Power Play

Oh for the love of...

Sunday I set up a payment for my power bill at Snohomish County Public Utility District's website. Let me tell you, they're called SnoPud for a reason.

Not the people, at least not those I talked to. +Laston Kirkland had rather a different experience though.

Anyway, so I paid my (late) bill Sunday, set up for Friday (which is payday for the Hubs). Today at break time I called to see if I could split the payment, as my payday for my new job isn't until November 4th. "I'm sorry," says CS Rep, "But you didn't call us with the confirmation number and we cut your power an hour or two ago."

Expletive.

Okay, how do I get it turned back on? I pay the past due amount today, give them the new confirmation number, and they'll turn it on sometime this afternoon. No help for it, I guess. Let's do that. Um... little problem. Their system - in spite of being a power company based in Everett WA - is on Eastern Time. It won't let me pay it today because as far as their system is concerned, it's tomorrow already.

Expletive again.

But sweet CS Rep, who is too new to be jaded, is all sympathy. "Let me see what I can do," she says, in that tone that in new CS reps means, "I don't know what to do with this crazy woman on the phone, so I'd better ask an expert." She goes off and explains my predicament to her manager, who obligingly shows her how to enter a manual reset ticket into the system. "Okay, Mrs GamersMom, we'll be out sometime tonight to set you up."

Good enough, I suppose, and I thank her and talk to the supervisor, who agrees with me that their payment system is indeed crap (although I did not use that word. Not out loud anyway), but that New CS Rep is a total gem. I text the Hubs so if he wakes up - he's working nights - and there's no power he doesn't panic.

It doesn't really work.

Because apparently tonight is the night when his new job has a test for the newbies to make sure they know what they're doing and are allowed out on their own. He wants to study.

I leave work and take the kids to dinner and bring Laston some home. It's dark and cold and smoky from candles for light (and did I mention I have a cold? I do. Yay). The Hubs is a) fretting because he can't get online to study his stuff for work, and b) suffering from ComputerWithdrawalitis. This is never pretty.

And then the smoke alarms go off because of the smoking candles. Yay again. Expletive again.

And just for giggles, when the power does come back on (around 7PM), our brand new DVD won't work in the Sony PlayStation 2 game console we use as a DVD player. It works in my computer, but the screen there isn't big enough for all of us to watch. And older games and DVDs work in the PS2, so I think maybe it's a copy protection thing that the old PS2 can't get behind? Dunno.

Anyway, on to schoolwork now, at 8:45, and then bed.

Because I still have that cold. And I need some rest.