miss adventures

A Grip

One day you wake up, and it's gone. That which had been occupying your mind, is just not there anymore. I find solace in this. But the fleetingness of things is, at times, equally disturbing.

External forces are colluding this week to batter down my good attitude. First of all, thank you USC students, for returning to school and completely destroying the ease of my morning commute. I know there was no hidden surprise that 1) you existed, and 2) you would return during fall. But I do grumble at the false sense of security you lured me into when I started working in early August, when downtown was a breezy 12 minutes away. And I am irritated that, being overprivileged, you choose to live in the West Side when there is plenty of attractive and affordable housing in the South Central area.

Secondly, thank you Verizon Wireless, for doing everything in your power to make sure that I have a shitty phone. Thanks for having an in-store selection of phones that make a Dixie cup and dental floss look like better handheld communication devices.* On top of that, the insurer you picked has an even poorer variety of phones, and to my delight, are all refurbished. After I put in my claim, I love that you sent me the Samsung 530 as if I would regard the tinny ringtones and clip-art graphics as a vintage experience. Then I battled with your confused customer service representatives across half a dozen phone calls, and you sent me back to the store, where they threw their palms up in defeat and total blankness. So I got on the phone with a couple of Asurion managers, and finally you agreed to send me the phone I had been insured under, at a price now that would get me the latest and greatest at T-Mobile or Cingular. But I hung in there, because to break our contract would require liquidated damages that I could use on a pair of Chanel shades. So then I followed your multi-step instructions and got the DHL guy involved. And I waited patiently for many days. When you didn't respond, you said you needed the tracking number, which sent me into another third-party tussle with DHL. When we finally had that all sorted out, you dropped the bomb.

You didn't have the Samsung 670 in stock. But you had a "comparable" phone, and when you said "Audiovox," everything inside me turned to stone. We got on the website together as you tried to convince me that these phones are substantially similar. Left with no options, tired of negotiating, needing to bill more during my workday, I surrendered and let you put the package in the mail.

It is a done deal now. I have this stone-age so-called "camera phone" that is nothing more than a technological eyesore. A cursory inspection of available ringtones made me wonder if they were ripped off of bad Atari video games. 9 years ago, when my dad gifted me with my first cellular brick, I committed myself to a life of having state-of-the-art cell phones, at all times, at all costs. I would say that with the help of Verizon Wireless, this streak is officially broken. I have given up.

But, things are looking up. The thought of seeing Brandon Flowers tonight...

* Courtesy of Friend.

posted by Lucy Sloan @ 8:04 AM