Monday, July 6: Day 24

Sorry about the spacing but for some reason I wasn't able to get spaces between some of the paragraphs.

I don't know if you remember our war against Denny's, but there is a new war to declare:

AT&T vs. Cicottes

Back in the day, Matthias was an AT&T customer and his brother had a phone on his account. When his brother went on a mission, he cancelled his line and paid a cancellation fee of $170. Around the same time, Matthias let his account expire because he was upset with their service and dropped calls (It took me six months and a half dozen phone calls to get my original deposit back, and their coverage was worse than a Britney Spears evening gown- Matthias). Since that time, every few months, he's gotten a notice of an unpaid bill for $170, which he will then clear up with an irritating phone call only to find out a few months later that he has to do it all over again. That has happened for a period of literally 4 years!! They've told him they would fix the problem about 10 different times. And they've even sent the bill to collections and it went on to be reported to a credit bureau, which Matthias has actively tried to get off his credit report. He just got a letter in the mail about how it's still on there just recently so he's calling again tomorrow to clear his name. It's just getting to be ridiculous.

OK, so my favorite phone company, T-mobile, has been awesome. However, they don't have cell towers here so we've been roaming for almost a year. We have free roaming, so it's been fine. We got a letter recently saying they would have to discontinue service because nearly all of our minutes have been roaming and they just can't service us anymore. I don't blame them, but I'm sad to see them go away. They've been so good to me.

Anyway, we started our search for a new company only to find a few local companies and, yep, you guessed it, AT&T. After a lot of thought, we decided to go in and try to set up phone plans with AT&T because they were the best deal for what we want. It was very reluctantly that we did this, mind you. But tonight we bit the bullet and went in. Matthias gives his information and we're just about to set everything up when the lady says, "It's telling me that you need to put down an $800 deposit for each line." Since we had 2, that would be a $1600 deposit! Are you kidding me? For cell phones? Needless to say, we walked out without signing up. And it's all because AT&T has it in their heads still that Matthias never paid this $170 cancellation fee years ago.

(If Ma Bell were a real person, I would egg her house and light her rose garden on fire.

If I had a time machine, I would go back in time and waterboard Alexander Graham Bell. Well, after ending slavery and the Holocaust and all that first.

If I had a private army, I would lead an attack on AT&T headquarters that would make Sherman's March to the Sea look like a 7th grade band concert.

If AT&T were an athlete, it would be Alex Rodriguez.

If AT&T were a movie character, it would be the evil sensei from Karate Kid. Or Darth Vader.

If AT&T doesn't fix this once and for all, I will initiate a class action suit. I can't be the only one with this problem.

-Matthias)

Now that you know the background, I think this next picture should be especially funny. When we went into the store today, we couldn't stop laughing at this guy who was advertising how amazing AT&T's entertainment phone options were.

As Matthias put it, "There's no way that anything he's looking at could be funnier than the picture itself." I mean, what is he so excited about? What could be on that screen that could conjure up that face?

After the whole experience, we came home and I washed some amazing berries. I couldn't help taking a picture. They were so delicious. Healthy eating doesn't have to be all that bad.