I swear I will quit next year

Once again Cingular has failed me. I dropped my phone just one damn too many times and the screen is now black. My husband wonders how I can possibly still use it? Uh, it's kind of like a "regular" phone now, I can't see who is calling me. But no worries. After my husband and I managed to lose or break 2 phones each in the past year we got insurance. So I race up to the store that was helpful last year when I sunk into the depths of cell phone hell, and they confirmed my insurance, but said I had to order the new phone on the phone. I call on the way back, get on hold almost the whole way - then of course I didn't follow the "don't call from the cell phone you are calling about rule" and had to call back. I should have realized this would not be easy when she lied about closing at 10pm (it's 9pm in case you are wondering, and I checked she was in the same timezone).

I call back the next day to find out I've been paying for ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE, not insurance. And nothing at all for my husband. Egads! I know, I should check my bill, but with online payments who does that? I did the occasional phone call audits when the bill seemed high, and when I expensed it, but never checked that little area. It's not even on the online bill version. What's funny is I called the store and they claim they weren't even the ones that set up my account. "We don't anyone by that name working here" was their reply when they looked me up and saw the name on the records. So glad to know if AAA fails me I've got Cingular at my back.

What the heck is phone roadside assistance anyway? When you're phone breaks on the road? Help, my phone stopped working! Last time I needed a new phone with like 23 1/2 months left on my contract I managed to buy a phone online through my company discount, without any sort of new contract. I think it was a mistake though as that feature no longer works. And I was a little afraid anyway, as last time I did that I managed to create a software bug in my account that took like 3 weeks to even figure out that there was a problem, then another 3 weeks for their technicians to fix. We had to get new numbers, new contracts, pay all sorts of fees and then ended up getting our old numbers back. My kids sure had fun hanging out in the stores, though. One lesson learned as well, never ever go to an "authorized retailer" - company store only!

So it's back to eBay to get a new one. I hadn't realized you could get a "Sony Walkman" phone. I'm imagining my first walkman, big and yellow and played cassettes. I just can't get my mind around Walkman's playing anything but cassettes, or maybe CDs. That would make a pretty wicked phone.

Every time my contract is up I want to quit, but they suck me in with cool phones and promises of better service (and the Belmont store guy did have about 3x the brain anyone else I talked to had). And I also get a company discount, so I'm stuck for a while.