Don't know what you've got till it's gone

I'm suffering.

There is a painful void in my life right now, and as hard as I try, there's nothing I can do about it. I've tried every trick in my limited arsenal to "fix" the problem, but I have to acknowledge that some things just can't be fixed.

My internet access at home has been out since Thursday night.

I thought maybe I was behind in paying my bill, and we were cut off. To avoid a scare like this, I used to have auto-payment from my bank account until my sister and I discovered that by her paying the cable and me paying the internet we were paying about $40 more per month than we needed to. So after being told by the call in customer service people that we needed to go in person to a Rogers store, and then being told by the Rogers store that we needed to call the customer service people on the phone, we finally got it sorted out. After a long phone call we finally managed to combine our accounts, much to the confusion of every single person I have spoken to since.

At the time, I directed the boy genius who combined the account to continue the billing to my bank account and gave him my banking information again. A month and a half later, no funds have been taken out of my account, and I'm concerned. I call them to check and they tell me that I've bounced a payment. Huh? That's literally impossible. It turns out they've got the banking info wrong. The guy, in a grand gesture of customer service, removes the $25 NSF payment charge from my account. No shit, Einstein. He promises to send me a new "auto-pay" set-up package, which never arrives. I pay the outstanding amount with my credit card, and wait for my next bill.

Which also never arrives. I call again.

Why no bill?

"We've got you set up for electronic billing."

I never asked for that, and I'm not getting the bills via email.

"They're being sent to (sister's email address)."

That's my sister's address. She's not getting bills, either.

"Oh."

Yeah.

"I'll send you another copy of this month's bill, and cancel the e-billing."

Yeah.

"Anything else?"

How about doing something right the first time? Can you take me back in time and see to that? No? Then I guess not.

Most people I speak to at Rogers are nice enough, they just don't think. I'm not sure if they're supposed to think. I called earlier last month with a similar problem with my internet connection. I tried rebooting my computer, the modem, everything. Nothing worked. So I called Rogers.

He had me reboot my computer, the modem and it DID work. I'm all sheepish.

I seriously just tried that a minute ago, and it didn't work.

"Ok, well next time, go to our website at rogers.yahoo.dumbfuck.com to get tech support FAQ help".

Um. I couldn't connect to the internet, Bill Gates. Might be tough to download the FAQ page.

Woof.

So as it turns out, my problem is neither a billing issue, nor an issue that a simple phone call to tech support could solve. They are sending a technician to my house, sometime between 5-8pm on Wednesday. I have been duly warned to stay by my phone and not miss the call, because if I don't answer, they'll just pass me by.

I am glad that my phone service isn't also provided by Rogers. I really need this call to go through.

I miss my internet.

On the upside, the haunted robot at the Canada Revenue Agency has informed me that my tax return has been processed and I should receive my cheque no later than August 8th. I am excited about this tax return because for the first time, I have no specific plans for the money. I'll use some of it to pay myself back (borrowed some money from my U$ savings account), some to pay down my credit card, and some for a little fun. But that still leaves a nice chunk for savings. Back before this whole scooter thing went down, I was planning on using it to get my old scooter painted. No need for that now.

I'm a girl who never, ever used to have savings, so this is pretty exciting.