Mercury is Direct

and I think I feel it.

Okay. So, as for "demanding a new fridge," here's the thing: I have demanded. I point out the unacceptability of this situation in every contact with the company, and have bitched and demanded supervisors and made them reconsider their career choice, but ultimately, the game is fixed. I have been a thorn in their side from day...15ish, when it was obvious that this situation was fucked up. I have let them know every time we talk that this is unacceptable bullshit. I have used the words "unacceptable" and "bullshit." But...it's an insurance company of sorts. They write the policy to favor themselves, because their primary motive is profit, so it's in their best interest to wear their customers down and hope most give up and go away. Eventually I may get a new fridge, but they have their policies and procedures and systems and of course it's all a steaming pile of obfuscation, but still, in terms of damages we aren't even out of small claims court, and they know it. They win by exhausting the claimant.

So I woke to no ice, of course, and soft frozen things, and I called again today, and talked to another really sweet customer service girl who reviewed the file and before I said a word started using words like "Unacceptable!" and "Crazy!" and "You shouldn't have to live with that!" Bless her heart, she was outraged by what I have been through and she thinks she can actually make something happen. (She must be a new employee. After she becomes a supervisor she will learn to parrot comforting non-committal customer service words.)

So, tomorrow (between 2 and 6, which makes, um, 16 hours of my time devoted just to waiting for repair people) a "senior" person will come out to diagnose the problem! And we begin the bullshit rodeo again.

Meanwhile, I bought a bag of Pillsbury biscuits on sale yesterday, after the freezer was supposedly fixed. This evening they were soft and glopped together. This is what they looked like, immediately after I took them out of the freezer and opened the bag:

If you've never bought these before, that's supposed to be a solidly frozen neat little hockey puck you pop onto a baking sheet and bake from frozen. As you can see, it's far from solid or round, and is visibly wet and snotlike. I've started snapping pictures because I think their CEO deserves a fully illustrated story.

Anyway, onward to happier things. After I got off the phone with the warranty company and scheduled the NEXT visit, I realized that I had to stir up some Christmas Spirit and get some shopping done, because I need to ship gifts! I hit two local stores and scored excellent gifts on sale, and scored discounts and bonus bucks and stuff on top.

And in the funniest shopping moment of the season I had four Kohl's employees, including two supervisors, scrambling to help me get the bonus stuff that was supposed to come with one of the gifts. After a typically unpleasant shopping experience - no carts, no human help in the department, I had to snag a good-natured kid in another department to tote some heavy boxes for me - I realized that I was so frustrated I forgot to ask about the bonus items that were supposed to come with the purchase. So I went back to the store and went to Customer Service. Long story shorter - I kept my sense of humor and was pleasant and persistent, and eventually I had all these people walking through the store, searching the merchandise, talking to the manager, we were all cheerful and laughing about the silliness of it all, and I walked out with the bonus items and a couple of extra discounts from the store manager. Shopping there may still be a huge pain in the butt, but it's not because the individuals who work there suck. Just like how the really sweet customer service gal was outraged about what I've been through with the fridge - I never take out my frustration on anyone obviously trying to help, and in this case, they did the right thing and we all lived happily ever after. It does happen.