05.11.08
Now I Understand Why People “Go Postal!”
I was having a fair to midlin’ kind of a day today, doing some cleaning, laundry, and computing. Around noon, the mail arrived. There was nothing of a personal note, but there was a curious bill. I thought, “Hmmm … JC Penney … but I don’t have an account there!”
I immediately recalled the deadbeat that has the same name as me, and how our credit reports got so tangled up within the last few years. It even seemed as though I was a bigamist, as you may recall, as two husbands were listed. I wondered if she was at it again.
I opened the bill to see what I had “bought.” The curious encoding seems to indicate online purchases. Funny, nothing was shipped to this address. Yet, there was my name, and my address, but this was not my transaction, nor my account!
So, I began calling. On the first call, I got a woman speaking in Spanish who said that the number I called was “indisponsible.” I tried to call any and all associated numbers, “tried” being the operative word.
Each time, after going through countless choices, pushing this button or that, I reached a few “people” (the kindest word I can use here). They all demanded my “social” and my birthdate. I don’t casually provide my “social,” as that is a sure ticket to identity theft. I did give my birthdate to one individual who said, “That’s not what is on THIS account!” I said, “Exactly! As I told you, it is NOT my account.” He still needed my “social.”
He transferred me to the “Fraud department,” except I was not connected to a real person but to another round of putting in the account number for an account I don’t own, and pushing 1 for this, 2 for that, etc. It made me dizzy. It seems that I tried to call JC Penney about twenty five times, including calls placed to my local store where I (stupidly) thought I might reach a real person with some actual gray matter between his or her ears. I was mistaken- it was a futile effort.
So, I guess the next step is to take this situation to the police, and then to the Attorney General. These “people” at JC Penney have no idea that I’m not going to put up with their mistreatment. I do not plan to ever do business with them again. In fact, I rarely enter the store, as it is, and when I do, I pay cash. They won’t miss my business.
I’m not sure if this was an “honest mistake” or what it was, on their part. All I can process right now is how frustrated and angry I felt to be pushed around by a bunch of apes, demanding my “social.” I stated that they are just “a voice on the phone.” Who am I to know that they are on the up and up? I probably won’t “go postal” but I sure understand people who do. I, for one, “ain’t gonna take it … any more!” The authorities can deal with their insolence.
P. C.
