Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Let Me CAll you Sweetheart aka Kibbutz Capitalism

The headline reads: The Best Company to Work for in the World-Period. Featured in this month's issue of The American Way, the magazine for American Airlines, this article will make you smile, create job envy, inspire you, and confirm and reconfirm that in order to have a successful company you do not have to operate as "business as usual."

This is the story of Motek( it means sweetheart in Hebrew) , a software company in Beverly Hills. It's founder and CEO is Ann S. Price. The article begins with a scene where Price is scolding her Marketing Director for taking a three week vacation to Europe. Price wanted her to take five weeks.

“I have had many talks with Amanda about why she isn’t taking five weeks off,” Price says. “It’s impossible to function at maximum productivity without at least a month away.”

Is this a PR stunt or the latest business-management gimmick? Hardly. Price offers her employees a $5,000-a-year travel benefit — for flights, tours, cruises, you name it — but only if they take at least a three-week paid vacation. She gives employees another two weeks off for paid holidays throughout the year and leases luxury automobiles for any employee who has worked at the company for at least 10 years. Then there’s the fact that Price sends employees home at five p.m. sans laptop and locks the doors on the weekend.

Motek's main product is Priya a warehouse automation software that is used by companies including General Electric, Heinz and ConAgra.Observers say Motek's success is not just based on its product but on its processes.

But it’s Motek’s business processes and how it interacts with customers that set the firm apart. Price’s business philosophy — which has been dubbed “kibbutz capitalism” — is enough to make most executives squirm. For starters, everyone at Motek — from executives to the receptionist — knows how much everyone else earns, and they can view the firm’s balance sheet at any time. In fact, Price makes sure that they understand how to understand corporate finances. Employees also vote on strategic decisions, including raises. “By sharing data, we share power,” Price explains.

It’s no idle rhetoric. Consider that every Motek employee has a designated backup available to provide cover while they’re out of the office. The only requirement is to check with the backup to make sure he or she is around before the employee leaves. This, says Price, ensures that “we’re focused on the process rather than on the person.” Employees also know when an employee isn’t able to keep up with the workload. The result? Price offers a financial reward to employees who ask for help in order to stay on schedule. “The goal is to get the work done, not establish a star system,” she says.

This article is so motivating that I want to just copy and paste the whole thing. Most of all, I want to print it out and keep it as a reminder  to myself that the status quo doesn't have to be.

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Homage to Countdown's WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD- THE GREYHOUND BUS COMPANY

All I wanted was an explanation. My son Noah is taking the Greyhound Bus home today for a weekend visit from Madison Wisconsin. He had asked for me to purchase the ticket online.

Not a problem. But when I was about to finish the transaction I saw a Gift Service FEE of $15. Now, the cost of a Greyhound Bus ticket from Madison Wisconsin to Minneapolis, MN...a trip of less than 300 miles is $47.00. Add to that a fee of $15 dollars and the cost is now $62.00 an increase about 30% .

So I called Greyhound customer service. To their credit they told me it could be an extremely long wait. 34 minutes later I reached a Mr. Camerillo( not sure of the spelling). I asked for the explanation.

He said if my son had called and the credit card was in his name then there would be a 4% handling fee. But they charge the $15 whenever someone  purchases a ticket for someone else aka "a gift:

"WHY?" I asked, " How could the cost of handling my credit card be any different then handling the credit card of my son?"

That's when he said, " Well how much would it cost you to wire your son money to pay for the ticket."

Okay, I have never wired my son any money. and I have no idea what the fee is. But  I also have no idea what the business practices of Western Union have to do with Greyhound processing my American Express card.

I pressed him on this point. But he kept on going back to what it would cost me to wire him the money for the ticket.

I asked to speak to his supervisor. He gave me a different number. Again, the message that it would take a long time. 1 hour and 1 minute later ( it is now 6 pm central) the call center picks up my call. Guess who answers?  My good buddy Mr. Camerillo.

At this point I was not amused. Forget the fact that Greyhound has one person in their customer call center  When I identified myself in a less than cordial manner, Mr. Camerillo offered to transfer me to his supervisor's line ( why you ask didn't he transfer me the first time? Because the first time, their offices were still open)

When I reached their executive offices I got a voicemail. I left a message. I will follow up.And, no I didn't purchase the ticket. I'll transfer the funds (free of charge) into his bank account and he can use his debit card to make the purchase.

