Who’s On the Line?

The other day, a friend stopped by and wondered why I hadn’t answered the three voice mail messages she had left over the past four weeks.

I had been wondering if we had offended family members and all of our friends, since we hadn’t found even one message on our answering machine for quite a while.

I decided to dial our land line from my cell phone, and the response came from a sedate, older woman’s voice instructing the caller to leave a message. As I left one, I looked at the answering machine, but there was no blinking light indicating that I had called. Somehow, AT&T had eliminated my own voice mail message, and the default went to them.

When I punched the button to see who had called, there was nothing at all, so I called the tech support line at AT&T to see what was wrong.

I was connected to a pleasant, accented operator in the Philippines, whose name was Javin. After I carefully explained my frustrating situation, she reassured me that she could easily resolve my problem. If I would give her permission to enter my AT&T site, she would work “side-by-side” with me.

One hour later, she admitted that she was having difficulty with my particular situation, and said that she would consult with her supervisor and call me back within an hour. I kept my phone line open for more than an hour, and six days later, I still hadn’t heard from her.

I called the tech support line again today, and was connected to India. After explaining my problem to a woman in support, I was adamant in telling the tech person to transfer me to someone “on shore,” a term you should use to get back to an American operator. I said if the problem wasn’t resolved now, I would close my AT&T account forever and move my local, national and international phone service to Comcast, along with my Internet.

Within minutes, Saumik was on the line, and introduced himself as a supervisor who was now aware of my problems, and said, “We will take care of it quickly.”

He kept thanking me for my patience and had me go to the land line, disconnect it, and then he called me on my cell phone. He kept reassuring me that it would all work out.

It turns out that the problem had been caused when AT&T switched me to their new U-Verse program against my will. Apparently this had happened to many other customers (or possibly former customers) who didn’t get help from Saumik.

It took him only twenty-minutes to resolve my problem, and to ensure me that any future problems would be quickly and efficiently resolved, he gave me his ID number and told me to ask for him.

I won’t tell you that ID number, however I will tell you that since Saumik comes from Eastern India, his name is pronounced Shaumik. It turns out that his office is only ten minutes away from where a former San Jose State University student of mine lives at 55 Palace Road in Bangalore, zip code 560052. If you run into Swaroop Balakrishna when you are in the neighborhood, please say hello.

If you manage to get hold of Saumik or any other competent AT&T supervisor in India, and they easily resolve your problem, thank them afterwards by saying “Bahnyabad.”

Don’t forget to get their ID number for the next time you may need it, but be sure to keep it to yourself.

How you react to any negative situation is important to your well being, and you can learn to mentally deflect unwanted occurrences.  Start to bring in good vibrations by doing the “Kum Aher” exercise, and then do the “Gay Avek” to send away the unwanted. Both are found here, and they are from my book “The Oy Way — Following the path of most resistance.”

Are Warm Nuts Worth the Price?

When we fly, we try to purchase the least expensive ticket available, and we did so when we bought our round-trip tickets for a Florida trip in January.

Then we realized that we had more than 350,000 Frequent Flyer miles, and decided to trade some of them in for First Class tickets. Unfortunately, there are only a very limited number of those seats to be had on each flight, and there were none available on our San Jose to Dallas and Dallas to Ft. Lauderdale flights.

There were seats available on both flights coming home, but they would cost us not only 30,000 miles, and $150 each to move us to the front of the plane.

My wife Carmen and I have separate Frequent Flyer accounts, since she flies to Montreal each year, and had accumulated more than 30,000 miles on her own. She has been inundated with credit card solicitation mailings to upgrade her card from “plebian” to “platinum.” If her application was accepted, she would not only get the upgrade, but also 50,000 bonus miles as long as she charged $2,000 during a three-month period, and there would be no $82 annual fee for the first year.

She filled out and mailed in the form, was readily accepted, and easily spent the amount needed to receive the bonus miles. Carmen uses her credit card for everything, and the monthly invoice contains sums as low as 21¢ for duplication at Staples.

We used 30,000 of her free miles, charged the $300 upgrade fee, and flew home from Florida first class, all of the way. First class does offer many perks, including free checking of baggage, boarding the plane in the first group, sitting in wide, comfortable ersatz leather seats with plenty of leg room, being among the first to leave when we land, having attendants that smile and try to take care of our every legitimate need, and deliciously prepared warm food that we don’t have to purchase.

I was particularly pleased that at the start of our first-class flights, we were each given a nosh of a variety of warm nuts that filled a small ceramic white bowl. I have never had warm nuts on a flight before, but wonder if the price paid to get this first-class treat was really worth it. Since we intend to spend all of our accumulated Frequent Flyer miles on only First Class tickets, I may have to get used to such amenities.

Disturbing News for First-Class Travelers  

It was reported that in January, that instead of cattle rustlers, many farmers in California’s Central Valley have had their nut crops regularly rustled. Apparently, nut rustlers surreptitiously sneak into the ranches in the middle of the night with huge trucks, and recently stole more than $400,000 worth of walnuts,  $100,000 of almonds, and a like amount of pistachios.

