make all those phone calls

Good thing I recorded the various Albatross-related conversations here. When I started to pay bills this month I found that we were still being billed for the service that I canceled on that “final” call. So I came to 43Things to document the date of my call to cancel, & I could tell customer service that it was March 2—there is certainly no reason to be billing us now. I’ll spare you an account of the hassle of this call (this company, a huge multinational corporation, is a mess!). But success at last. Hopefully I’m free for real now.

has been dispatched!

The bothersome situation had been much alleviated by my prior arguments with the company, so it had become much less urgent. Finally, though, I did persuade a family member to attend to something on her end so that I could make the FINAL CALL on my end—& I made it! Yay!

In the interim, I also made several other necessary phone calls (including the argument about the pants that I had to extract myself from with scissors). Oddly, I seem to be better able to make these icky phone calls now that I’m working away from home. The boundaries of a regular workday help, & it’s motivating to use them as a productive break from my work. Heh.

it’s ridiculous, but tragic circumstances made me accomplish this goal tonight. It was awful, but one of my former coworkers and his wife were hit this morning in a hit-and-run accident while they were taking their morning walk. (He survived and she didn’t…and they are in their 50s with an adult child, so please pray for the family.) The call I needed to make was to another former co-worker at that same company to finish out this goal. So, I had to find out what she knew…and I was able to update her on everything since we talked.

The avoidance was not without reason-I was on the phone with three different people, over a considerable stretch of time (45 min.?), & I was repeatedly annoyed & frustrated, sometimes by unfair company policy/setup, sometimes by ineptitude (or inadequate training of employees). Two more calls will be required to get this whole issue taken care of-sigh. Hopefully they will be short.

So the Albatross has not yet been untied from my neck, but it’s nearly untangled.

[she emits an exhausted “yay”]

The Albatross Phone Call will be made this next week! I’m going to take the paperwork to my new office & make the call from there. If I’m put on hold for long periods, I can continue working in the meantime.

I have made a number of phone calls in the past couple of weeks—need to give myself credit for them. It’s just this one that has generated a serious block in my mind. I’m going to do it & check off the goal. Yes I am.

and I’ve decided that I’ll do this by Sept. 8.

I forgot I completed this yesterday – yay me!

1. AT&T/SBC

2. QPB

3. Mike K.

One of these takes care of some big financial issues, so it’s a relief. Yay!

• Dentist
• Pension company
• Insurance
• Partner #1 – on holiday until next week
• Partner #2
• Tax office
• Other insurance
• Returned call #1
• Returned call #2
• Client
• Loan company

Pretty good going, really – I’m impressed with myself.

• Dentist
• Pension company
• Insurance
• Partner #1 – bah, on holiday
• Partner #2 – bah, left voicemail
• Tax office
• Other insurance