You don’t have to like government spending, but you shouldn’t be in congress if you don’t understand that default is not an option. And that lifting the debt limit is a procedural step, not an opportunity to play politics. Once the bills have been passed, we need to fund them.

Then, on Friday I realized that I hadn’t received a confirmation email– or any sort of tracking number, not even on the “order successful” page after I placed the order.

So I call their customer support, spend about 20 minutes on hold, and finally speak to a representative.  I give them my name, phone number, and address and ask them to confirm that they received my order.  This should be simple, right?  Not for AT&T.  They inform me that there are a bunch of databases they need to look in and they put me on hold.  After about ten minutes, the rep finally tells me that the order isn’t in their system because it often takes 48 hours for an order to show up.  This would be fine, except that they have already charged my card.  How do they have no record of an account that they have already charged?

But the rep asks me to call back after the weekend to give the order time to process, so that’s what I do.  On Tuesday, again after holding for 15 or 20 minutes (note to AT&T: when you are ALWAYS “experiencing above average wait times” they are by definition NOT above average anymore), I speak to another rep.  All of their representatives are very helpful and friendly, by the way.  But once again, I’m told that they can’t locate my order.  But this time, the rep says that it may be because I ordered via the internet, and his department only has access to orders placed over the phone.  He gives me a new number to call, because he doesn’t have the ability to simply transfer my call.  So I wait another 10 minutes to speak to a representative, who informs me that the holiday weekend has caused a delay in processing orders and that I should call back tomorrow.  Keep in mind, I placed this order FIVE days ago and have yet to been able to secure some sort of confirmation– despite my card having been charged immediately.

So on Wednesday I call back again.  I experience the usual long wait before finally speaking to a support specialist.  I give him all my information, tell him the story, and ask him to please confirm that this order (which I placed SIX days ago) has been received.  He asks me to hold, and what follows is a 30-minute odyssey of providing the same information over and over.  Apparently AT&T has 30 different databases, or something, because this rep and his supervisor spent half an hour searching.  At one point he actually said “OK Mr. Tantrum, we have just uncovered new information, please hold for a moment.”  UNCOVERED NEW INFORMATION?  What is this, a 60 minutes investigation?  I just wanted some sort of order confirmation.

Ultimately they are successful in confirming my order, and they inform me that a technician is scheduled to visit our house the next day to install the phone line.  Recall that I ordered DSL without a phone line.  I inform the rep of this, only to be told that he can’t cancel the service call, but that he has a new number for me to call to do that.  I decline and ask him to simply send me an email with the details of my order.  He informs me that he can’t do that, but that he can give a number to a department who can.  I told him no thanks, and that’s where we stand today.  A technician may or may not be showing up to install a phone line that I did not order and will not pay for.  On the bright said, the router is apparently en route and should show up today or tomorrow.  We’ll see!

What’s interesting is listening to the Miami fans (who are THE worst sports fans imaginable) and pro-Heat media complain about the scorn they are receiving.  They constantly talk about the fact that the Heat are the most hated team ever, which nobody denies– but they never manage to take the next step and ask themselves WHY the Heat are so despised.  So here’s a quick recap:

1. The Decision. We don’t need to say anything else.  Lebron is an insufferable arrogant prick.
2. The Preseason Parade. Watching the “Big Three” emerge onto the floor of their arena made everyone with any sense of decency and humility sick.  Celebrating like you’ve won a championship before you have had a single practice is never a good PR move.  The arrogance of Lebron in particular, standing with his arms crossed and drinking in the adulation, was disgusting.
3. Lebron throwing his coach under the bus. When the Heat predictably struggled out of the gate, Lebron and his people immediately tossed Spoelstra under the bus.  From starting rumors to physically bumping the coach during a game, Lebron has made it clear throughout the season that he has no respect for anyone but himself.
4. Heat fans. Miami has among the worst sports fans on the planet.  14 months ago, nobody cared about the Heat.  Just like nobody cares about the Marlins, except when they make the playoffs.  Even worse, the idiot moron bandwagon fans started jumping off as the Heat struggled.  They called Bosh soft, said Lebron wasn’t clutch, clamored for Spoelstra to be fired, and generally made fools of themselves.  It’s an incredibly ignorant fan base that clearly expected an undefeated season and then bailed out at the first sign of trouble.  Now that the Heat (again, predictably) have gotten their game right, the bandwagon fans are back in force.  For those of us who grew up as actual sports fans it’s infuriating– because if anyone did NOT deserve to see their fans win a ring, it was Heat fans.

So now as the rest of America turns to Dirk and the Mavericks, we get to listen to a stream of complaints about “haters” as if there weren’t a million good reasons to hate.

This arrogant team and their moronic fanbase clearly deserve each other… what they DON’T deserve is a championship.  There is no justice!

Goodbye!!

I have very low standards!