Amateur Accountants
So I know that the whole point of this LJ exercise is to not ever write anything of any clear value, ever. For me, I mean. You gotta write about what you gotta write about, and far be it from me to judge (though I reserve the right to chide or mock at any time).

Here I will share some of this "reality" business with what's been going down over in AO-land, strictly because it's so patently absurd that no comedian could outstrip it.

You probably have not noticed my absence, for I am quiet and discrete like that. The absence has been real, however, and forced upon me over the last few weeks. We'll call this "ISP Shenanigans."

For the last few years, I have made use of a certain, small ISP in this city, which promissed a superior service. It being a small company, it appeals to my fierce independant bullshit personality.

Over the last few years, they'd often not bill me. Surprisingly, this wasn't because they valued me so much, but simply because they forgot. Rather than admit they'd forgotten, they'd come up with some sort of lame, "Oh, we tried to call you and see what was going on," or, "Your bank wasn't working," excuse, but only after they'd terminate my service and I had to call in to see what the hell was going on.

Still, you know, they were giving me free service, even if it wasn't the most reliable, went down at random intervals and then would get arbitrarily cut because they'd forgotten to bill me. I was okay with that. The last disconnect, however, was from them stating I hadn't paid them (no surprise) but they had, in fact, remembered to bill me; I was looking at my electronic bank statement while talking to them. Accounting errors are only to be tolerated if they benefit me!

And, really, an ISP with randomly disconnecting service and accounting errors really doesn't need my support; my name should only be attached to the cool and competent, that sort of thing.

Now, back to the irregularily-scheduled wacky hijinks.