Bowl of Soup

It’s rumored that on this upcoming Sunday there’s a sporting event taking place that will attract more than 110 million viewers. You knew it was coming when last Sunday’s newspaper was filled with advertising from K-Mart, Target and every local appliance store describing gigantic savings on gigantic-sized television sets.

We have a 20” RCA color television set that I recently bought on October 22, 1989, and it was in excellent shape, until I noticed that I had to sit nearer to hear the sound clearly. At first I thought that I was just growing deaf in my advanced years, however, when my young wife Carmen noticed it too, we knew something had to be done since our extended warranty ran out in October 1990.

There were three viable choices; (1) we would not watch television ever again, which is a very acceptable solution, (2) we could buy a newer, slim-line 29” set, now on sale for less than $350, or (3) we could repair our current set.

Our home’s décor is mainly dark, wooden antique, and our current television set has a faux wood-grained metal exterior that comfortably fits in, so we opted for the latter choice at an estimated cost of $165. The set is bulky and heavy, and when we called the repair shop, Greg said it would cost an additional $55 if we needed them to pick it up from our home and deliver it after it was repaired. He was nearby, so we asked him to stop by, and when he did, he took out an instruction sheet on controls, played around with our remote for perhaps five minutes, and fixed the problem for $85. There was no extended warranty given, but we had our practically new set operating again as it should.

I get attached to older things that still work, including my Grandmother’s 1920s toaster where you lower the right and left metal panels, and it browns one side of a slice of bread at a time. I have to keep an eye on it or else smoke may arise as the bread is blackened.

If you walk through my home you’ll find a lovely china cabinet from the 1950s that belonged to my parents, and an art deco lamp that’s nearly seventy-five years old, that I inherited from my Mother’s first cousin Peggy.

I have one suit and it’s green corduroy complete with vest, which I will wear only on special occasions. I bought it new for my nephew Brian’s Bar Mitzvah that took place in 1979.

I also enjoy driving my 1987 Honda CRX SI that I bought practically new in 1990. Its most amazing characteristics are that it has only 126,028 miles, its body is slowly oxidizing and looks like a piece of art, and the sun roof will open electronically, but it has to be hand cranked closed.

Then there are cherished friends that I have stayed connected with for years. This month, when I was on the west coast of Florida, I stayed with Bernie, and when I was on the east coast, I stayed with Arnie. I have known each of them for more that sixty years.

As far as what I’ll do this upcoming Sunday, that’s not such a tough decision. First, I will either walk on a nearby deserted beach as I have done during past games, or take in a movie in a nearly vacant theatre.

Then I will come home and have a bowl of my wife’s delicious chicken soup, which is made from my Grandmother Fox’s recipe that is at least seventy-five years old.

As far as following any sports event that takes place this Sunday, I may read about it in the Monday morning newspaper, but only after I finish the crossword puzzle.

When Holiday Meant Holy Day

As I was hurrying to get some cards and letters in the postal mail today, Saturday January 18, I realized that there was no reason to rush. After today’s pickup, with no Sunday delivery, and none on Monday, there’s only an outside chance that the mail will be delivered on Tuesday.

On Monday, January 20, workers have a day off at the post office, banks, libraries, schools, federal, state and city offices. It is a Federal holiday honoring the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., the Black civil rights leaders. Actually, his birthday is on January 15, and he would have been 84-years-old if he hadn’t been slain on April 4, 1968.

Yesterday, a friend left a voice mail message that closed with, “Happy Holidays.” When I called her and asked her why the plural, she replied that along with King’s Day, Chinese New Year arrives on January 31, followed on February 14 by Valentine’s Day. The latter is a spirited selling holiday for both the Society of American Florists and the National Confectioners Association (NCA). As you are well aware of, the NCA merged with the Chocolate Manufacturers Association of the USA in 2008.

There’s also a Federal holiday on February 17 to honor George Washington’s day of birth, which was actually on February 22, 1732. However, the retail establishment has designated it as President’s Day, so they can also honor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, which took place on February 12, 1809, and seamlessly segue into another selling weekend from their Valentine’s sales period.

All Federal holidays come on a Monday, to give tired, overworked Americans a three-day weekend.

March 30 is Cesar Chavez Day, and it’s an official state holiday in California, Colorado and Texas. President Obama has proclaimed it as Cesar Chavez Day in the United States, we don’t know what banks, post offices, and governmental offices will be closed or left open to force workers to toil. They won’t toil as much as Chavez and his United Form Workers people did, however some might feel it is an injustice for them to even work.

According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s website found here, the only Federal holiday that’s actually a holy day, is Christmas. However with some retailers pushing sales, Christmas Day is not a holiday for everyone anymore.

To send greetings to everyone on your various holiday lists, remember to buy as many Forever stamps as you need before January 26, when the price of one stamp goes up three cents.

When you send out a card for Chinese New Year, write恭禧發財, or say to anyone you know, regardless of their race, religion, color or ethnicity, “Gong Xi Fa Cai” in Mandarin, “Gong Hey Fat Choy” in Cantonese, or just plain Happy New Year.