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? :-)

Ah, what week wouldn’t be complete with an ethical dilemma?  I think I know what I’m going to do, but I’d rather have a poll online.  That would be WAY more fun.

So, this is completely hypothetical, naturally, and this happened to a friend whose hotdog stand friend dogs brother’s owner told this to my friend.

In other words, NOTHING to do with me.

So, the other day my friend whose hotdog stand friend dogs…brothers…WHATEVER.  Okay, it’s me.  So, the other day, as in…a few weeks ago, I bought something.  Something large.  We’ll say it was something frivolous.  Something like a 5-foot-tall cupcake.

Okay, so this Cupcake cost me about 400 dollars.  It had expensive icing, whatever.  Wait, who in the hell would pay 400 dollars for a cupcake?!  Ack, you get the picture: I bought something large, like a cupcake, for 400 dollars.

So, this Cupcake came with a few rebates.  One of the rebates was for 135 dollars, from the company I bought the cupcake from.  We’ll call the company “Cupcake Addicts”.  So, I sent in the UPC code from the cupcake into the company, because, naturally, all cupcakes come with UPC codes!  Then, about a week later, ‘Cupcake Addicts’ sent me a postcard saying that I “didn’t qualify for the rebate”.

Naturally, wanting such a large rebate, I called them up.  Before we go on: yes the rebate really was for 135 dollars, about the only true thing about this story, besides the fact that I really did buy something large.  The reason why I can’t tell you the real product is because, it is for someone for Christmas, and I don’t want that person finding out.

Anywho, I called up ‘Cupcakes Anonymous’ to see why, WHY withold the riches and glory of 135-dollar rebate.  They tell me that the postcard was a mistake, the person I talked to said they had just reviewed my rebate information again and found nothing wrong, so, I would be receiving the rebate for 135 dollars shortly in the mail.

Two weeks ago (I guess now it was about a month ago…), I received said rebate for 135 dollars. Of course, I immediately cash it in.

About a week ago, I received ANOTHER rebate from Cupcakes Anonymous.  For 135 dollars.

Here is the dilemma.  I still have not cashed in the second rebate from ‘Cupcakes Anonymous’, but if I did, I would be practically stealing the…erm…cupcake…for extremely cheap from this company.

I would like to point out that I have not cashed it in, but I did try to call ‘Cupcakes Anonymous’ about the problem.  The first time I called, after I had been on hold for about 10 minutes, someone picked up and then hung up on me.  The second time, I was in “on-hold nowhere-land” for about 45 minutes before I hung up.

I’m still debating whether or not to keep the extra 135-dollar rebate.

After all, the cupcake is delicious.