I Got Plenty of Nuthin'.

And I’m going to be honest about it. I have work: lots of it, and so I recognize how lucky I am. Two major projects on the go is a blessing right now, and I know it.

I also know my pandemic limitations. I put in seven hours yesterday, while still trying to get out and walk for ten minutes an hour. Not a goal I always achieve, but every step is an accomplishment. Today? I made some tea. That’s what I’ve accomplished by 11:00am. My bed isn’t made. I need to vacuum. Etc.

It’s the distractions that knock me out, and I don’t mean social media and jigsaw puzzles. I mean the distraction of a giant faceless insurance company deciding they weren’t going to refund our cancelled flights to Scotland this past March (four hundred years ago), because according to them, I received a voucher from the airline to fly later.

Well, no. No, I did not. I think I would have remembered that. AND LIKE I’M FLYING ANYWHERE FOR THE NEXT YEAR. For four straight days, I emailed them repeatedly, telling them this grumpy lady (if only they knew how cool and nice I am IRL) was refusing to back down until they honoured my policy. Four days of this with no response. I finally got a response after telling whoever I was writing to that my next step was to go straight to the president. All of this while I AM TRYING TO EDIT.

I’ve come to realize several things. 1] I’m certain that the people who work for this monolith are tired, scared, thrown off balance by the sheer volume of insurance claims they’re trying to process, likely from their kitchen tables while the kids want lunch and the ubiquitous cat lays on their keyboard. 2] I’m a good person and I like to have charitable thoughts. 3] I am capable of amazingly uncharitable thoughts. 4] The insurance agents who make these decisions are probably as distracted and frazzled as I am. 5] Huge Insurance Company™ doesn’t give a flying fiddler’s fuck about me or you or anyone else, and will do whatever they can not to honour their insurance agreement with you. That was a hard lesson. 6] I am lucky enough to have travelled a lot, and this is the most first-world of problems.

But don’t you feel like everything is a problem some days? I know I do.

It took my announcement that I was going to the top to get a response. My grandpa was the president of AGT (now Telus for you youngsters) and the best advice he gave us kids is that when something goes wrong in a business, you bypass customer service altogether and go straight to the top. Right to the president.

I’ve done this with the presidents of several huge, faceless, impersonal mega-corporations, and have always gotten results. In one case, my letter prompted an entire change of policy in the organization.

I’m no hero; I just know how to do this, having grown up with the president of AGT as my grandpa. I didn’t know anything about that when I was a kid. He was just my grandpa who took his briefcase to work, and so I have no fear of contacting the muckity-mucks on high.

We’re getting our money back, but JESUS the toll on my mind and concentration to get that far. I had to finally stop working at 4:00 yesterday because I could not look at one more word or write one more angry email. If you’re feeling this, I see you. Watching the world implode would distract anyone. Add fighting with a mega-company to the mix, and I’m surprised I remembered to put pants on before I went outside.

I write this because I get the feeling that I seem pretty together online. Occasionally, like today, that’s a big ol’ act. So, I got nothing for you today. Nothing but this bit of my heart and my life. I’m hanging in there and getting to work, but I forgive myself for not having an ounce of anything to give anyone once in a while. I hope you forgive yourself too.