Non-Apology Tour

I guess this counts as significant...

I came home tonight from a long, hard commute to find that my cable, TV, and internet service had been restored.

After all the ranting, cursing, angry phone calls and emails, I walked into my home office and saw the row of green lights glowing on my modem.

That little black box had been dark for so long that I felt like singing "When the Lights Go On Again" at the top of my lungs--only I didn't know the words.

I was told that the work crew wouldn't be in my neighborhood until Monday, but that turned out to be wrong--just like everything else the Time Wiener Cabal told me.

So I'm finally back on my own computer. I am so grateful that my sister had very kindly allowed me to hook up my company laptop to her modem so I wouldn't have to travel to Manhattan.

That worked fine for two days, but then last night her modem died. I was convinced that it was my fault, but the cable company said her modem was old and on the way out. Still, it meant going into the office today when I would have much preferred working from home for one more day.

I am glad I went in, though. It was good to see my co-workers after all this time--has it been two weeks?--and it's easier to do my job in the office. I feel so cut off from everything when I work from home. It would be different if I had my own business, but as long as I'm working for a company, I'd prefer to actually work at the company.

I suppose this is the part where I say I'm sorry for all the nasty things I said about the people at Time Wiener, how I really didn't mean to call them parasites, thieves, clowns and losers.

What, Me Sorry?

I guess I'm supposed to apologize for shouting and swearing at total strangers on the other end of the telephone.

Well, maybe I'm supposed to...but I'm not.

When you charge money for a service, you are supposed to deliver that service. If you fail in that responsibility, then you are cheating your customers. It's as simple as that. If you cheat people, don't expect them to love you.

What I am really sorry about is how I let this situation eat away at me. It was on my mind all the time. The bad back didn't help matters any. Not only am I forced to stick around the house, but I couldn't even distract myself by watching TV or surfing the internet.

I had a lousy bus ride home tonight because the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel was still being flushed out. All I could think of during this tiresome trip was walking into my apartment to a blank TV screen, a dead telephone, and a lifeless computer.

I got so angry I actually thought about going to Time Wiener's headquarters on Monday morning and demanding to see the CEO. I fantasized about causing a scene, complete with a security guard scuffle and a Category Four obscenity barrage.

Obviously I'm glad it never came to that, but I'm disappointed that I was even thinking that way. Yes, this was a rotten situation, but pointless rage does nothing but shorten your lifespan. And there may not be cable in the afterlife.

My anger seems so petty now, given how other people suffered--and continue to suffer--from the impact of Hurricane Sandy. I thank God I and my loved ones were spared and my heart goes out to these poor people who lost so much.

Ironically, one of the things I learned from not having TV or the internet was that I spend entirely too much time watching TV and surfing the internet. That has to change. I call myself a writer. Well, writers write.

Now I can turned my attention to my fiction and--hopefully--getting my health back. Now that would really be significant...