An Unexpected Interlude

You will have noticed that I have not posted in a while.

What is up, you may have asked?  Did a vacation suddenly loom that was unexpected?  Did a horrible tragedy occur that has kept him from writing?  Or has he merely become a bit lazy?

None of the above, I am afraid.  I – and we – are victims of a combination of corporate systems and bad customer service.

With the advent of our move we had a simple request:  keep our current number, the one we have had for four years.  What has transpired is a farce in which over the course of three weeks we have had three phone numbers, two rounds of internet access, reaching to the point that we currently have no phone number and no internet access.  We are “assured” that we can get access – and possibly phone at this point – on September 10^th, almost one month after we moved.

This is a failure of epic proportions.

By our count, the Ravishing Mrs. TB has spent approximately 10 hours on the phone over the last two weeks trying to get the situation worked out.  We have spoken to at least 7 different individuals – all nice in their own way and trying to be helpful, but unable to actually help us resolve our problems.   A victim of corporate processes, we are informed that “It takes a week to get anything done.”

What a shame for them.

It is inconvenient for us of course – but they have pushed us into action as a less inconveniencing incident might not of.  For the first time we are seriously looking at “Do we need a home phone?  Can we get by on cells alone?  And what other options do we have for internet?”  And now we are motivated enough to be willing to do something – motivated to the point that options which had previous only been interesting discussion items are now active considerations.

The price of inaction is sometimes not just opportunity lost.  It can sometimes be the very undercutting of your business model – or your life.