I Think the Twitch in My Eye is Getting Worse...

Today I received a phone call from Allied Waste our garbage/recycling service. "I had an urgent matter to attend to at Allied Waste concerning reference number..."

Wait a second... That was the SECOND call I received from Allied Waste since Saturday.

Let me back-track a second...

Saturday, I got an automated messaged from Allied Waste saying I had an urgent matter to attend to concerning reference number blah, blah, blah.

I'm freaking out. What did Ed put in the trash can this time? Motor oil? A dead rat? The creepy neighbor that used to live across the street?

No, I'd forgotten to pay the bill. In all of the hoopla with the snow days before Christmas, Ed's birthday, Christmas, and my mom's birthday, I'd misplaced the bill and forgotten to pay it.

It happens! Sue me!

So, since Monday was a holiday, I called and spoke to the nice lady at Allied Waste. She said that I wasn't on the account, only Edward was but she could take my SS number or my driver's license number and put me on the account. I was a little peeved about that because I'm the one who's paid the bill for the last fifteen years! ME! MY name is on the checks that get sent, yo!

Once we're legal and my name's on the account, she tells me I've forgotten to pay the bill and would I like to pay it right now with a credit card? Of course I would! I give her the credit card number and the little ID number on the back, she takes my home email to send me a confirmation and we're all set to go.

Until today.

At 5:50, the phone rings. ANOTHER AUTOMATED CALL FROM ALLIED WASTE! Again, I have an urgent matter to attend to concerning reference number blah, blah, blah, please call between the hours or 8:30 and 5:30 to promptly attend to the matter.

I have been home for almost an hour. Seriously. Why couldn't they send out the automated calls during during the day so that when NORMAL people got home they'd have a chance to call and take care of the issue.

Oh, right. I forgot. We're dealing with the garbage company. The one that didn't pick up our trash for THREE WEEKS because they couldn't get the trucks around in the snow. And tells us they won't charge us for "extra" trash next to the can when they do make it here to pick it up. "Extra trash" means trash that I've already paid for them to pick up. Yeah, the trash that sat there for three weeks. Extra actually means more trash that won't fit into your can. Trash that you have MORE of during the week. NOT trash that should have been picked up and wasn't. But, I digress...

*does a huffy breath*

You would think that a company that was asking for a little leeway due to weather conditions would be a little more considerate of a customer who has NEVER paid a bill late to them in fifteen years. Oh, right. That won't happen. Because the bottom line is their bottom line, that's why.

So, I called, left a NASTY message and then checked online to see if the VISA had been charged. It hadn't. I also checked the email to see if I'd gotten a confirmation email. I hadn't. So, I paid the bastard online. I also wrote a nasty email pretty much stating what I did here and that if my VISA gets charged twice, heads were gonna roll. And, that they could only contact me between the hours of 8:30 and 9:00 because I am a teacher and I don't answer my phone during the day when I have students. (Let's see how they like those apples...)

*sigh*

I think I have too much time on my hands... Having a student teacher in my room doing all the work leaves me with way too much energy at night. I'm a tad bit feisty.