12 August 2004
phone woes, but all is well!
so i'm relieved - QUITE relieved - about the whole phone service thing. it all worked, and it all worked out well, and i got worked up about nothing (as i am wont to). the dilemma had been such: one has to cancel things here three months in advance - phone, electricity, etc. etc. etc. which is marginally ridiculous, but let us not even go there. and i had, dutifully, send letters of cancellation of services to everyone and their sister. i received response from the health insurance company that, indeed, i'd be cut off starting sept. 1. which is just fine with me, because i requested it. but i did NOT hear from the darlings at the phone company. friends of mine in berlin had cancelled their service as well, but when i say cancelled, i mean cancelled: no more phone, three months before departure. which is wonky, if you ask me. but in the meantime, i don't get a letter from the company, and i get more and more nervous, knowing that bureaucracy here is so thick you can cut it with a knife. and what if i have to pay the next three months? what if i end up not paying my last bill and who knows what happens to me? (are there international bill collectors??)... of course, my fantasies were worse than anything that happened: everything was settled peacefully today. i went to the store, prepared to ask to speak to the manager because i wanted to kick his ass, and instead, a nice 20-something trainee said that sure enough my phone was scheduled to turn off end-of-august, and where would i like the last bill sent to. there was absolutely.no.problem.at.all.
lets all breathe a collective sigh of relief, shall we?
dandlioneyes at 6:55 pm