screw privacy.
i phone an email service provider i’ve been using for years. beginning in 2001, they began charging for their services. i bought a one-year membership. i didn’t want to renew.
this year, they jacked up the fee $10 for renewal, which would have been fine, but instead of reminding me, they sent me a message that they automatically — without my authorisation — billed my card for $40 and that my expiry on the account would otherwise have been at the end of this month.
i have phoned them three times, cos the credit never processed on my end, and i’m still miffed about the whole affair. had it not been for the unannounced, unauthorised affair, it’d be much more chill about the matter. but this was enough for me to get on their dot-com arse.
today, i spoke with a guy named gavin. apparently, i spoke with him in one othe previous two calls. he was a nice guy, but this time, as i was giving him the name of the email account, he said my last name out of the blue and said, “i remember talking to you.”
“how did you remember my name so quickly? have i acquired a bad reputation around your parts for being such a bitch?”
“well, i remember hearing your name and it sounded familiar. so i did a google search and realised that you were the person in a lawsuit around here last year. i hope you’re not offended that i brought it up. it sounded like it was really hard.”
i was slightly taken aback. i didn’t know this email provider had any connection to this area. “well, yeah, that’s me. good gwad. i’m some kind of abhorrent celeb now. so much for privacy.”
“i hope i didn’t offend you.”
“not at all. it’s just … weird, that’s all.” what i was thinking was what he was likely thinking: what in gwad’s name did this freak look like? prolly an aging librarian with wig and marky-kay (oops. that was an honest freudian slip) type.
“i hope you’re doing better now.”
“i am, thanks. i’ve just been here three years longer than i ever could have expected or hoped for.”
* * *
i really, really must leave this area. permanently.