With Julia gone for the month and work kicking into high gear, life at the house has become more quiet. I talk to the animals, I ramble on incessantly, but perhaps most of it is in my head.
I started out titling this post “UN-FairPoint” and it was going to be my rant about how lousy customer service was from my local land-line provider. My phone has been going out every rain storm since late August. The company used to offer a handy spot on their website where I could report the trouble. Apparently, that became to much of an imposition. Now you can only call, when your phone line is out. Now there’s a concept. My internet is working just fine via the ugly dish in my front yard but the days of Ma Bell and simply picking up the phone via that thin line coming down the road are over.
Aside from the inconvenience, since my cell phone coverage on this side of the mountain is nonexistent , my alarm system is tied in to the land-line. Normally, this would pose a threat. Though I have been robbed, (my reason for the elaborate system of floor sensors and cameras,) the evil one is rotting in jail or gone on to taunt others for the time being. And though the system may not be able to notify the “authorities” via the phone. The alarm is still very much working. Trust me, it’s a loud, screaming, reverberating device that sends the cats, dogs and I running for the deck. No need to call the local police station, it can be heard for miles.
Beyond the lack on “hot line” to the local police, it has a nifty option that I was unable to disable for two days. When there is no phone line, the alarm system beeps. Not overly loud, but insistent, annoying and constant. It is luckily just below the level old Dahlia can detect. The rest of the four-footed crew were edgy but not consumed by it. I was consumed. All night long. No matter how many times I tried to over-ride it, within an hour it was back. “Hey! Phone line is still dead!” Yo! Did I mention you have no phone?” “Hello? Can you fix the phone?”
I came home on Friday to find the sun out and a tiny window of opportunity. I had phone service!! A quick call to the alarm company and a few odd codes punched into the key pad – silence!
What I didn’t miss, those gloriously quiet nights, was the barrage of telemarketers. Those calls that come in as I’m cooking dinner and mentally unwinding from a day of smiling and selling. “Hello? I’m calling from the mumble-mumble Institute for political research, funded by the Pew Foundation and we are conducting a poll regarding your attitude of politics in New Hampshire this year.” I give them one chance to take me off their list then I blow the whistle, quite literally, into their ear.
Instead of ranting on about how poorly the communications industry is treating the little person, I think I will just sit back and appreciate the silence they have given me from one more interruption.
Therapeutic Misadventures 
OMG, it’s a conspiracy! I have the same delightful beep at my house… The house came with an alarm system, which we never activated again… I have a living alarm system with my two big beasties. First year, no problem, silence. Then in the past 8 months it started with a light double beep each time one of the exterior doors would open heralding someone’s arrival. Mysteriously, the beeps seemed to have begun on their own. Like I said, we never activated the service. I spent many frustrated attempts to disengage the beeps punching codes listed on the flip down cover, thinking that I had succeeded, only to have it laugh at my feeble attempt the next time the door opened. OK, I guess I can live with that. Most recently, however, it has decided that the batteries need to be replaced and it beep incessantly. Again, I punched codes until my fingers bled. I even tried to figure out how to switch off the the thing in the master electric panel. Being a light sleeper in my older age, It would drive me crazy… all day and all night. I finally gave up and changed the batteries on a piece of equipment that we have not activated…. Did I mention they take a gazillion batteries? Ok, it is worth the peace and quiet, right? Glorious silence. For about a minute. Then Beep…Beep…Beep. The window on the thing read “Batteries Low”. It’s a conspiracy I tell you! The machines are laughing at us…. I think that is what pisses me off the most! (our parallel lives once again, Marth!)
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It actually started with the thermostat earlier in the month. Low Bat sign. No matter how often I changed the batteries it wouldn’t quit. Finally Googled the damn thing and found out you have to put the batteries in BACKWARDS for 3 minutes then put them in right to make it clear.
Machines are indeed laughing at us!!
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I had to laugh at the fact you can only call the phone company to report a problem. I had the same issue a while back with my internet and the lovely machine on the other end of the phone kept telling me to go online to get my questions answered – duh!!!!! Silence is certainly golden. I’ll be glad when the political sh*t is over – like they think they can change my mind with an annoying phone call.
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Seriously??? When did customer service become “service yourself”??? Still no phone line. Came home last night and it was working, until I dialed a number then it woke up and quit mid call…
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I hate those beeps! Tell Tale Heart story territory.
But interrupted service is one of the grand benefits of mountains? (as long as you can shut that one annoying thing off)
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Loved that story when it was assigned reading in the 9th grade! Thanks for the reminder. Googling it now…
🙂
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Hi Phil, thanks for breaking the silence with a comment. No cell service and aside from the wildlife, it’s pretty quiet.
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Boy, I’m glad I’m not the only one who resorts to whistle blowing etc. to get rid of the “pollsters” who insist they aren’t marketing anything. I’m also on the national and state do no call lists, so
I delight in asking the names of those stupid enough to call and threaten reporting them.
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I am on the do not call list as well but it doesn’t seem to apply to pollsters. Thanks for dropping by Chris and commenting!
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Don’t bother trying to call what Fairpoint laughingly calls “customer service.” They haven’t been answering the phone for two weeks now.
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As a follow-up, I came home to a message on my “sometimes working” land line from FairPoint today. They wanted me to know that were sorry it was taking so long to fix the problem. Duh!!
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Our mobile phone service is intermittent at best because we live in the dip between two hills. It’s frustrating to be hanging out of upstairs windows trying to get a signal. The land land mostly works but we don’t use it, apart from the broadband connection. We used to get a lot of sales calls but I found out about the telephone preference service and signed up. If you are on TPS it is illegal for companies to make sales calls to you. It still happens occasionally but when you tell the company you’re on TPS they quit because there are huge fines. I wonder if you have something like that over there?
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Hi Marie, we do have a national “Do Not Call” list that you can sign up for online. It doesn’t seem to carry much weight and the political telemarketers may be exempt.
I miss my land line for keeping in touch with my kids, mostly.
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Reblogged this on uvirfarms.
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