Tuesday 9/1/2009 Cards

I’ve never been a big fan of card games. I do enjoy a good game of War and can now sympathize with the title character in the game Old Maid. Poor girl! But I’ve never enjoyed Bridge or Euchre or Hearts. Maybe it’s that I have never been a great strategist. My mind always too scattered to keep track of the cards I had in my hand.

I find I have grown tired of explaining my situation to certain people. I have a low threshold for people and companies that won’t take what I say at face value and understand. And basically leave me alone. A great example would be… I was at Macy’s a few weeks ago during a sale. The very young teen aged girl asked if I would like to open a change and save and additional 30%. I said no, but thanked her for the offer. She rang up an item and sang “you could save $15.00 off this blouse if you open a charge”. Again I thanked her and declined. She continued to ring my items and just before she gave me the final total she said… “Now really, you are just being silly… you could be saving almost $30.00 if you’d just open a charge”. I looked at her and smiled but declined again. I paid my bill and as she handed me the bag, she said “If you change your mind, you can get that savings anytime today if you open a charge”. I know retailers ask their sales people to offer credit accounts. I get that and I understand she was just doing her job but, I sort of snapped. I moved very close to the sales girl and in a low voice... played the only card I currently had in my hand… the widow card. I said… “I cannot open a charge because my husband just died and it makes my credit looks like crap... you can understand too much debt to income ratio”. Her face said it all. She was shocked and off balanced. I wasn’t mean or rude. I was direct. She just looked at me as I walked away. My guess is that she will take no for an answer with the next customer afraid of what card may be laid out in front of her.

With my new title as Ms. vs. Mrs. I have used other cards in addition to the widow card as well. I am currently dealing with a company, well here’s what happened today… Again, I’m being transferred to another representative for assistance. This is the 4th person I have spoken to in the hour I’ve been on this call. This is the 9th time since April I have contacted this company in an attempt to handle some of my late husband’s financial affairs. Each time I call, I am told the same thing… “We’ll transfer you to our deceased account holder department”. Imagine that job title on a resume… Manager, Deceased Account Holder’s… could be a tough management gig. Frankly I don’t believe that there is actually anyone who works in that department. I have never spoken to anyone and have left 7 messages. The recording tells me that someone will contact me within 48-72 business hours. I assume that they mean that time clock begins when I’m finished leaving my message. I must be wrong. So this time I have refused transfer to the non-existent team and want to speak with a Supervisor. So here I sit. On hold. Waiting. Every few moments the rep comes back on to tell me the Supervisor is still assisting another caller… “I’ll still hold”, I say. I’m sure this is now a game of will… will I hang up before this rep can find someone who isn’t tied up or simply uninterested in helping me? Well I won’t hang up and didn’t. A sleepy sounding person finally came to the phone and before I even could begin my questions she stated, “I’ll have to transfer you to the deceased account holder’s team”. NO! Ok I have to play my cards and play them well… I tell her that I too work in a call center and that I want all my calls since April pulled and reviewed. I want her name and the name and contact information of the department head her boss reports to. I will seek reimbursement for my time and trouble for the numerous calls I have wasted in attempting to clear up this account for them. I also state that this is not my debt and legally I am not responsible to pay it. I’m just doing the right thing. For good measure, maybe my ace in the hole, I state indignantly that I will be contacting the media about this company’s poor treatment of a young widow just trying to do what’s right. Well, well, it was time to rake in the chips… seems the last card I played was the winner. My questions were answered the account was closed and I will never have to nor want to deal with that company again.

I won’t even mention the companies that have told me they couldn’t help me close my late husband’s account, until they “speak with the account holder for authorization”. I told them that if they are able to get in touch with him…please, have him call me.

I should feel victorious, but I don’t. I feel like I’m cheating in the new game my life has become. I feel as though I add to people’s stress. I feel like I’m being smug. I hope I never become comfortable with this type of behavior. I hope to return to the nice, kind and polite woman I’ve always been. I’d like to do that as soon as possible. I’ll need other people to cooperate. I think they can…

I hope so…