Disconnected

Dependence. Addiction. Way of life. If these are not what Internet brings about in your work or personal life, then you are still capable of saving your sane self, however primitive. I am becoming a mad madman. What without Internet! I cannot imagine. Bayantel is getting on my nerves again. This is not the first time our office’s Internet connection was ‘temporarily disconnected’. And tickle me with the details, because it’s for the same reason: unsettled bill. I asked the impassive customer service representative (Hello?! We teach customer service!) in response to her claim and I know this is yet another déjà vu. ‘Miss, have you sent us the billing statement yet for that unsettled bill? Would you care checking on your records? Who received it and when?’ I was quite in the mood to talk incessantly but I stopped myself. ‘Hold on a second, Ma’am,’ she said. The timer ticks one, two, three, four, five, and counting. I have more than enough time to recall one of the good customer service habits before she came back at the other line – under promise and over deliver. But for her, it has been more than a second! Gracious. She answered my queries with, ‘Ma’am, we would just notify the person in charge to send you the billing statement.’ Now that was very lame! I was still composed, thinking how lucky this lady might be that we were not talking face-to-facet. Or she would be sorry she answered my phonecall. I could transform into a living mascot for UST - a growling tiger should the opportunity calls for it. But, whhhaaattt??? She can't even provide me with some useful information! This is getting difficult each time. This was the same issue I had discussed way back with another CSR but I guess my take was not duly noted. In my best effort, I gave that familiar unsolicited litany of how things this disastrous may have been avoided. You (Bayantel) send the billing statement, we prepare the check, we get Internet connection, you don't get complaints. It's just a walk in the park! To think that there was not even a disconnection notice. I could no longer stand her desolation. I hung up. With a 'temporarily disconnected' status, I could not access my emails. I could not upload my training calendar. No Friendster. No Facebook. No blog. No Chikka. No YM. No Skype. Only more and more difficult work. Hay.

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Bright side of life: I did too many calls for a day. Can't they see I'm happy? No, they can't.

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Speaking of disconnected, I got an unexpected SMS from this bloke who I somehow missed for several days now. He was disconnected, to put it lightly, because he has not been online since mid last week. I was even worried I might have said something awful to him and scared him away. Hahaha. I know vampires can be really scary but a fan like me can do no more harm than eat cooked pork and dinuguan.

But hey, he has valid reasons to be 'disconnected' at least. Unlike that CSR and her rotten excuses. He got stranded somewhere (maybe there was an avalanche, but I hope not) but still managed to transmit an SMS. His SMS was An Answer to my wonderings. (Why is that?) And yes, I Absolutely Agree that soon enough, I'll hear from him again. You know, like reconnection.

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Bring our Internet connection back!!!