Their policy is hideous. The only explanation I can come up with ( and I welcome a different explanation) is that they are gouging the poor. What other explanation can it be?

A 30% service fee on a bus ticket is unconscionable. If Keith Olbermann heard about this he would definitely name them  today's ' THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD".

You can't make this stuff up.

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Smack Dab In The Middle With You

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NOTE: Spellchecker fritzed, again.

Northwest Airlines is offering a new promotion. It's called Coach Choice. On Tuesday, the promotion earned the airlines MSNBC's Countdown's  not -so - coveted "Worse Person In The World Award."

I love Keith Olbermann but perhaps he should make sure his producers do a bit more research before they hand out their awards  See, the award is a bit premature. Coach Choice is a  "pilot" program--affecting  just 5% of seats. On their website Northwest says they are simply "testing' the concept.

One can assume if it succeeds, then we'll see more widespread upcharges for "preferred seating." And, I would imagine in the rollout , it will impact more than 5% of the seats.

When that happens, if the producers think the concept is so awful, let them bestow any award they want.

But to listen to the report, you'd think starting today, if you want to get an aisle, exit or window seat you need to start coughing up the extra $15 per tushy touch.

If that were true, would that really be so awful? I guess it's how you see the situation.

Do you see an old lady or a young lady? One picture. Two very different images. Depending on how you look at the situation.

Having once enjoyed the perks of a silver status frequent flyer, I continually pout that I no longer get to board the plane early, that I don't get those first class upgrades, and I no longer earn extra points for every flight I take.

Having sat smack dab in the middle between two super-sized travelers that literally made it impossible or me to sit back in my seat, I say Hooray for Coach Choice!

That was a very long and very full flight from L.A. to Minneapolis. Feeling very abused at that time ,and getting a back spasm from having to sit at a 45 degree angle for the entire flight, I said something to the flight attendant that I deserved financial compensation because I physically could not use my seat because my supersized companions were invading my 'shoulder area'(that I contended , I paid for).

She was sympathetic but said, there was nothing they could do.  I  did write to customer service but never heard back.

Everyone who flies knows all seats are not created equal.  There's that awful seat in the back of  some flights that prevent you from moving your seat back at all. And there's the dreaded middle seat.

If you are not flying on an expenses account and you did not get the rock bottom price, can you honestly say that it didn't cross your mind that you should pay less for the inconvenience of sitting in the middle?

Personally, I love the idea. of Coach Choice. If I want an aisle, at least i can get it if I'm willing to pay the $15 ( and in most cases, I will pay)  Is it really any different than choosing seats in a theater? There's all sorts of tiered pricing  for concerts. Is this any that different?

If I'm in frugal mode, I can pay less and sit in the middle or gamble that I pay less for the middle seat and it won't be a full flight.Then, I can move over to the window or aisle. In that situationI'll feel really good about my decision not to pay extra for something I got for free ( sort of).

Anyway, Northwest Airlines has a lot more to worry about than consumer reaction to their Coach Choice promotion. Here is the headline in this morning's Star Tribune.

"U.S. investigators target NWA pension fund". Turns out the feds want to know how the fund was underfunded by $5.8 billion.

So do the math. How many seats selling at an extra $15 does it take to make $5.8 billion.

Oh and about that optical illusion. To find out how to see the Old Lady, just click here. However, even with the clues, I have a hard time seeing her.Which is not so different from the various perspectives on Northwest's latest move.

A reminder to self: People read this stuff

It was not a call I would have ever expected to get. I guess I can thank Google Alerts--I doubt that Arnold Angeloni,CEO of Americinn ,is a regular reader of FunnyBusiness --not that there would be anything wrong with that.

Whatever the reason, it seems that Angeloni read my blog post where I shared some frustrations with the wireless setup at the Americinn in Ashland, Wisconsin.

Now Angeloni, didn't actually call me but he called the manager in Ashland and made sure that Todd, the manager did. Todd assured me that the next time I'm at the Americinn, I won't have any problems connecting to secure sites using their wireless system.

It was a small gesture. It took Todd maybe 3 minutes at most to leave me the voicemail and then chat with me when I returned his call. But I have written about my adventures in hotels and motels for the past year and the Americinn is the first place that responded.

I like that. It made me feel very good that the CEO was paying attention.

What it said to me is that the company is committed to customer service and they want to be known as a company that listens to their guests. I believe that.I saw that in action when I stayed there.Everyone was lovely and very helpful.

