An easy way to ruin my day is by having to deal with Bank of America on any issue more technical than getting money out of the bank. The second easiest way is to see Sarah Palin giving a speech, live, on all three cable news channels.
My day today is pretty much shot because of the above.
I tried to get gas at the Texaco across the street. I had bought some chips there about 45 minutes earlier. When I inserted my bank card the pump said: “See cashier inside.” Well, the whole point of the exercise was to not see the cashier inside so I left. A short time later, I tried the pump at the Kroger gas station. The pump read this time: “Unauthorized transaction.” I was saying WTF? by that time. I knew I had money in the bank. So I called Bank of America.
My conversation went rather smoothly for once — considering I stayed up until 2:30 this morning arguing with idiots at Dell about my computer — and the bank customer service guy said they would send me a new card, that all I had to do was go to a bank and get a temporary card.
The nearest Bank of America was less than a mile. I drove there and told this young woman at the door my problem. She then told me that since I had asked for a new card on the phone I couldn’t get one at the bank. She said that if I did get one at the bank, I would have to mail it back in when I get a new card and the card number would be different from the interim card. This was, exactly opposite, from what was told to me on the phone.
I waited to see one of the two, I don’t know what they call them, if it was a real bank they would be like loan officers. This young woman with whom I first spoke came back after talking to one of the loan officers, I believe the person she spoke with is the branch vice president. I was told they could “work around” the problem.
When I finally got to see the VP, I asked her if her bank was competing against the telephone customer service. She looked baffled and then I told her what the first woman I spoke with told me. Basically, what the young “greeter” told me was a load of crap. The VP knew it but would not admit as much although I tried to make her do so. After a bit, the VP then said there was something wrong, that for some reason the system wasn’t letting her in to do my transaction. I finally asked: “Well what if you cancel my credit card and then give me a temporary one?” Duh. She hadn’t thought of that. Either that or didn’t want to think of that.
I got to thinking that probably the VP wanted to just make more money by bringing in loans and not spend her time on customer service issues for someone who is rightly peeved. But finally I got my temporary card and it worked in the bank’s ATM.
So there you are. Six paragraphs about how my day began being ruined.
Then, I come home, turn on CNN and see they are covering live a Sarah Palin speech, like she is the president or Ben Bernanke or someone.
Supposedly, Palin actually talked about some policy issues for once although what I heard and what I read just seemed like more cliches. Of course, she had to criticize the president. That same president who is commander-in-chief with two wars taking place. That type of rhetoric during the Bush administration would have landed you on the “traitor” list.
But Moose Lady was speaking to a bunch of her own. The right-wing “Hypocrite Be Thy Name” wing of the Republican party. Similar to their brethern of the antebellum era of our country, those nativist Americans who were given the name “The Know Nothing Party,” Palin and her ilk embrace the obstructionism which if not should give to the party the name of “The Do Nothing Party.”
When I see Palin I know it’s time to watch “Law and Order: SVU” or “NCIS” reruns, read a book or do anything but listen to Moose Lady’s whiny, nasal Alaskan silliness. What do I have to lose? Bank of America and Caribou Barbie have already screwed my day to the max.
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