"Mom" Moments

I call a "Mom" moment those moments that only a mom gets herself into. They are the moments that you find yourself in when you shake your head in disbelief and don't know whether you should laugh or cry. I guess it's not just a Mom moment but also a "I can't believe you do business this way" moment.

This morning I was calling Macy's because they under billed us for our dining room furniture. Yes, you heard me right...UNDER BILLED. They somehow counted our down payment of $866 twice! When I called I was disappointed to discover a greeting from an automated voice recording. I first had to enter my account number and then the last four digits of my social security number. They gave me all my options of what they THINK I might be calling about, but none of them was "You under billed me!". So at the end of the options you are to speak and say "more options" if you hadn't heard the one you want yet. The kids are not being quiet, but I managed to be heard over them as I said in my most clear way of speaking, "More options".

I listened to more options ranging from: "my address has changed" to "give me a detailed history of my payments". I tried the history of payments. That didn't help, so I had to go through the whole call again. The second time I called the kids were closer to me and as I was speaking to the darn machine, Ben asked me a question. The automated voice said, "I'm sorry, we didn't understand your last request, please repeat." I wanted to say, "JUST GIVE ME A LIVE PERSON!! I HAVE CHILDREN AND CANNOT GUARANTEE A QUIET HOUSEHOLD WHILE YOU DECIPHER WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU!!!" I tried hitting "O" for Operator because I heard once that that will almost ALWAYS give you a live person. They didn't understand that either. Finally, I went through all the trees of options of why I might be calling and the last option was to talk to a live person. YES!!! I get through and then they tell me they are not open yet. I need to call between 9am and 5pm. Yes. And then I'm sure I will NOT get through. The line was busy the last time I tried. I'M TRYING TO GIVE YOU MONEY!!! DON'T MAKE IT SO DIFFICULT!!

Ok. I'll stop yelling. It just feels good. Now I have to go do playground duty. I will keep you updated on this saga.