jane q. public

You could fill volumes with complaints against Comcast.  Hell, my boss has devoted staff meetings to telling us of his terrible dealings with Comcast to illustrate customer service “Don’ts” to us.

I’ve just got a small complaint tonight…

I need to have the home phone service disconnected.  I don’t need it and I never did, but I used to have two roommates without cell phones, so we added it (how it’s fair that I spent a year paying a third of the bill for phone service I didn’t need or use, I don’t know).  Now the roommates are gone (well, the last one will be at the end of the week … I hope), and so I need it turned off.  Plus, I need to save the money like whoa.

I go to their website to look up contact info because 1-800-COMCAST is far too much information for me to maintain in my little head, and I see this:

Oh good!  That means I can get this business taken care of now, which is great since it’s Sunday evening and I’m not doing anything.

But oh no.  According to the robot lady, their hours have changed – they are no longer open on Sundays and their Monday through Friday hours are 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Ok, so it’s not a big deal and I’m wasting time bitching about it.  I also suspect that this change in their hours of operation is 100% related to this recession, which sucks for their call center employees.

In fact, if that’s the worst problem I have with Comcast (given their track record) all year, I’m in good shape.

All I’m saying is, you’re a company that deals in communications.  Update your freaking website, Assclowns, and don’t give me the unrealistic expectation of receiving help.

Oh my gosh, this is dumb and I’m just really bored.

I am broke.  I have exactly enough money to pay my bills (thanks to the awesome power of a budget – it works – who knew?), and that’s it.

I have also lost 20+ pounds in the last couple of months and all of my pants are falling off and look ridiculous.  Clearly, I need some pants, but I meant what I said about the money; I can’t even afford Goodwill right now.

Furthermore, even if I had a little cash, I really wouldn’t want to blow it on clothes just yet, as I have 20 more pounds to go.  So in a month, I’d just be in the same boat again.

But it hit me – I can go on a shopping spree.  I was skinny about four years ago.  I bought A LOT of clothes.  I was living with my mom at the time, so I could blow my paycheck on whatever I wanted, and I did.  I even amassed a collection of jeans which, I believe, totaled 13 pairs.

I’m a bit of a packrat, so after I gained a ton of weight (thanks, beer!), I kept telling myself that I would one day be thin again and needed to keep my skinny clothes.  I spent a lot of time wondering if that would ever happen, but it seems that I made the right choice.

Since our economy is in the toilet, you always hear the anchorpeople talking about “going shopping in your closet” – I’m headed over to mom’s house this afternoon to go shopping in her attic (or as I like to call it, “my own personal storage facility”).  All of those old clothes are in boxes there, probably labeled “skinny clothes.”

I’m actually pretty excited since there are probably a lot of clothes that I completely forgot.  I doubt that I’ll be able to get into most of the jeans quite yet, but at the rate I’ve been going, I should be -20 pounds in about a month, so I want them ready.

Anyway, that’s my method of coping with this recession for this afternoon.  Happy Sunday!

I’ve been really stressed lately (primarily over money), and the only cure is Young MC*:

*I got to see him at Starwood a thousand years ago.  :)

I don’t really feel like being internetty this week.  I am very, very stressed about money (adulthood isn’t all that awesome) right now.

I just came here to let the world know that I just heard a guy on tv say “big game animals” – only I thought he said “big gay manimals.”

That is all.

This just hasn’t been my week.  Actually, it was getting better near the end, but it dipped back into the suck threshold this morning.

This time last year I found that I must’ve fucked something up on a W-4 form, and the refund I was expecting turned out to be -$631.  I guess, in a way, it wasn’t so bad since I was going to get the $600 stimulus check, meaning I only owed $31 – except that I thought I was going to be getting a refund plus that stupid stimulus check.

In some ways I’m an adult only because my driver’s license says that I am…  When it comes to things like taxes and health insurance, I’m totally lost.  When I filled out a new W-4 at the beginning of 2008, I was told by a couple of people to claim 0 and that more would be withheld, but I would get more back when the year was up.  This was fine with me.  I didn’t really care, as long as I didn’t end up owing money when January 2009 rolled around.

But guess what…  Yes, exactly.

$639.  I have the money, but that’s not the issue.  I expected to be getting some fucking money back, but it’s happened again, and I have no fucking clue why.

When I filled out a new W-4 about a month ago, I claimed 0 again.  Clearly I’m going to have to change it, but I have no idea what to put down so that this doesn’t happen again.  I work my ass off and can’t get ahead.  There should be nothing complicated about my taxes.  I’m single with no dependents, I don’t earn interest on anything.  All I have financially are my paychecks – which are nothing to brag about.

After I found out this morning that the Internal Revenue Service would, yet again, be fucking me someplace very uncomfortable (like the back of a Volkswagen), I got in the car and heard this:

That song kind of makes my ears bleed, yet it’s one of those that crawls up in your brain and refuses to leave.

Anyway, I give this week two thumbs down.

Oh, hello!  I’ve been absent.  Just a quick note…

I’ll probably get skewered for this, but Ira Brody is a good guy.  I hope it all works out.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In spite of the ridiculous purchases I make, I don’t make a lot of money.  On a couple of different occasions during this long ass campaign I have bought stickers or a t-shirt from Obama’s website and tacked a $10 donation on to my purchase.

Well, I’m going to make one last  donation tonight.  I’m making one a little teeny tiny bit higher than what they’re asking.  It still won’t be much, but I can make some adjustments to this month’s budget and fit it in.  It’s not impressive, but I’m able to do it.  I’m giving a little more on behalf of the people who make even less than I do and want to give but can’t.

I’m doing it because it’s important.  Our future is on the line.  It sounds melodramatic, but that’s what I believe.

I’m asking you to please go and give a little something to the campaign if you can.  Even if it’s less than what they’re requesting.  Do your part, and let’s get this damned election over with!

xoxo,

Jane Q. Public

P.S. Links below…

Olivia – 

This is it. 

Millions of people are counting on Barack and Joe — and you — to bring the change this country needs. 

It all comes down to midnight tonight when we make the last, tough choices about where we can fight — and how hard. 

Please take a minute and think about what’s at stake in this election. Your support can help strengthen our team for the final push. 

Will you make a donation of $25 or more before the midnight deadline? 

There’s never been a more important time to support this movement for change. 

The future of our country — and our children — depends on what we do right now. 

You can help bring the change we need. 

Please make a donation of $25 or more before tonight’s deadline: 

https://donate.barackobama.com/finalfight 

We’ve worked so hard to get this far. We can’t stop now. 

Thank you so much for your support, 

Michelle 

I caught my aunt and uncle’s names on a list of political donors in the Nashville area today.  They gave $12,900 to Friends of Fred Thompson Inc.

I’m highly upset about this for a few different reasons, the least of which is political.

I’m itching to write something vitriolic about them here, but I think I need to zip my lips (or my keyboard, as it were) and sleep on it – they are family, after all.