Wednesday, September 15, 2004
I have gas
Today I began moving out of my apartment. I do not have a permanent place to live right now, so I;m gonna shack up at Munth 'til i get a room on campus ( i hope). So today I called all my utilities to cancel the service. I did sbc, electrin and then i tried the gas company. So I call their 800 number. Theres some automated voice asking me if i want help in english or asistencia en espanol, and so on. then it gives me some choices..... if you would like to turn your service on or off press 3.... ::presses 3:: .... if you would like to eat shit press 4 (so they didnt say that, but i dont remember what they did say)....adn so on. wtfm? so i press 3 again. the numbered choices stop. well for a moment, then a new list is read off. if your furnace is not working press 1, if your stove it not working press 2, if your main line is something something press3, and so on. not a word about turning the service off. lamps. luckily rob and i had noticed long ago that the gas company office is about two blocks away from us on green st. so i tell rob im gonna walk over to the gas company, and he comes along for the sheer novelty of it. we walk in and it is a surprisingly nice office. its got space for about five people behind a bank-like glass fortress. from the looks of it the window currently in use was the only window ever used. who goes to the gas company to pay their bills? unless htey live two blocks away of course. suffice it to say, there was one other customer in there. but they were thinking or something so i walked right up to the open window... "i would like to cancel my service......"
"you have to use that phone over there."
i look over to the right where she is pointing and on a counter next to a sign that says "check writing" and "september 14" there is a phone. one of those old school (not rotary, but thos fat phones with a cord and everything, you know the ones, soooo old!!!) phones. at first ithink she may be kidding. but hten i realized the gas company is no place for a kidder. "just pick it up and wait a second, it will ring in."
we walk over, for hte sheer novelty of it. pick up the phone. silence. oh, i mean i picked up the phone, we did not do it together. anyways- silence. then a guy walks out of a door right next to the check cashing/calling center and im in the process of telling rob that theres nothing going on. and the guy, who looks very managerial, says "oh you gotta wait a few seconds, then it will come on." i wanted to inform him that i had been waiting well over a few seconds, but i decided not to. finally the ohone connects me. SAME FUCKING RECORDING I GOT FROM HOME. ok, im calm. i wait. i press 3. again, nothing. i press 3 again again. same shit. then, as per rob's suggestion, i mash the '0' key. i get an operator. a few minutes later we are walking out of hte gas company office with gas service that will be turned off in two days and me saying "i cant believe we jsut came here for that."
oh and another thing. the dude i talked to on the phone asked "when is the last day you would like to keep your service."
I say "tomorrow" (wednesday).
he says "well, we require two business days notice so it will be turned off on thursday."
now, my understanding of the statement "tomorrow, wednesday, is the last day i wolud like keep my service," is that thursday would be the first day i would not like to keep my service. buns i tell, buns.
"you have to use that phone over there."
i look over to the right where she is pointing and on a counter next to a sign that says "check writing" and "september 14" there is a phone. one of those old school (not rotary, but thos fat phones with a cord and everything, you know the ones, soooo old!!!) phones. at first ithink she may be kidding. but hten i realized the gas company is no place for a kidder. "just pick it up and wait a second, it will ring in."
we walk over, for hte sheer novelty of it. pick up the phone. silence. oh, i mean i picked up the phone, we did not do it together. anyways- silence. then a guy walks out of a door right next to the check cashing/calling center and im in the process of telling rob that theres nothing going on. and the guy, who looks very managerial, says "oh you gotta wait a few seconds, then it will come on." i wanted to inform him that i had been waiting well over a few seconds, but i decided not to. finally the ohone connects me. SAME FUCKING RECORDING I GOT FROM HOME. ok, im calm. i wait. i press 3. again, nothing. i press 3 again again. same shit. then, as per rob's suggestion, i mash the '0' key. i get an operator. a few minutes later we are walking out of hte gas company office with gas service that will be turned off in two days and me saying "i cant believe we jsut came here for that."
oh and another thing. the dude i talked to on the phone asked "when is the last day you would like to keep your service."
I say "tomorrow" (wednesday).
he says "well, we require two business days notice so it will be turned off on thursday."
now, my understanding of the statement "tomorrow, wednesday, is the last day i wolud like keep my service," is that thursday would be the first day i would not like to keep my service. buns i tell, buns.
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