M - 4 (Disruption)


Post for Tuesday, April 21st (delay due to internet issue)

Each day as we inch closer to the Move we experience some highs and lows. Last week the focus was on figuring out how to reinstate our internet. Verizon is not doing in-home appointments. We need a self-service appointment which is when the service person hooks up the cable from the outside to our house and my husband does the rest. Of course, I was very skeptical about “the rest” which I’m sure requires a PhD in cable networking. Our back-up plan was to connect a 75-foot cable to our neighbor’s and “share” the service. Worst case I would drive into Boston and camp out at my office with the kids. Once Ozan started escalating our request from customer service rep to supervisor to dispatcher, I was worried. Verizon is essentially the equivalent of a government agency, so always expect the worst. What’s funny is I see Verizon's CEO, Hans Vesterberg, on T.V. a lot during this covid crisis as Verizon is a big sponsor for many services and events. Hans, if you are reading this, call me.

And then a miracle occurred (no, I did not connect with Hans). Yesterday we were notified of a service appointment for today from 8am to 10am.  Did Ozan really succeed in navigating through the tangled web of Verizon bureaucracy? I admit, I was excited and really hopeful. But that was yesterday. This morning we woke up to discover that Verizon shut off the internet in our rental. Um Verizon, a little premature to pull the plug on us, don’t you think? Some disgruntled little customer service rep apparently got trigger happy today. So the day unfolded with Ozan spending five hours at the house with the Verizon guy to get our service set up. And I hung out at the rental using my cell phone’s mobile hot spot to access the internet which was the equivalent to dial-up circa 1998. Now that we have the service ready for Saturday, we’re trying to see if Verizon can temporarily turn back on the service at the rental so we can survive the next three days. Ozan boasted that it’s only a matter of turning on a switch. I of course, didn’t buy it. Ozan was on the phone today for several hours with customer service and a network specialist to get our access back on. For whatever reason, they were having a hard time finding the router. We think Verizon systems were confused from ending our service on the same day we requested to turn it back on. I’m sure that’s a lot to handle. So tomorrow Ozan will call them again at 8am to continue the process. I remain enthusiastically pessimistic.

In other news, the cleaners are now coming tomorrow morning instead of Thursday. The wallpaper person is also coming tomorrow. It will be a cutting and pasting cleaning party. I think the cabinet guy may be back to finish the three pulls they forgot to put on the island cabinets. And Ozan noticed something about our fancy new freezer not producing ice. I mean, come on! The end is so close I can taste it, yet I continue to hold back enthusiasm.

Good Night

P.S. As of this posting on Wednesday April 22, Houston we are back online.
P.S.S. My kids got up at 6:30 and I did not tell them the internet is back on. Now they are being loud and annoying.

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