At the same time, it's a sobering reminder to myself about the power of the media because had I not blogged about it,but rather simply said something to Todd or even written to the company's headquarters,I doubt that the CEO would have gotten involved.

My wireless connection problems is exactly the kind of thing subordinates don't bother a CEO about.

When I was just starting out as a reporter, I covered a story about a young boy who had been kidnapped in Georgia and was found wandering around the Sears store in Richmond, Va. He had a note attached to his shirt, call my mom in Georgia.

Unbeknownst to the folks in Richmond, all hell was breaking out in Georgia. Jimmy Carter was the governor and he had called on the National Guard to search for the young boy.

When the Richmond authorities finally contacted Georgia -- more than 24 hours later--Carter had the mom flown up on the state jet.

I was in the airport to cover the joyful reunion. As I was standing there chatting with one of the camera guys from Georgia, he said, "find out why Richmond waited  more than 24 hours to contact Georgia to see if there was a missing boy." 

Seems that instead of following the instructions on the young boy's shirt, the authorities followed their procedure and handed him over to social service.

The next day, knowing that I was going to have some fun, I called the detective on the case and said I wanted to do a followup.I started the story very gently, and then doing my best Mike Wallace impersonation, I went in for the kill, demanding why they waited to call anyone in Georgia.

I was relentless. The police office was completely blindsided.  I left feeling I had done some of my best journalism ever. A couple of days later I learned he had been "transferred"..

Instead of feeling victory, I was horrified. I didn't mean for anyone to get fired. I just wanted them to not make the same mistake twice.

And so, as tickled as I am that the CEO of Americinn listened to what I wrote, it is a reminder that people actually read this stuff and that I have a responsibility to share stories honestly, accurately, and without any hint of personal revenge because someone's job could be on the line.

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Getting The Ask

As a consumer, I am always interested in how different companies respond to "The Ask". " The Ask" is usually a request to reduce a charge, upgrade a service or provide extra perks because you are a good customer and most important, because your request is not only reasonable, it's fair.

Just yesterday I succeeded in getting "The Ask" for my daughter Berit and I have at least 24 hours of goodwill because of it. As it turns out a lot of people were going for "The Ask" this weekend.

Driving to the car dealership this morning for what I thought was a major problem ( I thought one of the potholes I hit had caused my car to shimmy--the customer service rep took one look at my car and said, " Did you notice your left tire needs air?)

I was listening to one of my favorite radio talk shows, Ian and Margery, a husband a wife team. Their conversation  centered on their weekend " Ask"  with their mobile phone provider. As they told the story, Margery said she  had lost her cell phone in October. She immediately called her provider to see if someone was using it.

They weren't.

She checked the next month. They weren't. Evidently Margery doesn't use her cell phone quite as much as I do because at this point she assumed the cell phone must be somewhere in her home .

As my daughter Berit likes to say, "assuming makes an ass out of u and me."

Fast forward to December and all of a sudden there is $175 in charges for ring-tones and wallpaper.

When Margery asked her mobile phone company to reduce the charges , they declined, informing her that since she hadn't filed a police report saying  the mobile phone was stolen,  she was still responsible for the charges.

Over the next two days, both Margery and Ian spent a couple of hours chatting with customer service. They wouldn't budge.

Then they went to a retail store and threatened to take their service elsewhere. The  folks at the retail store level informed them there  was a special department ( the name of which escapes me right now--it was something like the Assessment Department) that evaluated just these types of claims.

After three days, the mobile phone company reduce her bill by 1/3. Margery was happy.

Their weekend plight mirrored mine.However, instead of a cell phone it was the new IPOD video.

Using her hard earned money from the coffee shop, my daughter Berit bought the new IPOD Video. When she got it home she discovered that her OS was too old and wouldn't accommodate the IPOD.

Now to her back story. This was not her first IPOD. This was her 4th. I bought the first...a 10 GB. She outgrew that one and bought a 20. This summer, she decided to upgrade to the 60. Using her money from her job in a coffee shop she made her purchase . At the time she asked when the new video IPODs were being released. She was told not until Christmas.

Three weeks later the video IPODS were released.

So now its Saturday. Berit wants to download video and her computer isn't cooperating.

We go to the genius bar. We tell our tale of woe. Our "Ask", upload the required software on her computer.Our rationale: when she made the purchase no one mentioned her system wouldn't accommodate the video IPOD and since the boxes are not on display, there was no way she could check system requirements until she got the IPOD home.

