Come Back Into The Light!

This morning as I was getting ready for the day, I lost power. Not my own. I still had the ability to use my arms and legs, even my brain, but my electricity was turned off! Now, if this had happened under any other circumstances, this blog would be about donations instead!

As I was just about to apply my Bare Minerals Fruit Cocktail Blush, I heard a noise outside of my house. The next thing I knew, I was in the dark! I immediately ran downstairs, bursted outside onto my front porch and there he stood. The "disconnect" man from my local electric company! He looked at me like "Oh, @#$%!" (I don't think he expected anyone to be home!)

I said, "What are you doing?!" He said, "Non-payment, Mam." I said, "WHAT?! That's not possible!" He said, "Hey, they just give me the address. You should call them if you think there's been a mistake." Oh, you bet I will! Then, he was gone, rather quickly, I might add!

I came inside and dialed the number. A rather unpleasant lady answered. She didn't believe me when I said "that check was put in the mail". I'll bet she's never heard that before! I pleaded with her to check my payment history. I told her that she would see that I had been a great customer over the years and had not only paid my bills on time, but I've always paid them earlier than their due dates! She checked. I waited. The verdict was in.

"Yes, Victoria, I see that you have never been late in the past. You are right, you've been a great customer." Whew. What a relief. I should have light within minutes! Right?......Wrong!

She went on. "But (oh, don't you just hate that word!), you will need to pay us a $150.00 deposit and $30.00 re-connect fee, along with your late bill of $90.62 or you won't be getting your power back on today!" I became dizzy. What did she say?!

Now, the last thing you want to deal with first thing in the morning is some rude, nasty woman from the electric company who holds the "power" to give you "power"! I asked to speak to her supervisor. She said that wouldn't be necessary! She told me that everyone has to pay these penalties, good customer or not. That it was my fault, not theirs.

I told her I couldn't believe that they did this kind of thing to good customers. I reminded her once again that she'd already checked my payment history, which proved I've never been late before. She didn't care. She asked how I wanted to handle this. I was stunned. This hasn't ever happened to me before (well, not unless you count when my Dad "forgot" to pay our light bill when we were little!).

So, I pulled out my debit card and read her the numbers. Then, $272.62 cents later, she promised I'd have power by noon.

After I hung up with her, I had a conversation with myself and then my sister, Brenda. I decided I was not going to take this lying down! Brenda encouraged me to call back. That's what I did. A nice woman named Georgia answered the phone. I asked her as nice as I could (I mean I'm not stupid!) if I could speak with a supervisor. I explained what had happened. She then put me on the phone with the "big bossman", Brian. I went through my story once again and apologized for the U.S. Postal Service's incompetence. I mean, hey, I didn't lose February's payment! Brian, too, checked my payment history. Afterwards, he agreed that I'd been a great customer. He promised to credit my account for the $150.00, but said he couldn't do anything about the $30 bucks to re-connect. I told him I could live with that. So, I'm back in the "light" again. Jeez! What a way to start the day!

Next time my bill comes, I think I'll hand deliver it!