The Cellar - Seriousness That Changed You

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- - Seriousness That Changed You (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=3542)

Bryan is my younger son, I was engaged to his father (the guitarist in the band I was in) and found out I was pregnant. Had Bryan and then realized that his father was an alcoholic, so I gave him a choice: us or the booze. He picked the booze. I moved in with my friend, and then got my own apt. and started college full time. Now that Dave has Bryan, this is the first time I've not been with him. David is the only father he's ever known, so he's completely comfortable with him. (I married Dave when Bryan was 15 months old.)

A couple of years ago, Dave had a roommate, named Bambi. She had two kids, but only Piggy was there at the time, and she was about 4 so she didn't really mind. He doesn't have a girlfriend or anything now.

I'm curious. Is it really a good idea to hang a handle like piggy on a kid. I wonder if other kids would seize that and tease her. Also for a little kid it's cute but at what age does it become a liability. I have no clue so I wonder what you think. :confused:

Well, only 3 people call her Piggy. Me, and her brothers. She advised her father once, "Daddy, my name is Victoria." I tried to call her Victoria and was quickly advised, "Mama, you call me Piglet." I think she's got a handle on it.

      My own girl-child did something similar when she was four, I think. I called her by name and she, in an accusatory voice, said, "Daddy, you're supposed to call me 'Daughter'." So it's been ever since, she's either 'Daughter' or 'girl-child'.
      Once her mom asked if she was also supposed to call the kid 'Daughter' and the girl says, "No, only my Daddy has to call me that."
      She did relent and tell her mom she could call her 'Daughter' if she really wanted to. I think she was just being kind because her mom acted a bit taken back by her response though.

Kids have their own take on things. I read today where a second grader asked the teacher if she could use the phone to call her Mom. Questioning by the teacher revealed the girl had forgotten her coat at school the day before. The mother told the kid that morning to find her coat and not to come home without it. She couldn't find the coat and wanted to call her Mom and ask where she should go. :)

Found a more recent pic of the kids. It's a great one of the kids, but I look horrible. Or maybe I really look like this and I just have to accept that. Anyway, here it is.

http://members.cox.net/onyxcougar/meandkids1.jpg

God you guys are so cute. And Onyx - I think you look beautiful!

*blush* thanks. If there is one thing in this world I did well, I made good lookin babies.

You are good looking yourself!!! Give yourself some credit girl!!!

Actually - I have a friend that could be your twin. Its kinda eerie.

I'm posting this here because it's directly related.

[background]
I work at a major Cable Company and live in a largely rural portion of a Southern State. If you were a subscriber on a particular plan, you got 4 channels of HBO, 2 channels of Cinemax and 1 channel of Showtime for $19.95 a month + cost of the analog box ($2.00).

In November, we sent out a flyer that told the customers that we were removing 2 of the HBO channels and 1 of the Cinemax channels from the analog lineup to make room for 17 new digital channels, and offered a month of free service if they upgraded to Digital. If they kept the same premiums, they'd get 8 channels of HBO, 7 channels of Cinemax and 7 channels of Showtime for $5.95 more a month, plus they'd get the digital services like 45 music channels, 32 PPV channels and the interactive program guide and a free "Christian" Tier for free until the end of January.

The change took place last Wednesday.[/background]

Last call of the night. Female customer calls in to inquire why she wasn't getting three of her package channels. I explained the above. After looking at her account, I noticed she already has digital on one TV, and two additional analog boxes, which lost the 3 channels.

She asked if we were reducing her bill, and I explained no, because HBO charges us per subscriber, not per screen, and for $11.50 a month, she was getting 8 HBO channels on digital and 2 on each of her analog boxes. I explained that if she wanted all 8 HBO channels, she would have to pay for the additional digital boxes, which, after she turns in her analog boxes, comes out to $3.95 more each box per month. So for $7.90 a month, she'll net about 38 channels on her digital service, not to mention she gets all the other digital channels SHE'S ALREADY PAYING FOR on all three of her TV's for that same $7.90 more.

She asked me if I liked being a rapist.

The question stopped me cold. I said, "What?" She said, "How can you look at yourself in the mirror at night knowing that you're helping [company] rape people?" I told her that is NOT the case, and she said, "Oh yes it is. You're forcing me to upgrade my analog boxes to digital if I want those 2 channels of HBO that you took. Those boxes aren't free."

I said, "We're not forcing you to do anything. If you want to upgrade those boxes to digital, you can. If you don't want to, you don't have to. You get those channels on the digital box you already have."

"But if I want those channels on my other box, I have to go digital."

"That's right."

"So you're forcing me to do something against my will. That's rape."

At this point, I started to get upset. I've been raped, and let me tell you, this is not what being raped is. I said, "Ma'am, no one is FORCING you to have Cable Television. You choose to have Cable, you choose to have HBO, you choose to have this service. This is what we have, I'm sorry if it's changed, it's in every paper you signed and every bill you get that we can change service without notice. If you don't like our service, or don't feel the value of our service is worth the money, cancel."

What I wanted to say was, "Look bitch. If you want to feel what "raped" is, I can see if a man will come over to your house, tie you up to your bed and fuck you repeatedly with a K-bar knife and leave you for dead. And I won't even make you pay for it."

But I didn't.

I signed out, and went home and cried in my husband's arms instead.

I you feel frustrated how do you think we(subscribers) feel. They keep raising the rates and adding bullshit while taking away things we want. Actually they use the increases to stifle competition. :(

I understand how they feel, but regardless of what the company does or the policies it makes, it's NOT ok to call the person on the phone a rapist.

I thought about this story all morning. It really bugs me.

I don't know the right answer and I don't think there is one. I think we are in a fractured, broken society in many ways.

This is what bugged me about dave, because he saw fit to be harsh on people and felt it was playful. No, it's only playful if the person on the receiving end thinks it is, and sometimes you can't tell.

I think we have less and less in common as people, and so we have fewer taboos, fewer lines that aren't to be crossed and we don't see how that affects us.

The bitch was out of line, purely. I can understand her frustration and confusion, but things change, and you gotta change with them or do without them.

Our cable bill is astronomical, because we have *everything* they offer. RoadRunner, all digital services, a digital box on four TVs and a DVR/cable box on another, and all premium channels. But no one forced us to do that. We did it because we love and use the services. We have five people in our home right now, and it takes a lot of diversity (and a lot of bandwidth) to satisfy everyone. We pay for that, and we know it.

If I *did* have a complaint, though, I'd never resort to calling a customer service person names, especially not those referring to them as violent criminals.

The word "rape" is so vulgar and ugly to me, that I could only use it in certain connotations/situations.

Getting screwed by the cable company? Absolutely. Taking it up the ass from the cable company? Sure. Raped? Nah...it ain't THAT bad. You don't like your cable, go with a dish or go without.