So we’re that much closer to finally getting the whole Christmas thing over with.
For my part, I’ll be working all day on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so I won’t be doing much to acknowledge their passing.
Not that I would anyway, but the fact that I’m working largely takes away the element of choice.
On the topic of work, going back to it after eleven days off was difficult, and I found that even though the time off was largely spent doing nothing in particular, it was preferable to having to go in to work and actually do something.
On Friday I brought in the Nisu and Pumpkin Bread I’d made as something of a Christmas present for everyone at work, since pretty much everyone but me will be off during Christmas. Bunch of pansies, spending time with their families for the holidays…
Today started out with me waking up a bit before 8 and getting out of bed, then realizing that I had absolutely no reason whatsoever to get up that early, so I went back to bed.
At about 9:40 my phone rang.
It was the branch manager from my bank.
Yesterday morning on my way to work I decided to go through the drive-through ATM at the bank across the street and get some money, as I wanted to stop at 7-11 and pick up some orange juice and also have change to use in the vending machines throughout the day.
I put my card in, punched in my PIN, selected the type and amount of withdrawal, and everything was proceeding normally.
Because it’s the kind of ATM that actually takes the card in rather than just having you swipe it, before it gives you your cash it ejects your card.
At least, in theory it does.
This particular ATM attempted to eject the card, but failed, making it impossible for me to grab it.
This had happened to me once before, but I had found that after the ATM beeped for a while it pulled the card back in and attempted, successfully, to eject it again.
However, this time the second attempt at ejecting the card also failed, and after beeping at me insistently, it pulled the card back in once more.
The screen said, “Transaction cancelled due to customer time-out. Your card has been retained for security. Please contact your branch.”
So not only did I not get my cash, I had, for the day at least, lost my check card.
I have to wonder if anyone watched the footage of me on the security camera leaning out my car window screaming “God dammit!” and gesturing wildly.
In any case, the branch manager called me this morning to inform me that I had until 3:30 this afternoon to pick up my card in person, otherwise they would send it back to the main branch and it would be mailed to me from there.
I had planned to go over there today anyway, but had wanted to sleep in just a little longer. Still, after I’d gotten the call I figured that I might as well get up.
After taking a shower and talking to my mother I decided to walk over to the bank.
Once I got outside, though, I decided to drive, as it was pretty chilly out.
Having recovered my check card, I put it to use at Safeway, picking up a few things that I needed, most notably some cartridges for my Mach 3. I last shaved, using my electric razor, on Thursday night before I went to bed. Typically I would also shave on Friday night, and then again on Saturday night. I shave before I go to bed in order to save some time in the morning and to allow my skin some time to recover from the irritation so that I don’t have to show up to work with my skin all red and splotchy.
Of course, my skin is generally sort of red and splotchy anyway, but immediately after I shave it looks even worse.
Anyway, having neglected to shave on Friday night, by Saturday night it was too late to use my electric razor, as once I get two days’ growth, shaving with an electric razor becomes too painful. And I didn’t have any cartridges for my Mach 3, so I basically had to go unshaven most of the weekend.
I doubt that anyone really noticed (or cared) though, but when I went out today I was looking pretty grizzled. Once again, though, I doubt that anyone noticed (or cared).
A while back I discovered that employees of the company I work for get a discount on Sprint PCS, which is the cell phone service I have.
Last week I finally got around to calling in to get the discount applied to my service. The girl I talked to did everything she needed to do and informed me that my existing account would be closed after I paid the remaining balance when it was due (December 27th), and I would begin a new billing cycle on January 13th.
I didn’t think much more about it until 4:30 the next morning when I woke up hearing what I later identified as Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5.
Initially, in my sleepy state, I thought I’d imagined it. It wouldn’t be the first time; for example, I remember once being awoken by the sound of “Whale and Wasp” by Alice In Chains playing at an extremely high volume...in my head. It was the damnedest thing.
In any case, as I got out of bed and stumbled sleepily to the bathroom, I realized that a bit of classical music that sounded suspiciously like a cell phone ring tone was a bit too esoteric for me to imagine, and so I went into the dining room, which is where I’d left my phone before going to bed.
I knew that the particular music I’d heard wasn’t my ring tone or the tone I had for notifying me of new voicemail, so I decided that it must be a text message.
I was right about that, but wrong in my assumption that it was just a notice (ill-timed, as all notices sent out from Sprint tend to be) about the change to my service.
In fact, it said that my service had been shut off for non-payment.
Sighing, I resolved to deal with it later, and went back to bed.
Once I got up for the day I logged on to the Sprint PCS Web site to see what was going on.
Or rather, I tried to log on, but it insisted that my password was invalid. I made the only call I could on my now nearly useless phone and was soon connected with someone at Sprint, though that was only after an automated voice gave me a statement of my account, which claimed that I owed $318.
The customer service person I spoke with didn’t really clarify exactly what had happened (though I would assume it probably was some sort of early termination fee), but did say that he knew what was going on. He said he had gotten rid of half of the charges, and was going to speak to someone else who would take care of the rest. He also explained that, by default, my password to the Web site had been reset to the last four digits of my SSN.
Ultimately, after leaving me on hold for a while, he came back and told me that everything was back to the way it was supposed to have been when I made the switch to the discounted service, though actually the credits that had been applied to my account, according to the guy from Sprint, had brought the remaining balance I owed to about $5 less than what it had been before this whole thing started.
However, when I signed back on to the Web site later, I found that my balance had been zeroed out, so I now owe nothing, which is pretty cool, all things considered.
I am at least somewhat concerned that there will be further snafus ahead, but for the time being at least, things are cool.
Still, if I’ve learned anything, it’s that they seldom stay that way for long…
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