You Gotta Love The Cable Company

After over a week long battle with our cable company (which provides our internet), we our finally able to go back online. At first having no internet access and thus no email or web access was kind of a welcome relief. It felt good to not be tied to the computer, checking every ten minutes or so to see if I had received any emails. That feeling quickly went away as I would run into people and they would ask me questions about things I had no clue. They would ask if I had completed something or if I had got the message about something. It was fun I admit to be able to say that I didn't receive the email and actually mean it for once. That novelty wore off when I realized that I missed deadlines because of my lack of emails. No amount of pleading with the cable company would get them to hurry it up or to at least give me a time frame. It was always, "We are doing our best to get the system back up. We are servicing the high demand areas first. Thanks for your patience." I really began to fret once I realized I was missing information from my children's schools. "I'm sorry, little Johnny cannot go on the field trip as you did not print it out and get the filled in form back to us in time." Try telling little Johnny that he didn't get to go to the zoo because his mom didn't get the email. Doesn't go over very well. The cable company didn't seem to care either. "We are sorry for the inconvenience and are working as quickly as we can to correct the problem." Obviously we were not located in a high demand area. Around the 4th day I began to get desperate and actually picked up the phone to make a call to talk to a person at my child's school. They sounded as surprised as I did to actually talk to a real person about a problem instead of just sending emails. After I hung up, I realized I was smiling and had actually enjoyed the encounter and had received the answer to my question as well as several others I wasn't aware that I was going to have. I found out that the children were enjoying a special treat in the afternoon for having completing a goal at school. It sounded like so much fun that I had volunteered to help out, in person. Wait a minute, what had I done? I actually had to leave the house to get something accomplished? I couldn't just take care of it over the internet? What had gotten into me? Turns out I enjoyed it so much that I only called the cable company 20 times that day instead of the usual 50. (give or take a few) Sometime in the middle of the 6th day, I realized that I had not called the cable company at all that day. I was so busy chatting with people on the phone that I had completely forgot to even check if I was back online! I wasn't, but it didn't cause my blood pressure to sky rocket as it had earlier in the week. In fact when I did call to inquire about my access, I actually cracked a joke with the lady at the cable company and found myself thanking them for doing the best that they could. Where did that come from? Wasn't I the one who should be thanked for my patience and understanding? On the seventh day I went to the gas station down the street and bought a newspaper. I then met my husband for lunch and spent over an hour and a half chatting with him over articles we found interesting in the paper. It wasn't until we noticed the angry looks from the waitress that we realized we were taking up a table and that we should probably leave. We spent that evening lingering over dinner listening to the kids talk about their day. It wasn't until we were getting ready for bed that I thought about checking the computer to see if we were back online and then I decided it could wait until morning. Days 8 and 9 passed in much the same way. I'm sure my friend at the cable company must have missed my daily calls. Towards the end of day 9, my daughter asked if she could use the computer to work on a report. I told her to go ahead. She asked if she should try to connect to the internet while she was there. I said, "If you want." About a minute later I heard screaming coming from the office. I ran down the stairs and shouted, "What's wrong?" "We have internet access again!" she exclaimed. "Is that all?" I answered, "You had me scared there for a moment. Wait a minute, did you say we have internet access?" I pushed her aside to check for myself. Oh joy! It was true! Look at all those emails being downloaded! Manna from heaven! I opened up several browser windows and started loading up all my favorite sites. "Uhh, mom?" I heard my daughter ask. "Not now, sweetie, I have to work" I replied. "My report?" she asked. Right. That. I sighed heavily and reluctantly stood up to let her have the chair. Had I not learned anything over the past week, I thought to myself. Did you not enjoy the freedom of not being tied to computer? "Of course you can have the computer, sweetie, take your time" I told her as I walked back upstairs. "Just make it snappy."

Credit: jtkjager