn fix anyway. Now the monkey on my back is getting restless.

But no worries, like any good drug dealer, they'll be waiting. See, they won't close my account until I pay the bill. And she actually told me, rather smugly, that I would have hard time getting service anywhere else if I had an outstanding bill. Really.

So now I'm threatened with some kind of isp blacklist if I cancel my service while owing money? Now before we get ahead of ourselves, let me clarify one thing. I never, at any point indicated that I had no intention of paying the bill. Yet it was assumed by this individual that I was going to drop their service, unpaid, and go off to find another 'dealer' for my fix. In response to this perceived evil plan this rep comes across with some old time Hollywood mob type of veiled threat..(think in Joe Pesci's voice) "you're gonna have a real hard time getting service.."

It's really difficult to take these people seriously.

© 2010-2012 Nanakoosa’s Place, authored by Jennifer Hazard