My Dad

Today I had the immense privilege of hosting my first (hopefully of many) visitors.  That is, visitors that do not have the last name of Brown and thus do not really count as visitors.:o)  Today my dad, mom, sister, and my sister's fiancé all came to see my new place and go out to dinner.  It was so fun to see them, and since they all heartily approved of my new place they have been invited back!  We went to Wahoo's Fish Tacos for dinner (all I can say is if you haven't been: go!) and then came back to my place for brownies, ice cream, and coffee.  It was my first opportunity to use my oven, so quite the momentous occasion!

The most interesting part of the visit, however, was my dad's assistance with the evil non-user friendly corporation known as Verizon.  Now let me state for the record that I have had a Verizon cell phone for years and constantly recommend it to all my friends (mostly because I want to be able to talk to them for free within the network:o).  But...my experience with their land line/internet service has not been the same.  I'll spare you most of the long, boring details and just say that I have lost track of the number of times I have talked to them, gotten different answers, and waited on hold for over 45 minutes.  As of yesterday I would have said the most annoying part of the whole thing has been still not having internet two weeks later, but then today I opened my mail and found a bill for $230.  Say what?  You want me to send to you a check for $230 for internet and phone service I don't have?  Enter my dad.  My dad is amazing.  In so many ways really.  One of those ways is his ability to navigate the world of "consumer."  He can purchase things for far less than anyone I know by pointing out a blemish or problem or somehow haggling with them, but does it in a way that the person selling it to him feels that it was a terrific sale and probably adds him to their Christmas card list.  No, I'm not exaggerating.

It's incredible really, and sadly not a trait I inherited.  I'm more of the, "What's that?  You want to rip me off and sell me that broken item for much more than it's really worth?  Ok, but can't I pay you a little more for it?"  Really.  I'm bad at it.  If you'll recall, the only reason I am paying less than the listed price for my apartment is because Becky was there when I applied.  Anyway, when I opened the bill I panicked.  I called Becky and Justin who were super helpful and supportive and told me to call Verizon right away.  Then I happened to talk to my dad to give him directions to my apartment and mentioned it to him.  He offered to help and given his history, how could I refuse?  He actually sat on the phone for close to 2 hours, and they have now dropped all of those charges and are billing me less per month for my service.  And I'm related to him - by birth!  I also have to point out that the rest of my family was so gracious, and didn't complain about going to dinner far after the time we had planned.  Kate made a few noises when she realized Wahoo's was going to close (which is reasonable considering how amazing their fish tacos are!), but they were just as gracious about eating late as they were about sitting on the floor to eat dessert.  Oh family, aren't they just wonderful?