Dominoes On A Treadmill

It would seem that much of what some of us experience in life is the equivalent of being on a treadmill, and trying to successfully set up a line of dominoes while keeping up with the ever-increasing speed of events in our lives.


A friend of mine, whom I've written about on my blog before, lost her mother over the summer. We were all so sure that, aside from the grief of her terrible loss, her life would improve since she would finally be able to leave the house once in a while after years of caring for her ailing mother 24/7.


Unfortunately, her newfound freedom only resulted in her discovery that her husband had been cheating on her while she was caring for her mother over the years, which led to her current pending divorce and having to move from a decent-sized house into a tiny apartment with her adoptive four-year-old. Now, in addition to her grief, she has no more freedom than she did before, since she is now a single parent trying to support herself and her child.


My situation is slightly better than hers, with me attempting to recover from five years of not being able to work and earn a living wage thanks to the federal government. (No, I'm not Kevin Mitnick and I did not hack into the C.I.A.'s computer, but tell that to the feds.) I struggle, but considering that I've only had nine months of employment freedom, I think I'm doing as best as can be expected, especially considering that the economy is tough and some people aren't even able to get a minimum wage job.


And then there are days like yesterday, when I have very important things that must get done, that the treadmill suddenly increases its grade, speeds up, and seems to scatter all of the dominoes of progress like leaves in the wind.


It started last month with what I call "the iPhone fiasco", which resulted in me being given a replacement phone (an upgrade from a 3Gs to an iPhone 4 at no cost). With the new phone, I had to reload all of my apps (they did not transfer over from the restore). Monday was the first time I had used the AT&T app. on the new phone to make my wireless service payment, so I had to re-enter my information in order to do so. Problem:  I thought that tapping the "confirm" button to confirm my information had actually been the "make payment" button. It was not.


When did I discover this? Why, after my service was suspended in the middle of the day yesterday while in the middle of trying to deal with an issue at my bank, caused by yet another event from six months ago.


Earlier this year, the bank account my roommate and I use for household bills had an unauthorized ACH transaction of $4.95 from a company neither I nor my roommate recognized. The transaction had been initiated in my name according to the company, and when I called the bank to dispute it, they said they would flag the account against any future transactions from that company. However, they went "above and beyond" and put a "watch" on the account, supposedly designed to prevent future unauthorized transactions from any other company via online draft or ACH transaction.


Six months later, me creating a draft from a check I received and depositing it set off a red flag at the bank and caused major chaos. Not only did it take forever for me to get the accurate info. from the bank as to what was going on, but there were about five different stories floating between my bank and the check-writer's bank, and because of all of the confusion, the check writer's account was frozen and they ended up having to close their account, open a new account, and send a cash equivalent to me.


Now, we all know how inconvenient it is to have to deal with a bank for any reason, but to have to close your account and open a new one and then set up all of your direct deposits, bill-pay transactions, automatic debits, etc. all over again? WHAT A PAIN!!! The chaos for me was nill compared to the chaos the check-writer went through, and I feel responsible because it was my bank that caused all of the trouble, and the fact that their intentions were good doesn't make it any easier on anyone.


But wait, it gets better!


Right in the middle of all of this, my mobile phone service is suspended for nonpayment, since I didn't ever tap the "submit" button, thinking I had already done it when I had actually only hit the "confirm" button. This means that my phone, my roommate's phone, and another phone used by a family member, all of which are in my name under my account, were suspended.


My iPhone is only cost-effective because I was grandfathered in under the unlimited data plan and use it to replace a land-line phone and internet service, since I have successfully jailbroken and unlocked my iPhone and can use Cydia / Rock's non-Apple apps. to make my phone into a personal WiFi unit. (For more information, see this link.)


However, this means that I have absolutely no way of communicating with the world (or vice versa) if my service goes out, and of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, this would occur right in the middle of an attempt to resolve a very important banking issue.


So, I successfully make the payment using my iPhone, but am only able to do so by calling 611 and using their automated system, which tells me my service should be restored within 30 minutes. Oh, and there is a $36 "service reconnection fee".


An hour later, still no phone service. I can't call them, because the 611 number tells me my service has been suspended and will only take payments, even though I've already made my payment, and requires me to call from a different phone in order to speak to an actual live person until my service is restored, which is why I need to talk to someone in the first place. Conundrum-city!


Finally, with the help of my neighbor, I was able to get through to someone and they restored my service and waived the $36 reconnect fee.


In the end everything was resolved, but the amount of time it took out of not only my day but the entire day of two other people, really upsets me. The entire afternoon was totally shot, and it seems to me that things like this occur far too often in too many people's lives.


I often wonder if we were to put a monetary value on the amount of time lost due to things like this what the total cost would be. I'm guessing we'd all show a loss of at least $100,000 over a lifetime.


I know people who have lost much productivity because their internet service isn't working and they end up spending hours on the phone with tech. support, only to get told it's an equipment problem, when really it's a service provider problem or vice versa. It can take three hours just to get a simple issue addressed because of poor customer service rep. communication skills. or because companies tend to set up their computer scripts to assume that the problem is the result of anyone's failure or equipment issue but their own.


It sucks, but if you're going to participate in life, you can't get off the treadmill, because life IS the treadmill. So, here's taking another deep breath and preparing for another day of treadmill climbing. I hope for a level grade, but I only expect it to get steeper.


A.