...I was taught that if I didn't have anything nice to say then I shouldn't say anything at all. However (and sorry mom and dad) I'm going to say it all. My goodness does life move VERY SLOW here. Everyone is slow. They talk slow, drive slow, eat slow, and do business slow. It's enough to drive any sane person crazy! Pete remarked that it feels as if we are in a completely different country. One where all of the normal rules and applications that we are used to do not exist. We've been keeping a mental note to sort of share some of the things we have experienced here.
Example 1: Time Warner Cable. Even as only typing those words I am frowning. I will NEVER, NEVER, NEVER use them again. The first problem we encountered was THREE weeks ago as we were first setting things up here. We called to schedule service and at first it seemed to be okay. We are in a new house so they have never serviced our home before. They informed us that they must enter our address into their system which takes about 5 to 7 working days. This was strange to us but we went with it. I called back 7 days later and was told that our address had not been put in the system. Okay, this was annoying but people make mistakes. I went ahead and had them do it again and waited two days before calling to check on the status. I was again told that they had no record of our address even being entered. At this point I am beginning to get really irritated. I demanded a reference number and was given one. The next day Pete called and gave them our reference number and I'm sure you can guess what happened next...THEY HAD NO RECORD OF ANYTHING NOT EVEN THE STUPID REFERENCE NUMBER! Needless to say we're now livid and irritated with the whole place. We decided to forget Time Warner and see who else we could get. I looked up some places in the phone book and Pete proceeded to call. The problems was that not a single stupid, redneck business answered their telephones. Grrrrr. Seriously it was just ridiculous at this point. On Monday we decided to go personally into Time Warner and see if we could just get it done there. We got a little further...sort of...the ignorant jackass behind the counter had a very difficult time getting it to put in a service call with our address. I'm not sure why, and was so frustrated that when he looked at me and told me it would be yet another 7 days before they could do anything, I just burst into tears. I also began to talk(okay rant), and talk(rant), and talk(rant) and most of it was not flattering to any person in that office. I had just reached my limit and was OVER being in a stupid small town with limited options. Wonder of wonders, tears did the trick and they miraculously were able to get someone out in two days to do the cable and Internet, but it would still be 7 days for the phone. (Again, don't know why considering it all runs from the same cable and when the guy came today he set up everything for the phone just short of activating it...see...small town rednecks.)
Example 2: The Library. Since we were having all of this trouble getting Internet and I need it to do my school work, we decided to try the library. It is actually a really nice facility with a cute children's area and many computers hooked up with Internet. I was surprised and impressed. I went up to the librarian to see about getting a library card and was flabbergasted by the requirements. I'm not sure you guys are ready to hear them because they are so laughably small town you might not believe me. I need to have the normal basics-proof of residency, but after that it gets stupid. I need to have two personal references that are local. Ummm...dumb redneck...I just told you that I was new in town. How on earth could I know two people?! How about I use my husband...nope can't use him...okay...well...then I guess I can't get a library card. This seems small, but added up to all of the nonsense with Time Warner, I was so frustrated. Luckily I could still use the Internet (only for an hour) without a library card, and did so to get my school work finished.
Example 3: The Trash. Oh what a pain in the butt this one has been. The local trash people will not take boxes (even broken down) unless they are in a garbage bag?!
WTF! So...you see...they will gladly take our boxes as long as they are put in a nice trash bag. Even though said garbage bag is square and in the shape of the boxes. Yeah...figure out that one for me. It's one that irritates Pete to no end. In fact, he was so frustrated yesterday that he went out there to talk to the trash guys. He had just finished working out, so his tattoos were showing and he looked a little mean. Those trash men looked terrified and unfortunately they probably had reason to look that way. Pete was so upset I was waiting by the door with Pres in my arms in case I needed to bring out the little guy to calm down daddy. I think my poor hubby finally reached his own personal stupidity limit and was having his talk (rant!) time. It ended with the trash guys saying that they will come back later for the boxes, so I am assuming that Pete made his point loud and clear.
Despite saying
"stupid redneck" more in the past week than I have in my life, we are really loving our new home. It is spacious and roomy and the huge backyard has limitless possibilities. I personally am loving have a Commissary to shop at again and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE all of the yummy world wide variety they have. How many grocery stores can you go to and see Korean pilots shopping in the Asian section of the super market?! It was really cool to see that they were there AND that they were able to fill their carts with all of the exotic selections. It is like a bigger and more worldly Publix (although still not quite a Wegmans) and it is a nice treat.
Yesterday we drove the 45 minutes to Dothan which is the closest bigger town. We were delighted to find all of our favorite stores and enjoyed picking up the things that we needed. It's a little strange to have to plan to trip to go shopping, but it was a nice family outing.
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