the suckitude of AOL

To attempt to make a long story semi-readable, I will share my story of trying to cancel my AOL service. Last month I called to cancel, but the rep told me that the monies were already processed from my credit card and I'd have to call next month if I still wanted to cancel. She, of course, did her little AOL sales pitch: "I'm sorry to hear you'd like to cancel, BUT, did you know AOL has Spyware, SpamBlocker, Virus protection, yadda yadda yadda. . . " Ok, I was upset because at this time I was paying for two ISPs (PeoplePC and AOL) - Since I'm budgeting I'm choosing to drop the less expensive of the two.

So I remember to call yesterday to cancel. I get a rep named Justin. Very friendly. Gives me the same spiel as the first girl. He says, "As a courtesy we'll give you a month to think about it for free" and then attempts to close the conversation! "Thank you for calling AOL. . . " Me: "Excuse me???!" Mind you, I had never agreed to what he was offering me. Now I'm getting irate. I was willing to sit through the sales pitch as long as they cancelled my service. Now not only did I have to sit through the AOL Attributes Lecture and Why AOL Rules Speech, they're gonna rush me off the phone and not listen to me??! Great customer service. I said, "I want to cancel my AOL TODAY. This is already my 2nd call to cancel. I don't want to call a third time. I've already uninstalled the program from my computer and have another ISP." He then puts me on hold (assumably to check with an assist. supervisor if he can credit back my last month's payment that I didn't want them to take).

At this point, I'm just getting irate. And I HATE to be the irate subscriber because I know what it's like to be the guy on the other end. He's supposed to keep people with AOL as much as he can, but I soo wanted to tell him that I wasn't unhappy with AOL until I called to cancel it, b/c it's a freakin' nightmare! He then comes back on the line and tells me they're going to pay me back last month's bill and give me another month free to "think about how much AOL has to offer that another service can't." (Whatever.) He then proceeds to rush me off the phone again. And I just give up like a loser. I can't fight anymore. I'll have to make another call next month. This time I may ask for a super (even though I hate when people did that) but I can't get anywhere with these reps. They will not ALLOW you to cancel their f'ing service. What do I have to do???! Anybody have any advice or similar personal experience?

I Heart NYC

On Friday night, I met Leslie and Brian at The Lodge. Out of nowhere, Les says, "Do you want to go to New York tomorrow?" And not being the spontaneous type, I agreed to my own surprise. I've been wanting to go to NYC forever, but never had the guts to do it. Saturday around 1:00 p.m. we drove into the City. We mostly spent our day walking around the theatre district, Times Square, Rockerfeller Center and Fifth Ave. We stayed until it became dark - then I got a little scared. Especially when a stranger approached us and asked us if we could get him some food. He obviously was not hungry - it was one of the situations where you just know they're looking for some drug money. Thank God we escaped him. I got my classic I Heart NY tee - and for only$3! Can't beat that! I chickened out on buying a fake designer bag. You literally couldn't swing an arm without hitting a fake bag makeshift "stand."

Kat rode the train in from Connecticut and met us in the city. We even kidnapped her and took her back to Williamsport so she could drive to Philly with her parents the next day. Then we all went to the Pub. What a long, but awesome day! I'm so glad I actually went. I can't wait to go back and see more of the city. I don't care that I felt like a tourist - I ended up getting some pretty good shots of Times Square, etc.

Although I don't know if I could live there, it's definitley an interesting place to spend the day.

No more long weekend - time to go back to work!