Adventures in customer service.

I got my second ever cell phone back in the crazy days of 1999. It was a cheap phone, on the "Pay as you go" service provided by AT & T. My previous cell phone company was expensive and constricting, so I was very, very anti-contact. I have since replaced that first phone twice, moving up in plan convenience and I was a happy cell phone user. AT & T was eventually purchased by Cingular, but it didn't really effect me.

Fast forward to yesterday. After whatever happened to my already ailing cell phone, the speaker no longer worked, so I planned to take my birthday payola and get a new cell phone. I mistakenly assumed that I would be able to keep the phone number that I had been using for the last 6 years.

I was wrong.

My beef isn't with Cingular, though. I want to make that perfectly clear. Their representative was more than helpful, and even called and bitched out AT & T, because they wouldn't allow my number migration, on my behalf. At the end of it all, when the dust finally settled, he apologetically told me it wasn't possible.

I smiled. "T," I said, "I respect the work you did for me today. I watched you fight the hard fight for me, and I appreciate everything you did for me. I think that their reluctance to migrate my phone number is complete bullshit, and I know that you agree." T smiled a rather coy smile at me. "I walked in here, money in hand, needing a new cell phone, and they have failed me. That is why you're going to get my money. Let's get me into a cell phone as quickly as possible, as I'm going to a hockey game tonight, and I'm in a bit of a hurry."

It took about 15 minutes after that, and I was out the door, happy yet still very angry that I had to give up my beloved long-time phone number.