annanotbob2's Diaryland
Diary
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Of Phones and Things
It’s all gone a bit tricky, the last few days. I think I’m doing less, doing resting, but ordinary life keeps throwing me extra tasks, like my phone suddenly telling me I’ve used all my data for this month – really? How? I can’t make any sense of it at all, which means a trip to the local O2 shop because I can only deal with shit like this with another person, face to face, so I can maybe see if they’re bull-shitting me, or if they think I’m being utterly stupid.
But that’s in town, in the middle of the pedestrian precinct, just off the seafront, and nowhere to park that doesn’t cost a fortune, where the icy wind blows through all the gaps between buildings. You can’t book an appointment over the phone, you have to park miles away, walk through the godawful town centre, full of boarded up shops and (weirdly) untold numbers of Turkish barbers and nail bars, none of which have any customers, dragging an unwilling dog along – this is walking for fuck’s sake, I’m not doing all this and then taking her for a walk, finally arrive at O2 to be told there’s at least a twenty minute wait so would you like to go and have a cup of coffee and we’ll text you when the next person’s free.
Though they didn’t say person, what was it? Not ‘consultant’, but not ‘poor fuck who can’t get any other work so sits here under a sign which says Verbal or Physical Abuse of Our Staff Will Not be Tolerated (which means there’s lots of it, if they’ve had to print signs), smiling and pretending to care about me and my data. [Associate, I remember now, when an associate is free.] Anyway, she was very nice, Molly, her name was, and yes, they have had a lot of verbal abuse, it was this shop that caused the signs to be made and now displayed in every branch. You wouldn’t believe the things some people will say, you’d think they didn’t have mothers or sisters or daughters. Yes, we’d got chatting – she also told me how last night she’d gone for a drive up onto the downs after work, to clear her head out in the countryside, away from everyone and it was below freezing so she turned the engine off but kept the ignition on for the heater then when she was ready to leave, the battery was flat so she had to call the AA (Automobile Association not Alcoholics Anonymous, silly), and they took four hours to get there so she was sat out there in the dark, in the cold, all alone – at which point her colleague, who was dealing with a couple whose dog wanted to play with Shirley, but who was obviously eavesdropping on our chat called out, “Four hours! Disgraceful! They’re meant to prioritise single lone females, especially after dark!” We all tssed in unison and Molly told me how she was looking forward to getting home this evening and stretching out on the sofa in front of the telly, and who could blame her? She sorted my phone out, without droning on at me at all, she remembered me, or more likely Shirley, from my last visit, when she’d run out of dog treats and knew that I wouldn’t understand it. The key point is now I have loads of data, so will be able to use my satnav and it will cost £3 more a month. Job done.
11:53 p.m. - 09.01.24
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