As many of you may have see on Facebook, I have spent an inordinate time on the phone in the last few days with the EDD, who supplies me with my deeply appreciated unemployment checks. But the thing is, it has been a couple of months since they have done so, which means I have been having to bother them on and off about the location of my missing funds. So here's the story: yesterday, I spent a good hour plus on the phone, trying to maneuver my way around the various touchtone menus, doing everything I could to figure out a way to get a hold of a real live person. Having failed at my valiant attempts, I had to send yet another terse yet understanding email stating my problems.
In the past, sending emails has been a slow and gradual process - you send an email, and you get a response a few days later telling you that you either need to call, or that you will receive a letter informing you of a phone interview. Yes, it's the most absurdly roundabout thing: to send an email and get a letter in reply about a phone call that will happen in the future. Still, that's how it usually goes.
Today, apparently, was the exception. In response to an email, I get a phone call.
At seven thirty.
In the fucking morning.
Seven.
Thirty.
A.
M.
I pose this to you, gentle readers: what unemployed person in their right mind is up for funzies and wanting to talk on the phone at seven thirty in the morning? Who in the devil thinks it's okay to call much of anybody at 7:30 in the a.m. unless it's an emergency? Would you call someone for any reason, personal acquaintance or business associate, on their cell phone at 7:30 in the morning? Didn't think so. Now don't jump to the whole "maybe they're on the East Coast" idea - it's a California-only call center for a California-based government body. What also kills me is that they say "sorry you missed our call, we'll call again later." What they don't mention is that "later" is, from my two or three experiences with missed calls, two minutes later.
Now, think of it this way: if someone didn't pick up their phone when you called, do you really think you have the slightest chance of them picking up two minutes later? Maybe at 7:30 in the morning, I would be semi-consciously stumbling out of bed and not make it to the phone in time, but seriously? Two minutes?
But back to the matter at hand. Two phone calls. 7:30 and 7:32 a.m. To an unemployed person. It's like they are trying to aggravate me. As a matter of fact, despite the fact that I was running on about four or five hours' sleep, I stayed awake. I was so worked up at the sheer gall they had that I couldn't have fallen back to sleep if I tried. So I wrote them an email. I said I was awake and would be for the rest of the day, and sure enough, I got a call back within maybe forty five minutes. The guy on the phone was both pleasant and apologetic; he said "Sorry we woke you up this morning, I probably would have gotten a different response had we called at eleven." To which I assured the gent that they could have called at one or two in the afternoon and I'd probably have still been asleep, though probably considerably more coherent.
Yes, I know that I keep incredibly peculiar hours. Yes, I recognize that normal people don't sleep through the lunch hour. Still - am I wrong? It is not the slightest bit strange for someone to get a call like that so early in the morning? Has the whole world gone crazy with this "get a jump start on your day" thing? Let me know what you think.