And besides that, she has owned four previous IPODS.

Sympathetic, the genius tells us  they no longer sell the upgrade she needs and that she can purchase it on EBAY.

I didn't like that answer and told the genius that I wasn't happy. He went to talk to the manager. I took that as a good sign. He came back and said the manager says there is nothing we can do.

At this point my daughter says she'll return the IPOD. They agree to waive the restocking fee.

Then the genius, who I believed was really sympathetic,said the prophetic words,"You can talk to the manager." 

What I've learned is when a floor person offers the manager there's a good chance "The  Ask" will be agreed to.

The manager ushered me into the backroom. He was kind . He was reasonable. Most important, he handed me the software to allow my daughter to use her new IPOD.

My daughter thought I was a genius.

Now back to Ian and Margery. While they are willing to take responsibility for 2/3 of those charges, I think they should go back to their mobile phone provider with another "ASK" . They should "ASK" for a free month of phone service.

When Margery called the company to say the phone was lost, they should have flagged the account. They should have reminded her that she should close the account to avoid any charges just in case the phone had been stolen.

The company didn't do that. Their records should show how many times Margery called checking on the phone.

So to me,their mobile phone provider needs to demonstrate some goodwill and give Margery a month's free service.

As I tell my children, it never hurts to ask.

The Bold and The Beautiful

File this under who knew ? The TV Soap Opera The Bold And The Beautiful  could be the solution to frustrated customers who are now forced to deal with customer service representatives whose command of American English is sub par, at best.

I would never have known what a fantastic training tool The Bold and The Beautiful really is unless I had not chatted with Simon, yesterday's technical support person at Verizon wireless.

Simon--who was exemplary--sent me an email to confirm the problems we were working on with my Blackberry had been corrected. When the email arrived it said it was from Muhammad.

Thinking he changed his name because of potential Muslim backlash, I asked if that is why he went by Simon.

Turns out it has less to do with racism and more to do with Indian customs.

According to Simon, in India, it is common practice for people to go by their middle names. Simon's middle name starts with an "s" but evidently Americans are too enunciated-challenged and can't  say his name. So,  he selected Simon to accommodate our inabilities. Thank you.

I also realized that I would be up the creek in India. I have no middle name. Aside from monograms it hasn't poised a big problem  in my life, but then I don't live in India where evidently it would be very problematic.

Hoping he would take this as a compliment, I said something to the affect, " You know Simon ,I talk to lots of people from India on a regular basis(I much more regular than I care to do) and you just don't sound like you were raised there."

Simon chuckled and said, " my secret is The Bold And The Beautiful."  To perfect his accent,Simon would watch the soap and practice saying the lines out loud.

It worked. So here's my suggestion. Throw out the standard English language training classes  and start showing The Bold And The Beautiful at work.

It's an inexpensive win-win. The corporations will be creating goodwill from employees who will appreciate the entertainment  and at the same time it will be professional development that customers will benefit from by having customer service representatives that they don't have to constantly say, " I'm sorry. Could you repeat that?

In fact, showing The Bold and The Beautiful could actually add dollars to the bottom line. .I'm sure that some financial type  could do a cost analysis and demonstrate that implementing a must watch Bold and The Beautiful  policy could end up shaving significant time off of each call.

It could make devotees of Six Sigma proud. Of course there is that downside of showing The Bold and The Beautiful-- it would probably reinforce some negative impressions that these Indian phone reps must have about our values, shallowness,and tendency to throw inappropriate temper tantrum

Press #0 Four Times on the phone pad

YES! The ultimate cheat sheet  is available to one and all who are sick and tired of talking to robots, and receiving options  from sophisticated voicemail systems that don't fit their problem.

Click here...and save this site. You will want to visit it frequently..

The big takeaway--- seeing all the various contortions people have to go through to get to a live customer service representative, you get the idea these companies really don't want to talk to us.

Hello? If I could figure out the problem by myself I wouldn't be calling you.

Years ago, bankers believed if they just made it painful enough to stand in bank lines that people would get used to using ATMS. For the most part, the strategy has worked for getting money out of the bank. But, if you want to make a deposit, bankers say, use a teller.

For some reason when you make a deposit in an ATM it is more likely to trigger a longer "hold" time on your deposit.

It makes no sense but neither does the convoluted phone systems that companies now use for people trying to reach a live customer service agent/representative.

They must think that if they are patient enough, we'll adjust to the robots just like we've adjusted to self-service gas stations, ATMs, and booking airline tickets on line.

