Breathed some new life into days-old leftovers - just a spritz of cooking spray and a few minutes under the broiler and they were good as new.
Had my water and electricity turned off and back on again since I last posted. How sad is it that this has become completely normal in my life?? You don’t know how far you’ve fallen until you’ve sat alone in a dark apartment eating melting ice cream. Sigh.
On the positive side of things, I managed to finagle my way into a free iPhone!! I’ve wanted one foryearsbut could obviously never afford it. While the friend that I mentioned before was in town, her brother and I were chatting and, while I expressed my extreme jealousy over his iPhone, he informed me that AT&T was giving them away for free with a new contract or a 2-year renewal. So I went onto the website to double-check, thinking there was no way I wouldn’t be eligible for this deal, when the site smacks me back to reality by informing me that the “deal” I qualified for was $475.
So I called AT&T. Turns out, if your service has been shut off for nonpayment several times (which it has, duh, because I’m broke) they move your renewal date back. So they were trying to tell me I wouldn’t be eligible for any sort of upgrade deals until the summer.
Um, I don’t think so. If there’s one life skill I’ve picked up from my mother, it’s how to argue effectively with retailers. I mean I’ve been a customer for the last 6.5 years, only ever owned 3 phones in my life, and at the end of the day they make money off of me every time they shut my phone off, because they charge me a reconnection fee. So, an hour and a half later, I finally got a supervisor to approve me for the free iPhone.
Turns out, that was only half the battle. Since the woman I was talking to was approving all of this under much duress and against multiple company policies, the phone was going to need to be shipped from their facility, versus me picking one up at a local store. Which meant a shipping fee. However, my bank account was, as usual, empty. She agreed to call me back in a few days when my paycheck had gone through, but even with that money (and I didn’t know what the exact amount was going to be) I was still going to be short. So, I thought I’d try a cash advance from Amscot.
Now, a few months ago I had also been considering a cash advance, and had called them asking what I needed. I was told a blank check and a copy of my last paystub. I explained that I do direct deposit, and that I haven’t used checks in the last like 5 years, so they said that in lieu of that, they’d accept a printout of my bank account activity, and a withdrawal slip. I didn’t end up getting an advance at the time I called, I’ve always managed to pull something out of my ass at the last minute, but now I was desperate, knowing if I didn’t get this iPhone deal now I never would.
So cut to me showing up at Amscot yesterday with a printout of my account activity and a withdrawal slip, only to be told they can’t accept withdrawal slips, ithasto be a check. Seriously, who the fuck even has checks anymore?? The cashier tells me Chase will sell single checks for a few dollars. I scrounge up some of my laundry quarters and go back to the bank, where I am politely informed that they cannot sell me a check if my account is negative, because technically I have nothing to write a check against. I’m about to lose it at this point when the girl calls over her manager to ask if there’s any way to make an exception.
Well this turns out to be the same guy who gave me my account activity printout just about half an hour earlier. I explained to him what I was trying to do, and he shot me a worried look, saying he really didn’t want me to have to resort to Amscot, because they really rip you off. He says he’ll see what he can do…ends up reversing several overdraft fees, basically giving me $120! He is definitely my favorite person right now.
So check cleared and I ended up $80 in the black, iPhone order has been processed and shipped. A lot of frustration over the last few days, but in the end totally worth it.
