So the other day I was on the phone with someone from my credit card company.  They said that they had sent me a new credit card because mine had expired, but I have not received it.

“Yes ma’am this is Bad Credit Card Company, how can I help you?” A male voice answers after I go through the normal routine of going through the automated menus and waiting on hold.

“Yeah my card expired about a week ago and I can’t use it because I don’t have a new one”

“I see ma’am, let me just pull up your account,” He says, and I can hear a keyboard clicking in the background.

“Yes, it says that we mailed you out a new card on the 14th of August, you have not received it?”

“No, is there anyway that you can resend it?”

“Ma’am, there is no need to get upset,”  He says immediately, his voice rising.

“I’m not upset…I just would like a new card please,”  I say, calmly.

“Alright ma’am just…just calm down there is no need to be upset about this,”  He says.  I pull the phone away from my and look at it.  I don’t know whether to laugh or be annoyed.  I look around the room, and my eyes fall on my cat, Sara, who is sleeping on the couch.  If my voice were raised at all then she would be hiding under the table or entertainment center.

“I’m not upset,”  I put the phone back to my ear, trying to keep my voice calm and even.

“Ma’am this is not a big deal, there is no reason why you would get so angry.”

“I’m not angry I’m…”

“Ma’am, you’re getting upset again, please…it’s…this will only take a minute,”  He says.  Now I’m getting pissed.

“Listen to me, I. Am. Not. Angry,”  I say, emphasizing each word.

“There is no need to be upset…” He starts.

“Listen, I wasn’t pissed off but you are making me upset by saying ‘don’t be upset’!”  I say loudly.

“Ma’am, can you just give me a few minutes to finish this it will be all taken care of.  Just try to stay calm.”

“Get me someone else,”  I demand, narrowing my eyes and staring around my apartment.  He sputters, saying that if I were calmer maybe he could have dealt with me, and then I am transferred.

“Yes ma’am how can I help you?”  Another males’ voice answers.

“Yes, I was just talking with someone else about my card, but he kept on saying to ‘not get upset’, which I wasn’t, and he kept on repeating it, so, I got a bit upset,”  I say, sounding like a three-year-old trying to explain to mommy why there is marker all over the wall.

“It’s alright ma’am, I can help you; the other representative forwarded all of your information to my screen,”  He says, clearly indifferent.

A few minutes later the phone transaction is complete, and I have my new card in the mail again.  After I hang up the phone I flip on the TV angrily.  I don’t know how someone would NOT get upset if someone were to keep saying “now, don’t be upset”, “don’t be angry” and “just stay calm”.

Now everyone, don’t be upset over this entry it’ll be alright; try not to leave angry comments, alright? :-)

“Do you miss it?”  Allison, a friend of mine who visited over the weekend, asks.

“Miss what?”

“College,”  She says simply, slumping into my couch.

“Sometimes,”  I say, “I think it’s easier to live knowing I don’t have to make minimum payments on my credit cards anymore, or not pay them at all.”

She nods.  We’ve already exhausted most of the regular topics: sex positions, cars and sports.  What, didn’t you know that is what all women talk about to their friends? I’ve probably just fulfilled about every guys’ fantasy who reads my blog…Anywho…

Allison gets up and goes into my spare bedroom, where the blow-up mattress and her overnight bag is.

“MAN you read alot,”  She yells from the room.

“I’ve got a lot more books upstairs,”  I say, shrugging to no one.  I look over to the pile of books on the table; whoops, missed some cleaning before she came over.  Allison comes out holding a hardback spiral-bound book about the history of the piano.

“You bought a book about the history of the piano…?”  She trails off, thumbing through the large book meant for a piano music stand.

“Well, my thinking was, how could I play something if I don’t understand it’s meaning?  Where it came from? Why was it invented?”  I ask, smiling.  I enjoy knowing the background of what, why, and how of EVERYTHING.  I guess it’s why computers are so interesting; I grew up when the background of computers was forming.

“Normally people don’t think like that, you know, no one needs to know the background to understand how it just is,”  Allison says, closing the book with a snap. She looks at me.  “How many books do you read a week?”

“Depends,”  I say, shrugging, “I read that one at the bookstore, and I figured it would’ve been mean of me to leave it there after I had read the whole thing..”

“Wait, you read this.  In. The. Bookstore.”  Allison says.  It wasn’t a question.

“It was a very interesting read!”  I say indignantly, grabbing for book playfully.  She holds it tauntingly in front of me, out of my reach, because I’m sitting on the couch.

“You’ve changed,”  Allison says suddenly, sitting down and handing me the book.  I look at her, not sure whether to be offended or pleased.

“I hope, for the better?”

“Yes, I think so.”  Allison says, nodding.  A few minutes pass before we go into another conversation -

“Remember when you used to come over and we’d play all sorts of games outside?” She starts, before adding, “Don’t you miss being a kid again?  Not having to worry about bills, work and more bills?”

“It was fun, but I don’t miss it, not anymore…”  I say.  I look over at Allison and she doesn’t say anything, so I launch into my explanation, “I had a dream when I first moved up here, I dreamt that I was saying Good-Bye to a little girl with pigtails.  She was crying and saying that she didn’t want me to go, she wanted me to stay and play more games with her.  I felt like I had babysat her all my life, and I didn’t want to go either.  She kept on hugging me, and we were both crying at one point.  But…eventually I had to pry her off and leave.”

I stop, looking over at Allison.  She doesn’t saying anything.

“I don’t think I need a dream interpreter to tell me what that meant,”  I say simply, shrugging.