Paraphrasing Christopher Titus...

After some of the headaches I've gone through today, I'm surprised I'm not wandering the countryside killing hookers with a spoon.

The bank I use for the game store got purchased by another bank. The big switchover happened today. That meant I needed to get ahold of all my vendors and update credit card/checking account info so payments would not bounce. As I'm trying to complete step one of the whole process, I hit a snag. The snag necessitates a trip to the bank itself, which is absolutely SWAMPED with less than happy people. The basic conversation to get the first hurdle cleared went something like this...

Bank Employee #1: Welcome to XXXXX, how are you doing today?

Me: Grumpy. This switchover is anything but painless.

BE#1: Welllll... Let's see what we can do about that. XXXXX can in bank services can help you.

Me: Fine. Whatever. Just make things work.

BE#2: What seems to be the problem?

(I toss down the shiny, new business check card they've sent me onto his desk.)

Me: This need to be activated.

BE#2: Well, that is a simple matter. Did you try doing it over the phone?

[A look of  "I'm going to leap over your desk and strangle you" crosses my face.]

Me: Yes. Yes I did. It insists on me inputing a piece of information that I have never possessed in the life of my prior card usage.

BE#2: Well, you should have that information...

[Me interrupting... ...with more than slightly perturbed growl creeping into my voice.]

Me: Not if I've never used the card in the manner where that information is necessary. If it's too much trouble for you to do this, then get me your supervisor and you can explain to him why I'm closing my buisness accounts here.

[blink]

BE#2: Let's get this working, shall we.

In short, things get working in about a ten minute period after that exchange.

I get back to the store, get things in order, and then a thunderstorm rolls in. Now, I live in Illinois. Thunderstorms roll in all the time during this part of the year. What actually rolls in is an electrical storm of a magnitude that I haven't seen for about a year... ...the last time the cable modem at the store got fried. See where I'm going with this?

Strangely, while our internet was down, our internet-based phone service doesn't miss a beat. Weird.

So, about three hours after I call, the internet company comes and replaces the deep-fried box with a shiny new one.

My guess is that the new cable box will last about a year... sigh...

peace... RHManiac/GopherDave