The View From The Bleachers

Sunday, August 29, 2004
Get out and stay out

Houston has worn out it's welcome in Chicago. I am extremely glad to see them go. To put it mildly, the Cubs stunk up the joint. However, they are still in first for the wild card. How can that be? It makes me mad because that means we could have really put some space between us and the pack, but instead we just maintained the close race. Because of the crappy play this weekend, I have decided to focus my thoughts on something other than baseball, complaining about life.

Complaint # 1

Over the past week, I have lost my cable and internet connection 3 times. That wouldn't be so bad if it came right back on. However, it has been off as long as 10 hours at a time, it peak TV watching time. Ok, once I could understand, but 3 TIMES!?!?!?!?! To make matters worse, when I call the cable company for a refund, they simply say that it has to be off for 24 hrs for them to issue a refund. So, if my cable went off for 23 hrs each day, for the whole month, I would pay full price. I think if it goes out, you should get some kind of refund for the time you lost.

Complaint # 2

Also, dealing with the cable company. Each time I call their customer service number, I am greeted with the friendly message that says the following:

"We are currently experiencing a higher call volume than usual, please stay on the line and we'll get to your call as soon as possible."

I get this message each time I call them, whether it is for a problem or not. I know you're probably thinking, "who calls the cable company when they don't have a problem?" Well, sometimes I do to make a channel suggestion or to inquire about new services. Nonetheless, each time I am greeted with the same dang annoying message. It seems to me that if every time I call, I receive that message, maybe this call volume is not unusually high, but NORMAL!!!! Don't say it's high when it's always high. Hire more people so it won't be high. Stupid Mediacomm!!!!!

Complaint # 3

Why is it that if you are wearing a Cubs hat, two things happen. First, people feel the need to come up to you and not only ask you if you're a fan, but ask you how they are doing. If you don't know enough about baseball to know how teams are doing, odds are you really don't care that much. So, don't waste my frickin time with a dumb question. It's different if maybe you care, but just haven't had a chance to follow. Then, ask away. Also, inevitably, when I am wearing my hat out, and a game is on that I am taping so I can watch it when I get home, someone tells me something. This happened Saturday night. I was at a car dealership with my wife, buying a new car. I had set the game to record on TiVo, which is a great thing to get if you don't own one, and some idiot came up to me and said "Cubs are losing in the 5th, 5-2 and it's raining." I smiled, said thank you, and walked away so angry. It's funny too, because just a few days before this incident, I was talking to Andy Rutledge, my new Webmaster, and we talked about why people always seem to feel the need to convey this info to you just because they know you're a fan. He is currently working on a hearing aid type device that automatically filters out all Cubs talk when turned on. Let me tell you, I will be the first customer.

Conclusion

Well, now that all that complaining is done, lets get some wins over the Expos. Kurt, from Cub Fan Nation is gonna be at one of the games, so hopefully they won't let him and us down.

Written by Joseph E. Aiello @ 9:11 PM

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