What they don't get is those are very specific tasks...repeatable tasks. News Flash-- I hate filling up my car especially when I have nice shoes on. I, if dressed for business ,would go to the full-service option if any of the gas stations in my neighborhood offered this service -- they don't.

When we call customer service, it's not like filling up the tank. It's not to complete a repeatable, teachable task. Instead, it's  often for a problem that has never occurred before and may never occur again. Some things depend on human contact.

The other thing that I love about  this list is that I feel validated. It wasn't my imagination. You often have to work very hard to reach a live human being .

In case you haven't peaked at the Cheat Sheet here is some of what you'll find:

AT TiVo, you say " Live Agent" .If you are traveling on Delta you have to repeat Agent FOUR times--but not in a row. That's four times each time they ask for a response, then you get to go live. Geez.

Meanwhile over a T-Mobile you don't say agent, you say representative.

At Safeway, silence is golden. If you refrain from saying anything, you get bumped to the front of the line.

And, unfortunately for those of you who need to get in touch with Compaq, the code can't be cracked.

The Cheat Sheet is the brainchild Paul English who has done his good deed for mankind. The media is enthralled--English has gotten coverage from The Guardian Unlimited to People Magazine.

And, from many of us who have lost our tempers and said very foul things to those robots, Thank You from the bottom of our hearts.

Take two aspirins....

Hearing Justin, the Symantec support person, tell me that there is currently no cure for the virus that has plagued my computer for the last week was like a doctor saying "take two aspirins ,drink plenty of fluids and stay in bed."

What Justin actually said was that there is no cure at this time...that they are working very hard to develop a patch and check back in 48 hours. He also recommended that I avoid the Internet.

I don't take a sick day when I have a cold and I doubt that I can stay off the Internet for the next two days.

The virus is trojan.vundo. It has been around for a while and Symantec does have a virus remover for the older version. But, as Justin explained, this is a new virulent version and there is no cure, yet.

So prior to calling Symantec and prior to pulling out my American Express card which I fully intended to use to purchase the $69 premiere virus remover service,  I spent two hours this morning trying to remove a virus that is not removable.

As a result, I'm stuck with a sluggish computer and Norton Alert Windows screaming at me that my computer is infected.

Justin didn't have a solution on how to close the window. It seems that will stay until the cure is discovered.( I do have the window minimized, but its still there annoying me)

So here's what I don't get. Since I was in the phone queue for 20 minutes, couldn't they have had a message about this virus and explain that there isn't a cure,yet? Why not send out an email saying that the removal tool won't work and to check back in 48 hours. Did I really need to spend two hours scanning every bloody file in my computer?

Today's bout with trojan.vundo followed yesterday's demise of my Linksys wireless router. Despite hours and hours last week talking to Shamit in India, Fernando in Argentina and Lakshmi,back in India,the problems of the wireless dropping the internet connection continued.

Yesterday I spent couple of hours on the phone with Morris  in India who fixed the problem for about 5 minutes. When I called back, I chatted with Sandep and explained that I really needed to talk to a supervisor. I got the supervisor. His name was  also Sandep.

Either that is a very popular name or it is the name of the day. I no more think Morris'  name is Morris then I think both of these guys were named Sandep.

At the end of a very frustrating day I decided it was time to bury the Linksys and go to Best Buy and get a new model. So far, so good. The new model hasn't kicked me off yet. Now if I can just remember to send in the  two rebates on time.

So now I have a wireless router that works but a computer that should be avoiding the Internet.

Oh, did I mention when I started to dry my hair this morning my hair dryer blew up?

Maybe, I'll reconsider that sick day.

The Bus Driver

Buses in Europe must give change. At least that's what the driver on the Number 4 traveling from south Minneapolis to NE Minneapolis assumed.

The young man from Romania put a 20 into the fare box. It didn't give him change. Our buses don't give change.

The system isn't prepared for missteps like that.

The bus driver began to explain the "process" the young man would need to follow to get his money back.

Halfway through his own complicated explanation, the bus driver got another idea. Since the meter box confirmed the young Romanian  had indeed paid 20 dollars, the bus driver called his supervisor and asked if it would be okay if he allowed all passengers paying cash to simply give the young Romanian their money-- until they had collected the $20.

Everyone who was willing to hand their money to the young man  got some kind of extra pass.

It was working swell. Everyone on the bus was rooting for the young Romanian, hoping that enough money would be collected.

