ONLY 1,994

My daughter now has a new phone. A new phone with all of the old minutes, and that my friends is no small miracle. I try not to be one of those snarky people who whine about talking to customer service people in India because the fact that the people are in India has very little to do with how craptacular the whole system truly is.

Perhaps its the conspiracy theorist in me, but by the time hour 2.8 was inching towards the round number 3, I was starting to get the impression that the system wanted me to get frustrated. I was sure, when the very nice lady put me on hold for the 58th time, that I was going to cave and hang up the phone. I probably would have. Having deactivated the lost phone and activated the new one, hanging up and letting the old minutes on the old pre-paid phone die seemed really appealing. Except, as I told the really nice lady who tried really hard to convince me that the system was really crappy and getting my old minutes transferred would be a pain in the ass, I had AT LEAST 2,000 minutes on that old phone at the time it was lost. I had to keep repeating that to myself. I had to keep those 2,000 minutes fresh in my mind when the deep despair of hold music was beginning to destroy my soul.

Through it all I credit myself with being really nice to the really nice lady who helped me. I was really nice to her every time she tried to talk me out of getting my 2,000 minutes. I was really nice to her when she kept putting me on hold. I was really nice up to the point when, after holding for almost 15 minutes, she came on the line and said, "Mame, I have accessed the minutes on your old phone. You do not have 2,000 minutes. You ONLY have 1,994. Do you STILL want to transfer them?"