Plague

I was born in the 80's, and although I was young I remember the hope that was around during that decade. I remember the gloom of the 90's as it looked like the promise of the 80's economy boom was not going to last. And then September 11, 2001 happened and America broke. Everything that we were clinging so desperately to, remembering the greatness of our nation and people, was thrown away to the militarization of police, handing the TSA ultimate power, taking away every personal right that our ancestors fought and died to give us. We pissed it all away because we got scared. The nightmare made it onto our soil. We suddenly felt vulnerable and afraid, and it's much better to know who the bad guys are rather than just shadows in the night. But it doesn't work.

Because we are still afraid.

When I was a little girl, the teachers and my parents told me that if I ever got lost and afraid, I could always find a cop and they would help me. Now I have to tell my son to stay away from the cops, they won't help you.

When I was a little girl, I would ride my bike all afternoon in the summer and only had to be home when the streetlights came on. Now, my son doesn't play outside because he has to stay within my sight at all times.

When I was a little girl, both my parents worked full time, but we were able to fun things as a family on the weekends. Now, I can't even get a job interview much less a job. And when I did manage to find a retail job, it cost me more in gas than I made working!

We allowed businessmen and politicians and lawyers to break our country and our spirit because we were afraid. The terrorists attacks on that early fall day were horrific. It's something that those of us who lived through it will never forget. But the terrorists did not destroy America. We did.

Today, if you haven't noticed, has been very bad. For a few reasons, but the biggest of the moment is Sprint. If you are looking for a cellular phone, do NOT go to Sprint.

Last month we were threatened with disconnection because their internal system is not allocating the funds taken from our account to the proper place. They take the money, pocket it, and then claim we're overdue. The representative this morning even said that it was an internal error on their part, but then followed that by saying we'd have to pay the money a second time so they wouldn't report us to collections and disconnect service. Last night Steve was on the phone with them trying to explain the situation and the help desk person called him a liar and hung up on him. Today we were told that the billing statement does not actually reflect what's due and is just numbers on a page. And the money that we could see had gone out of the account didn't really exist anyway.

I have no idea what sort of drugs they give to the Sprint customer help employees, but they must be really strong!

So now, we're waiting for an attorney to call us back- and you know how I feel about attorneys. Steve has been so stressed today that he called out sick to work, and has been half asleep most of the afternoon. My body feels like it's been hit by a truck, and I'm not entirely sure I'm not going to throw up.

How does this keep happening to us? How do we keep getting caught up with these companies that are so evil? I'm feeling like this is punishment, but I'm not sure what we've done to deserve this. I just want it to go away.