Wednesday, February 28, 2007

I've been cursed since Dan Brown...

Knowing that the IQ of the general population is not too high, I usually try to steer clear of anything that's trendy. Why? Because chances are if the masses like it, it's probably pretty lame.

But I'm weak.

Sometimes, when something has staying power I break down and check it out. More times than not I realize I should have left well enough alone. (Blair Witch Project, I'm talking to you. And you too Dan Brown.) However, there have been times that I was like 'whoa, people actually have pretty decent taste for a change." For instance, I fought off Harry Potter until it was assigned to me in a college literature class. Glad that happened. I initially thought that the Dixie Chicks were talentless hacks and succumbed to temptation by the 3rd album. Not only are they uber talented but have proven to be so right on target politically.

Well, after repeatedly being told how David Sedaris is all the rage and how is writing is so wonderful I picked up one of his books off a sale table. "Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim" is what I ended up with. I've read about half of it so far and my only thought is - THIS is what people consider wonderful writing? Oy vey. Maybe, just maybe this is one of his lesser works. I hopped over to Amazon to see the reviews and find out...282 reviews and it 4/5 stars. Dammit, this is supposed to be a good one.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

The new AT&T - still sucking

It seems you can't go anywhere without seeing/hearing an advertisement for "The new AT&T" since their recent take-over of Bellsouth and Cingular. Unfortunately for me, I am about to move and had to deal with the "new AT&T" to setup new phone service. On Jan 29th I filled out the online order form for new service, which was set to begin today. At 10am today I get an email telling me that they cannot complete my request and to call 1-800-244-4444 to resolve the problem. I promptly get on the phone...a phone call that results in me getting transferred 5 times for a total call lenght of just over an hour, with half the CSRs being able to see my account but having no clue why there is a problem and the other half telling me that the account does not exist. Ah, incompetence at it's finest. The call ended with the Midwest web order department telling me that there was no record of my account or order (even though previous people had been able to pull it up with my confirmation number), then the lovely (insert sarcasm here) lady told me that she could walk me through the web order form step-by-step. Apparently their incomptence was a direct result of me being internet illiterate...who knew?!? I asked her what good that would do if the order did not show up in their system the first time even though I was issued a confirmation number. Oy.
 
So, for anyone else having this problem with 'the new AT&T', here's some other phone numbers I have accumlated from my session today.
Midwest web order department 1-800-869-1598
Texas web order department 1-866-602-4412
Installation department 1-800-341-9311
Business office 1-800-288-2020
Order department 1-800-299-3810
 
Luckily I can get phone service through the cable provider or through a third-party like Vonage. Unfortunately, I have dealt with Vonage in the past and they are just as incompetent (if not more so). Damn the phone company monopolies.