Tomorrow is the first day of school—hooray! I’m excited, but also nervous for Bud who will start kindergarten. His clothes for the week are put in nice daily piles in his drawer, he has his backpack, the alarms are set, he can say his ABCs and count to 13. He’s all ready, but I’m not sure I’m ready to let him go yet. I feel like I’ve forgotten to tell him something important.

—————————————-

The Dish Netw@rk customer service man made me cry — good tears.

Since dh quit his steady-paycheck, nice-benefits, normal-hours job to start a new commission-based, self-employing, no-benefits career last year, things have gotten a little tight. I’m not whining he left that job, it’s the best thing he’s ever done for himself, and he’s so happy. I understood that income, if any, would be low for the first year or so, and we prepared accordingly. Of course, cutting back our monthly bills was part of our preparations, and our subscription to Dish Netw@rk was one of the first things to go. But then the World Cup games started around Father’s day, and I renewed our subscription for a few months as a gift for my dh, the mega soccer fan.

Saturday was the last day of our billing cycle, thus, time to cancel Dish Netw@rk again. I had fallen in love with a few shows on TLC and HGTV and Ant was so excited to be able to watch Pokemon on Cart00n Netw@rk (Ash is just about ready to get his umpteenth medal thingy). So sadly, I picked up the phone and go through the numbers to talk to a customer service person. The first guy I talked to tried to get me to downgrade to the cheapest package, the $20 family deal. It just wasn’t worth it, though. We already had the second cheapest package without local channels for only $5 more per month. Since he couldn’t change my mind, he transferred me to a specialist. This second guy was smooth. He flattered me, saying he noticed how we have been awesome customers for the past 5 years. He empathized with me, saying he understands how we need to cut back when things get tight. But then he suprised me, saying: "Would it help if I gave you two free months?" I asked what’s the catch–do we have to sign some contract to pledge our loyalty for another year? Will you just bill me later? What?

He says there’s no catch, they just want to keep our business, and we can cancel if things don’t get better in a few months.

I . was . floored. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced customer service like this. Tears came to my eyes as I graciously accepted his offer. Thank you Dish Netw@rk customer service man!

Tears for free TV–I didn’t know it was that important to me.

I found out today that a grudge has been held against me for some insensitive, sarcastic comment I made while I was trying to joke and tease with someone last December (IRL). I feel so bad, first, for making the comment, and second, that they hated me and felt they couldn’t talk to me about it for 8 months, until now

I realize that I do say too many sarcastic things in my efforts to be funny. I hope that if I have offended any one of you, that you will please forgive me. I’m sorry.