Today I spent a good chunk of my day on hold with two different companies, trying to get through to a customer service representative. I know much has been written on these automated systems and the enraging way they give you the run around. I overreact when I'm pregnant, so that could explain why I ended up crying after the first round with a company I'll call Hellsouth in order to try to protect them, or maybe protect myself. They are a telecommunications coumpany here in the South, as you might have guessed. We recently switched our phone service to them, and now I think we might get rid of our home phone entirely. We have cell phones, so why bother with an extra number? Maybe this attitude is my nesting instinct kicking in. As the baby's due date approaches, I find myself going crazy, wanting to throw things out, and clean things in final preparations for this child's landing. What makes it worse is that we are just now close to having the actual nursery ready ( I'll be 37 weeks tomorrow, which is considered full term). I wish I could show you before and after pics of the room, but my camera is still on vacation in New Jersey...
Which brings me to my second instance of phone rage today. I called the company I will call Damsung, which produces all sorts of technology, including digital cameras. I sent my camera for repair sometime in August ( I think) and I was calling to check on the little guy since, yes, I am anxious to have a camera with which to photograph my baby boy. Plus, I'm missing photo opportunities with my daughter all the time. So I called Damsung and they play me some lovely recordings and transfer me around the world in 80 seconds, and I end up telling the only human I can reach that the customer service department left me with an answering machine telling me that they will call me back during normal business hours. Hold on. The recording I listened to 40 times while on hold said clearly that normal business hours are Mon-Fri, 9-5, Eastern time. According to my calculations I called at approximately 3:20 central time, which would be 4:20 Eastern. Sooo...New Jersery operator lady informed me that normal business hours are 9-4:30. I found that to be unacceptable. But I was forced to accept this, and I could do nothing except leave a message encouraging them to change their recording. This time I didn't cry. I have become hardened. Pregnant lady won't cry again.
