Filled With Rage

I am standing in line at the Tims in the hospital (don’t ever try to study 10 feet from a tims) and I am exhausted. I have been going full tilt ever since Christmas break. Not on school but on life stuff. School has been pushed to the side.

Anyways, I am watching the people get served, on the weekends it is mostly patients and their families as most staff are not on. I am most intrigued by the man who is chatting nicely with the server while his 3 year old crawls on the floor under the counter and is playing with the garbage can. I watch him put his hand in something, yank it up sharply, then proceed to lick the spot he was staring at on his palm. Now I am not a parent yet... but I am pretty sure that I don’t want my kid playing with a garbage can (plus the nice pretty shinny items that are lying around it) on the cafeteria floor of a hospital. It just aint right.

Let me tell you another story.

I have been getting these strange text messages for months now. Ever since the first day I had my new phone I have been getting messages from some web site I have never been to telling me that some chick (Asian, 25/F) or some combo of ethnicity/age is looking to talk with me. Please text them back. What would you do at this? I deleted them (annoyed at how junk mail is everywhere) and went on with my day. Theni started getting these 2x a day. I would just delete them. Then I get my first bill and there is 25$ extra on it for premium text messages. WTF!

So I call TELUS (yes it was TELUS, please tell your friends)

Me: Hi , why is there a huge extra charge on my phone this month.

TELUS Girl: (Kate) these messages are your fault Sneakydog cause you signed up for the service.

me: Sorry Kate but I did no such thing:

Kate: I see, well I can get rid of those charges but you will have to text back (at my own expense mind you) the word stop* and they will stop.

me: cool. I will do that. now this bill only goes up to 3 weeks ago and I still get them 2x a day (50 cents a message). what will I do?

Kate: hey just call back when you get your new bill as I cant see it till then and we will fix you all up.

me: thanks Kate. I appreciate the help

kate: no problem, I will put through the adjustment right away.

so I go on thinking I am fixed and everything is fine. I stopped getting the messages after I typed in Stop. now on boxing day I get another message which I text back stop, and it stops again. I have not gotten any more messages since then. However on my December bill there are 25$ more in charges for premium text messages. WTF!

I call TELUS once again to get this straightened out as Kate told me this would be my next step. I get Saleba on the phone this time.

Me: Hi Saleba, I need you to help me get this bill fixed up so I can pay. I need the text messages removed from the bill.

saleba: I am sorry sir, but these charges are the result of your doing and I can not remove them from your account. you or someone you know signed up for them that is why you keep getting them.

Me: I was talking to Kate and she mentioned for me to call back and get them fixed up when my new bill came in. just take a look at the notes on my account.

saleba: I see here that a one time courtesy credit was applied to your account by Kate and you were told to remove the Text messaging. (one time courtesy? Kate never mentioned a one time deal. et tu Kate?).

me: I did that, now i need you to remove the rest of them.

saleba: I am sorry sir i can not do that, these charges are your fault and your responsibility.

Me: Saleba (I am standing in my room now, voice slightly raised) I am not paying for these charges and you are going to credit my account.

Saleba: (Obviously annoyed with me now), Sir I will credit your account up to the date you were talking with kate. After that you will have to pay for the 2$ of charges (The word WHORE comes in to my head).

Me: Fine whatever. (pick your battles i say.) Saleba then puts me on hold for 5 mins while she rags to her coworker about me and adjusts my bill.

saleba: Ok that is done and your new bill is 21$( accidentally quotes me the credit instead of the charges left). Sir let me remind you that this is a one time courtesy credit and you will be responsible for any new...

me: I AM NOT PAYING FOR ANY OF THESE TEXT MESSAGES IF THEY COME IN!. I did not sign up for any service and i will not...

Saleba: sir you will be respo...

Me: don’t interrupt me! I will not pay for these messages. ( Interrupting a caller. OMG fired!)

Saleba: Ok sir (giving into me more out of apathy than out of surrender) if these messages keep coming in call back and we will have to get your number changed. these is a 25$ fee to change your number.

silence. the rage is clouding my thoughts. I am not sure what to say, i want to be polite, be nice, be a human being.

Me: Seleba, let me get this straight (good clinical skills always involves clarifying the situation) i have to get my number changed because you guys recycle them and i get crap on it and now as a result and I have to pay for it as well?!. I am sorry seleba but Telus will be paying for my phone change is this happens. I want you to say that back to me and type it into my notes in my account that TELUS will pay my number change fee if this happens.

Seleba: (now very obvious her apathy towards me and telus) ok sir we will change it free of charge.

Me: Thank you

I hang up and go to pay my bill online. however during my rage i forgot the total. I call telus again.

andy: how can i help you Sneakydog

me: Hi andy, how are you tonight (polite of course) i only need my account balance.

andy quotes me a charge at least 40 bucks higher than i expected.

Me: andy that is quite high seeing that i just had a few credits charged to my account.
andy looks up my account and is taking some time to read the notes. his tone has changed when he returns. it is obvious that saleba has left some inspiring notes about me in there.

Andy: sir it appears you were getting some messages were you.

Me (sigh): yes but i think i got that all fixed up. why is my bill so high. i had 40+ dollars in credits applied.

andy: well sneakydog it appears that those credits were never applied. (there is a loud thumping in my ears now).

me: well Andy lets get those applied so I can pay my bill (I say through clenched teeth).

Andy applied them on the spot and reads me my new balance. Andy was very helpful and polite. I should mention competent as well. I thank him and he wishes me a good night. I pay my bill online and curse TELUS and all its cute green animal mascots to hell.


fuckin TELUS

AK