I am tired. Tired of complaining, hearing people complain, complaining about people who are complaining and generally just tired of the whole mess. How about you? This has been a weird and unpredictable couple of weeks even for my life which in a normal world often veers off to the right. Sigh.
To begin with the microwave died. This truly is not a life shattering experience but with everything upside down in the world, it is an added irritation. So programmed am I to warm up a cup of cold coffee or reheat something for lunch, I find myself opening the microwave door and inserting something inside every five minutes before remembering the damn thing doesn’t work. The nice thing about renting rather than owning your house, is that when something breaks down the phone call you make is to the landlord. You don’t have to go through all the rigamarole of finding a repairman or going to the store and getting a new appliance. I rather like that. For years Rick and I watched as our vacation money flew out the door to replace a broken water heater or the money put aside for a special dinner went instead toward purchasing a replacement for a broken dishwasher. There is a downside to renting as well, of course. I do miss being able to paint a wall chartreuse if the spirit moves me, or on a whim adopting a litter of Great Danes without having to ask permission. Other than that, I rather enjoy the freedom of not having to worry about when the other shoe is going to drop when it comes to house repairs. These days I will take a win wherever I can find it.
The landlord said the earliest she could get a repairman to replace the microwave would be mid-August. I’m not surprised. She was kind enough, however, to offer me a loaner microwave, a countertop model rather than one suspended over the stove such as I have now. This is better than no microwave for sure. However, my kitchen is a two-butt kitchen. Even with only two people operating in it at the same time, cheek to cheek contact is definitely a risk you take. Perhaps I can put it in the spare bathroom though cooking food next to the toilet doesn’t really seem like the most desirable of plans.
The lawn is also included in the obscene amount of rent I dole out every thirty days. I’m thankful for that as well. I neither have a lawn mower nor the desire to push one around so am happy to have someone checking both boxes. Recently they hired a new team to manage the landscaping. They swoop down like vultures on road kill, machines whirring, grass flying, and are in and out before you can say lawn genocide. What they do to the lawns in that short of a period of a time is mind blowing. How you mow a lawn leaving huge patches of long grass next to nearly shaved areas defies understanding. Once I asked them if they could take care of the weeds on the side of the house. They took the weed whacker and leveled everything but the house itself including all the viable plants minding their own business in that bed. Looked like locust had passed through. Personally I believe there was a method to their madness. I never asked them to whack the weeds again.
I also pay “cat rent”. Amazing. This is a relatively new gimmick for landlords to extract that last ounce of blood out of their tenants. Boo hasn’t worked in years, so this falls to me to take care of. I’ve gently suggested there are mice to be chased and lizards to be tailed but she remains steadfast in her desire to simply perch on her queen’s pillow and wait for me to serve her.
To add to the mix, I got my “bundle bill” as I call it, day before yesterday. Its where your service provider bundles all your electronic needs into a nice little package that fluctuates more than the stock market when changes in interest rates are announced. I’ve been in this house a year and I signed up for a year contract. Now if you are waiting for the provider, in this case the television service, to notify you your year is up you will be sadly disappointed. It is up to you to monitor the last day your “discounts” awarded when they initially sucked you in will no longer be in place. Mine had just expired. My bill went up from $187 to a little under $300 for last month. Ach. On the same day the bill arrived, two fresh faced young people knocked at my door suggesting they could lower my bill significantly and offer me another cable provider along with several tantalizing perks while keeping the same Internet and land line provider. Hmmmmm. They showed me their badges, called the office to confirm they worked there, and offered me a worm I could not seem to pass up. Now I know better. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is. This was Rick’s adage and he applied it to almost everything. That being said I plowed forward all pistons firing. After contracts were signed and deals cut the two porch pirates left with a promise to call me once the new system was installed to make sure everything went smoothly. Okie.
The installer arrived as promised. He removed the old equipment and began the process of setting up the new system. First, he had to drill a hole in the bedroom ceiling in order to get the cable to the second TV. OK. A long dark cable now hangs down behind the dresser. Not pretty, but I can live with it. Then he told me there was an extra charge for hooking up the Internet to the TV which was supposed to be thrown in for free. I finally convinced him, after showing him my contract, this was to be included. Reluctantly we got that going. Then I was offered free HBO for a year and Cinemax for $10/mo. Doable. The sales duo also convinced me all the channels on the less expensive package included the channels I said I enjoyed. I know I was there during this conversation but obviously not paying attention. One up and running every channel we clicked on said “you are not authorized to watch this channel”. Basicially, we determined our options were the knitting channel and the news. Hmmmm. Also, HBO and Cinemax were not activated. The installer indicated this was not his problem. Of course not. This would require a phone call on my part. First, I tried called the salesperson’s contact number as instructed. Straight to voicemail. Naturally. Next I went to the customer service number provided and got dumped into the loop at the call center. Not only could I not understand the representative I got on the phone but it sounded like she was answering in a wind tunnel. Turns out it would take three days to activate the pay channels and surprise, surprise if I wanted the channels I usually watch there would be an additional charge. I felt the hook sinking deeper into my lip. I asked to speak to a supervisor. I was told she could make me an appointment.
Sooooo, I was now in for less money than the $300/month but more money then the original contract. I decided to call back. This time after circling the endless loop of questions and rerouting I got a young man who tried, I believe, to help. He offered me the pay channels free for three months but said there was no way HBO could be given to me free for a year. I said I had a contract. Apparently that held about as much weight as single layer toilet paper. Good Lord. I asked to speak to a supervisor. He said he would call me back with a direct number for me to call. Right. Um, that never happened. Now I was getting really frustrated, and the hair on the back of my neck was beginning to stand in place so you could add mad to the pot. Once again I called and miracle of miracles I got someone in Idaho who actually could help me. First, she told me these reps probably were third party reps (turned out they were not but actually employees like her) and that they basically said a lot of things they couldn’t follow through on. In the end I got stuck with paying extra, no HBO for a year but rather three months, and they did throw in faster internet speed as a bonus for my trouble. After all this the original little girl at the door called to say she was going to straighten everything out. Why? Why me?
Sometimes I think I’ve learned all my lessons but find lessons keep showing up, sometimes on a daily basis. I guess for today I’ll just be thankful I have a TV and a house to watch it in. I’ll be thankful I am well for today and have friends and loved ones in the same condition. I will wish you good health and a safe route through all this maze of uncertainty in the future. Finally I will take this lesson to heart and remember to never sign anything without thoroughly investigating it. I can see Rick shaking his head and wish he was here to handle these things the way he used to be.
Bye for now.
Ugh! I hope this and all others issues are resolved quickly. It’s enough to try to navigate life without your husband; it would be grand if, at least, things could run smoothly for awhile!
Yes, it would, but certainly I’m not in this pot alone these days. Hopefully the next few months will allow all of us to find our footing again. Hope you are doing well. 🙂