Ocelopotamus

OcPot is still on hiatus for at least a couple-few more days. But yesterday, down in the comments to the hiatus post, Miss Rubbery Nun asked how I was doing and I thought I’d repost my answer here for anyone else wondering how the move went:

Survived. Just barely. No thanks to AT&T, who, in their classic brilliant style, decided to transfer my landline to my empty new apartment two days before they were supposed to, leaving me with no Internet access (I had DSL) and no home answering machine for the weekend. I’m on dial-up for the next couple of days, till my new cable modem gets installed. I got about eight hours of sleep spread out across the last three days, and I think I lost 10 lbs. in 48 hours from the continuous stairclimbing.

But I’m here. And the cats seem to be finally calming down a little. They were tharn for the first 24 hours and once they ventured out of their carriers Mr. Blue kept hissing at Kiwi like he’d never seen him before. But last night they turned the corner, I think, and are starting to realize that they have not been delivered to the Land of Dragons. Yet.

A few additional notes:

The prior tenant left a few things behind in the kitchen, including a half-full carton of eggs. However — and this is why I love my neighborhood — they were cage-free organic eggs. So all right, then. For that I’ll overlook the Grape Nuts in the pantry. Mister.

Also, if you live in Chicago and you need movers, book USA Moving and Storage. Don’t even consider anyone else. DJs Dave & Kristine recommended them and they were stunning. I’ve used professional movers five times now and USA Moving and Storage were the first company that didn’t try to deceive, shortchange, bully, or intimidate me in any way. Just four amazing guys who cheerfully worked at lightning speed — it was almost surreal to watch them move, like a speeded-up film sometimes. My brother-in-law and I stood watching one guy wrap up large furniture items in protective plastic, and it was like watching a spider wrap up a fly in its web, only faster.

And they never gave me so much as a stray reproachful look, despite being asked to carry dozens of 40-lb. boxes of books down three flights and up two. (The guys from the last company I hired — the company that screwed me over the worst — actually lectured me and tried to make me feel guilty for owning so many books. I kept thinking, umm, yes, books are heavy. That’s why I’m paying you guys money to move me instead of inflicting this on my friends. Of course, they wound up only moving half my stuff and the rest got inflicted on my friends after all — shout-outs to Jim S. and Val, and anyone else there that night, if you’re reading! — but at least I tried.)

(Why did they only move half my stuff, you’re asking? When I booked the move, the Nice Lady in the office of the Shake You Down Moving Co. assured me repeatedly that if the move went over the amount of cash I had available, they’d bill me for the rest and give me 30 days to pay. When the moving guys showed up, suddenly the terms changed to Cash Only Right Now or We Break Your Head — Thanks for Booking the Shake You Down Moving Company! After some discussion, the guys magnanimously decided that the cash I had in my pockets was worth about half my stuff.)

Anyway, did I link to that wonderful Chicago moving company USA Moving and Storage? Here, let me link to them again. Just don’t book them the same day I’m moving next time, because I’ll throw myself out a window if they’re already booked solid when I call.

And let me reiterate the moral of the post from yesterday: Don’t give AT&T any more power over your life than you have to. I’ve long wondered whether DSL or cable modem is the better choice — many considerations both pro and con for each — but this past weekend answered that question for me. Because if your phone line gets arbitrarily taken away due to a bureacratic screwup by a huge, arrogant corporation that doesn’t have to provide good customer service because, as Lily Tomlin used to say, we’re the phone company — well, in that case, you’ll lose your Internet connection, too.

And The Phone Company will gladly keep you on hold for 45 minutes of mobile phone time, when you should be packing because the movers are coming tomorrow, and then spend another half hour of your desperately needed time cheerfully refusing to resolve your problem or do anything to make up for how badly they’ve screwed up your life, or even admit that the problem is entirely 100% their fault with no collaboration on your part.

And the next time you call them to try to resolve a problem, after they’ve refused to help you they’ll end the call by trying to convince you that you should order even more “services” from AT&T — give them power over your long distance service and Internet connection and lord knows what else — so they can arrogantly and unapologetically screw you over in those areas of your life as well.

Anyway, hello RCN cable modem. I had RCN for dial-up in the early 00s, before the DSL line, and while I have no illusions about RCN’s customer service, at least I’m not putting all my eggs in Ernestine’s basket. (And I have to say that the guy who just showed up to install my RCN connection was a tall-dark-and-handsome Central European fellow who cheerfully discussed Milan Kundera with me for a couple of minutes after efficiently installing my modem. So there is that.)

Oh, and thanks for the tag, Mr. Hall. I’ll get to that soon …