Alright, need to get this off my chest.
So there's this one Facebook friend I have who I have never really met, I just saw on her naked in Playboy's "College Girls" issue once and I friend requested her out of the blue. She's really cool -- I think. Anyway, she has adopted two kids (she has two biologically) and is in the process of adopting a third, and I think she is a single mom as of right now. Total respect.
Saw Instant Family Tuesday. Very good, heartwarming film. It's one of those films where people who hate Hollywood and say, "No one there makes a family movie!" should watch -- provided they can get over the swearing. Anyway, once I saw the film, I thought of her, and so I messaged her about whether she has watched it yet. She didn't. She is going to rent it next year, and the only bad thing she's heard about it is the portrayal of these cartoonish, buffonish foster parents from which the main characters rescue these three kids.
"So you're saying that on the whole, foster parents aren't bad people?" I said.
Silence.
Haven't heard from her in two days now.
Now, you can't tell tone on the Internet. But dammit, my insecure, paranoid persona is running wild in my head now. I can't help but think that this hot Facebook friend looked at what I wrote back to her and thought, "Ugh, such a stupid question. Of course foster parents aren't bad people -- that's what I just said, moron." I have half a belief that she's de-friended me by the time I publish this blog post.
Look, it's not a stupid question! I am just confirming -- making sure, you know? -- what she is trying to communicate. I hope she's not telling me, "No shit, Sherlock." Man, why the hell are so many people outraged over a simple back-and-forth conversation? Can't fucking talk to people anymore.
---
Wednesday I had to talk to our gas company because we (in my parents' name) were sent bills for a property they had sold (and they had told the company that) back in the summer. I needed to follow up even though, for some reason, another, "final" bill came with a refund. On it was a line item for a payment made in late October. That frightened me because that would have meant that I had paid for something that I should not have paid for, and I overlooked it.
I initially called about this before Thanksgiving and was told to call back either Monday or Tuesday. I remembered to call Wednesday and, after getting the runaround where I was told to wait and then was sent back to the introductory message not once but twice, I finally got someone. After looking up the case number I provided, she said, "You will receive a check as a credit for this property" ... which is precisely what I was able to glean from the statement just sent.
But what about the payment supposedly made in October? I was trying to ask the question while giving the long story so as not to make her think I was stupid. But then I realized that my folks were getting a credit, which means that any payment made from our household was going to come back to us. (Although, for some reason, I'm still not entirely sure about the logic behind that.) So I finally got around to asking the customer representative, "So, can you tell me about the nature of this payment and ... uh, whether you can confirm to me I'm getting all of it back?"
And all she said was: "You will receive a check as a credit for this property." Again. Oh, and her tone was definitely, "You're an idiot."
Look, it's not a stupid question! I see amounts added up and subtracted, and all of a sudden I see some payment three hours after my parents' account was supposed to be deactivated, and you sound like you're pissed that we've been given the runaround?! Fuck you! I don't care how mushmouthed my question was. You can answer better than just repeating what you said, you bitch! I declined answering their survey after the call because I had been given that runaround three times, but if I had known she would have treated me this way, I would have definitely agreed to the survey so I could torpedo her chances of keeping her job as much as I could. Goddammit, man, I mean, seriously.
WHY ARE PEOPLE THINKING I'M ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS??? I'M NOT ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment