Where cussing can get you, if it doesn't get you fired....

The last few days have been pretty awful. I had jury duty. My computer crashed. I started a new (temp) job that I don't particularly like. I lost a friendship that meant a lot to me. Dealing with each one of these things in turn has been a complicated multi-step process that more often than not has been met with failure and frustration. I know it's going to get better soon. In the meantime, I've been trying to find good in every day. Here's a few things that I've come up:

1. Meeting Janelle for lunch on Tuesday
2. Not having to be homeless and sleep outside in a sleeping bag in the rain
3. My bus driver who decided to announce every insignificant location that we went by: "Ballard: Fred Meyer, Trader Joe's, LA fitness, Jack-in-the-Box..." Made me smile.
4. Going back to WSHA and having everyone be excited to see me
5. Accidentally overhearing a bathroom conversation about me, which included comments like "She's really sharp. Apparently everyone loves her."
6. Talking to my mom
7. Not being in Haiti right now. Wow, when I compare my problems to that, they seem so insignificant.

So, to top off my lovely week, I got a letter from unemployment security with questions about my "self-employment" (meaning the 2 or so hours of contract data entry that I was honest and noted when I filed my weekly claim.) They barely gave me any time to send it in before they were going to come after me for "overpayment" so I realized today that it would be necessary to call them today because the form was due today, but it confused me so I hadn't sent it in.

Anyway, calling them is a NIGHTMARE and you usually end up on hold for 30 minutes to an hour. Well I called on my lunch break and their call volume was so high that the recording would just apologize, tell me to call back later, and hang up on me--wouldn't even put me on hold. Called back a few times, tried dialing 0, but still couldn't get through. This is completely unacceptable. I actually have a job this week (which is what you WANT, right unemployment?) so I can't spend all day calling them.

Then I remembered this magazine article that I read once about how to get ahold of a live person. One way is to mention a compenetitor's name while you're on hold because apparently many companies record you and will get to your call sooner if they think they'll lose your business. Another way to get their attention is to start cussing. Option one didn't apply. Option two would be hard to get away with in a professional office. But another option was to just start pressing buttons to confuse the system into thinking you're dialing from a rotary phone. So I called them back and at the first menu, I started pressing as many buttons as possible. I got some garbled dialogue out of the recording and then bingo! IT PUT ME ON HOLD! Woo! And then about 5-10 minutes later, I GOT A LIVE PERSON! I BEAT THE SYSTEM!