Phone Woes

Today started out pretty darn well. Last night I slept better than I had in days. I dreamt all night. Good dreams, too. The kind that leave you with a lingering warm fuzzy all morning. My commute to work met no delays or nasty drivers. Even my hair cooperated and looked good.

I drove up to my workplace. Got a nice parking spot. Remembered my access card to get in. Put my lunch in the fridge. Got my morning cup of coffee. Didn't spill any on my white pants. Booted up my computer. Plugged in my cell phone to charge.

And noticed that I'd missed a call. Only a few minutes earlier. From my dad?

How had I missed a call when I'd been holding the phone in my hand?

Instead of dialing up my messages, I called Dad direct. My grandmother had been recovering from illness and injury. There may have been a change in her condition that I needed to know about.

Nope. It turns out that my dad had been trying to call me since LAST NIGHT. My mother had been taken to the emergency room. She was home and recovering now, but he'd be trying to reach me for hours. He tried my home phone, but it went straight to voice mail. Never rang at the house. He tried my cell phone. No answer. Went to voice mail.

In addition, Avindair's dad is in surgery today. The phone (if it was working) could ring at any time for news of his progress. Our kids are at home, can't call them to check on them. This is ridiculous.

Ever since we switched to Comcrap VOIP we've had problems. And complained. And complained. This was the last straw. After Avindair bitched them out thoroughly, they finally agreed to give us 2 days credit on our bill. (My, how generous.) The phone service still isn't working right.

Bottom line. We're shutting off Comcrap phone service. We're shutting off Comcrap cable. And if we can find a comparable speed Internet service, we're going to shut off Comcrap cable modem, too. Not one more dime to these corporate vultures.

Unfortunately, the area where we live seems to be a black hole of phone service. The ONLY land line service we can get is Spront... and it's crap, too. Just less craptacular than Comcrap. Yes, we sometimes have to dial 5 or 6 times to get a line out, but at least we CAN EVENTUALLY get a line out... and in. I guess we have to choose between bad or worse service - AND get to pay a premium for it. WHEE!

Go cellular, you say? A few problems with that. First, 911 service. We have kids. I want to be able to pick up a phone on the wall and dial 911 if needed, not run around looking for my cell. Plus, the towers in our area are notoriously bad. Often my cell phone won't ring, or it goes straight to voice mail, OR... and I love this one... I won't get a notified of a message until HOURS or even DAYS after it's been left for me. Not so good if the school calls, or my son or daughter call needing a ride, or... any number of possible emergency scenarios. After all, THAT'S why I have the damn phones in the first place.

And to make matters worse, this phone service crap screwed up what was shaping up to be a really nice day. F**K!