Then, an extremely inebriated gentlemen ( it was Saturday around 4:00 p.m.) decided that he would take the pass and keep is $1.50.

Thinking that he didn't understand the situation ,several of us tried to explain why he needed to hand the money over to our European visitor.

The man was very drunk. He was also very uncooperative. At this point the driver said, " Either you pay or I call the police."

Defiant, the drunk rider says, " Call the police."

You could hear the collective groans. The bus had stopped. It wasn't going to go anywhere until this situation was resolved. People were pleading with the gentlemen to just pay the $1;50

He didn't care. Until the police came. Then he quickly sauntered off the bus.

I got off two stops later. The young Romanian was still on the bus. The driver said he was welcome to stay on the bus as long as it took to get his money back.

I have no idea what the young man chose to do.

As I stepped off the bus, I told the bus driver how  impressed I was with his efforts to help.

He could have followed policy. But he didn't. And because of that, a young visitor may have gotten his change--it could have taken an hour extra, but when he walked off the bus he hopefully had the $18.50 he was supposed to have.

Rules are meant to be broken.

The MOVE--I should have known

Even when you have to move your office from one cube to another, it's a pain. Chances are somewhere between changing phones and Internet connections, you can be sure that something is not going to work. Of course, if you work in a cube, you have tech support to solve the problem.

When you work in a home office you end up spending hours  trying  to problem solve the problem yourself.

I moved on Saturday. I thought I had taken care of the phones, the Internet provider and the TV cable so that we would be good to go Monday morning.

Who was I kidding?  Everything is requiring  follow-up phone calls. And follow-up calls to the follow-up calls.

Now, I wouldn't have a problem with there being a problem.  What I do have a problem  with is technical support that either doesn't care or doesn't know how to fix the problem.

What I don't enjoy is having to call technical support so often on the same issue that I have my case reference number committed to memory.

So, some time today, the cable folks will be back because the technician who stopped by on Saturday didn't test stuff to make sure it worked. If he had, he would have noticed that nothing was working.  If I had not been obsessed with unpacking, I might have paid more attention.

Note: since writing this, the cable guy did come back. Unfortunately I was on a teleconference and he evidently didn't understand the problem. He left.The problem wasn't fixed. Finally, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with Omar the problem was resolved.

Then there are the phones.

Who knows why I did it, probably to take advantage of a special program, but my business line had been handled by Qwest while I used At&T for my local  phone service. The emphasis is on USED TO use AT&T.

I called 10 days in advance. Explained I wanted the new service to start October 15th but couldn't disconnect the old address until October 21st because the water department needed the phone line operational to get a meter reading.

5 days later someone mentioned that when they tried to call my home line, it had a disconnect message. When I called AT&T and explained they had incorrectly turned off my phone, they apologized and said there was really nothing they could do about it.

"Once a phone is disconnected, we cannot connect it for just a few days." I asked to be bumped up to a supervisor who confirmed the policy.

Pointing out the fact that it was their error, did not impress them. Pointing out that if they didn't reconnect the line would result in losing me as a customer, didn't impress them either.

When the Qwest service rep was working on my phone lines he said that Qwest had a similar policy, explaining that it wasn't an issue of ability to do it, but that it cost too much to do it. No surprise there.

Although the movers were not coming until Saturday, I wanted to make sure my business line  and Internet lines were up and running Monday morning  so I scheduled the phone company to meet me at my new place on Friday afternoon.

Qwest gave me a three hour window from 3-6 pm. I got to the new place around 2:15p.m. Good thing I did.Qwest was there at 2:25 p.m. The Qwest guy added my business line, had me sign an invoice for $95 to add a jack and said I was good to go.

What he didn't tell me is that neither the new business line or the old business line would be operational for the rest of the day. It didn't go into voice mail.Just said it was disconnected. Note to whomever---if you were trying to reach me Friday, my phones are working.

Then there is the issue of my Linksys wireless connection. The good news is we were able to piggyback on Doodlebug's service and access the Internet throughout the weekend.  The bad news we couldn't connect to our own service. The first rep insisted I had a bad Ethernet cord. The second one had me go through some settings and promised I was good to go.

It wasn't until around 4:30 this morning, that the latest Tech support person figured out the real problem. Not exactly sure but it had to do with the order that the router, cable box and computer were unplugged and plugged.

It is now 2:00 p.m. I have my Internet. I have my wireless. I have my phones. My life is good.