day of fail on all fronts
Jan. 23rd, 2012 09:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
llcoolvadUgh. Why do I have days off? I spent today crossing town lines trying to cross a bunch of things off of my TO DO list: I needed to get a specific power solution for the kitchen, I needed to return my cable boxes and other equipment to RCN, I needed a new cable box from Comcast, I needed to go food shopping, I needed to get Mom's soda at Walgreen's (good sale), etc. I had about a 50% success rate, but then everything went to shit, I disappointed Patrick in a huge way, and I feel like a huge failure.
Comcast started out easy. Exchanged an old box for a new, was frustrated that they'd told me the wrong amount for DVRs on the phone (call #1 & call #2 — I wanted a supervisor and they hung up on me!), but decided one DVR and one new box was fine. Went from there in Malden to Arlington, which is the closest RCN place. Took two seconds, all done. Yay! Headed off to Cambridge to buy a new wifi router because I am having nothing but stress with my current one, and I've had it for something like 9 years anyway, probably time for an upgrade (or at least a refresh). From there I headed to Staples in Somerville to try to get a new battery for Mom's cordless phone. Yeah, right. Ok, fail #1. I will move on. Got lunch in Medford at Subway. It's then off to Melrose AND Wakefield to Walgreen's for her soda. Nope! Not in stock. Got a rain check, but fail #2. Then Home Depot for power solutions. I got something that MIGHT work. Ok, fine. Getting late now, gotta skip grocery shopping for now. And anyway, I've been in enough towns for today.
Head home, plug in cable boxes. Mom likes to watch the evening news, and by now it's 3-ish so I want to get everything done so I can go to Patrick's to help paint by 4:30 or so when he gets home. Now the huge fail begins. Go to activate cable boxes on phone (#3, automated system): the DVR starts up fine, but the regular box won't display channels. Call to Comcast #4: lengthy wait, lots of attempts of things, do this and this, then the rep says turn it off, wait 45 minutes, should be fine. 45 minutes? Christ. It doesn't even sound right, but what can I do? It's now 4. Go put other stuff away, pull some laundry together. Look at phone, P texted, said he'd be home at five. Slight reprieve! Excellent. But the internet is now not working? Call Comcast again (#5). Fix internet. It's now 4:40, turn on Mom's TV, nothing. Still dead. I am CERTAIN it's an equipment issue, but I call again anyway (#6). Send another signal, do this and that, say "well, we can send someone out". No thanks. Mom needs tv tonight. How late is local office open? 6pm. SIGH. Call Patrick, tell him stuff. He sounds resigned to me sucking, says ok, never mind coming over, be done with everything before I could get there anyway.
Get to Comcast (back to Malden) by 5:25, wait in line until 5:45, get new box. While there, clerk tells me my modem is "wicked old" and should really be swapped out. "Will there be activation issues, etc.?" I ask. She said, "Nope, just unplug the old one, plug in the new one, follow the screen." HAHAHAHAHAH! I get home around 6:10, set up Mom's cable box (which works instantly after I activate (#8), so yeah, I was right), then go in to set up the new cable modem. (#9) At 7:30, after the Comcast rep actually said "it's never taken me this long before to get something activated" we finally got everything working. Basically four and a half hours of nothing but Comcast. Two visits in person, 9 (NINE) phone calls (I might have forgotten one, too). Delightful. Can't say I'm a contented customer.
Finally sit down to eat (after going out to fetch dinner) around 8, P gets online and tells me all the stuff he did painting and moving things, and of course it was all without me, despite me promising to go over and help. He's upset, rightfully so, and I really suck, sometimes. I need to work on my priorities. I get tunnel vision when it comes to Mom-things, and I really need to work on balancing things better. I apologized a lot, of course, but I feel like a jerk.
Tomorrow I will go over after work and try to make up for sucking.
Comcast started out easy. Exchanged an old box for a new, was frustrated that they'd told me the wrong amount for DVRs on the phone (call #1 & call #2 — I wanted a supervisor and they hung up on me!), but decided one DVR and one new box was fine. Went from there in Malden to Arlington, which is the closest RCN place. Took two seconds, all done. Yay! Headed off to Cambridge to buy a new wifi router because I am having nothing but stress with my current one, and I've had it for something like 9 years anyway, probably time for an upgrade (or at least a refresh). From there I headed to Staples in Somerville to try to get a new battery for Mom's cordless phone. Yeah, right. Ok, fail #1. I will move on. Got lunch in Medford at Subway. It's then off to Melrose AND Wakefield to Walgreen's for her soda. Nope! Not in stock. Got a rain check, but fail #2. Then Home Depot for power solutions. I got something that MIGHT work. Ok, fine. Getting late now, gotta skip grocery shopping for now. And anyway, I've been in enough towns for today.
Head home, plug in cable boxes. Mom likes to watch the evening news, and by now it's 3-ish so I want to get everything done so I can go to Patrick's to help paint by 4:30 or so when he gets home. Now the huge fail begins. Go to activate cable boxes on phone (#3, automated system): the DVR starts up fine, but the regular box won't display channels. Call to Comcast #4: lengthy wait, lots of attempts of things, do this and this, then the rep says turn it off, wait 45 minutes, should be fine. 45 minutes? Christ. It doesn't even sound right, but what can I do? It's now 4. Go put other stuff away, pull some laundry together. Look at phone, P texted, said he'd be home at five. Slight reprieve! Excellent. But the internet is now not working? Call Comcast again (#5). Fix internet. It's now 4:40, turn on Mom's TV, nothing. Still dead. I am CERTAIN it's an equipment issue, but I call again anyway (#6). Send another signal, do this and that, say "well, we can send someone out". No thanks. Mom needs tv tonight. How late is local office open? 6pm. SIGH. Call Patrick, tell him stuff. He sounds resigned to me sucking, says ok, never mind coming over, be done with everything before I could get there anyway.
Get to Comcast (back to Malden) by 5:25, wait in line until 5:45, get new box. While there, clerk tells me my modem is "wicked old" and should really be swapped out. "Will there be activation issues, etc.?" I ask. She said, "Nope, just unplug the old one, plug in the new one, follow the screen." HAHAHAHAHAH! I get home around 6:10, set up Mom's cable box (which works instantly after I activate (#8), so yeah, I was right), then go in to set up the new cable modem. (#9) At 7:30, after the Comcast rep actually said "it's never taken me this long before to get something activated" we finally got everything working. Basically four and a half hours of nothing but Comcast. Two visits in person, 9 (NINE) phone calls (I might have forgotten one, too). Delightful. Can't say I'm a contented customer.
Finally sit down to eat (after going out to fetch dinner) around 8, P gets online and tells me all the stuff he did painting and moving things, and of course it was all without me, despite me promising to go over and help. He's upset, rightfully so, and I really suck, sometimes. I need to work on my priorities. I get tunnel vision when it comes to Mom-things, and I really need to work on balancing things better. I apologized a lot, of course, but I feel like a jerk.
Tomorrow I will go over after work and try to make up for sucking.
