There Is No Such Thing as a Carefree Retirement
When we retired, it took awhile to relax and get into daily low-stress routines. Well, that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
Finally, we can now relax with our morning coffee as we plan our day of light activity. That can include lots of small ongoing projects, like a jigsaw puzzle. Find a piece that fits, claim victory and move on to something else. I can mow my yard and claim victory for a whole day.
The problem with that is, despite our best efforts, we still need to plan around all the other stuff that interrupts our lives like doctor and dental appointments. At least those can be scheduled and put on the calendar. It’s the sudden, unplanned events that can ruin a perfectly good day. They require energy and focus that can be hard to find in the midst of scrolling through online news.
We had a day like that recently. It started with my altruistic efforts at paying it forward. I had volunteered to be part of a Mayo Precure study which involves creating a library of specimens. The data from testing those specimens will help Mayo better predict and treat all sorts of diseases and ailments. Those specimens are just what you’re thinking they are. And collecting them was a very engaging process. I wonder what Mayo’s AI tools will have to say about me. I’ll never know.
After dropping off the special shipping container at the Walgreen’s Fed Ex desk, all I had left on my schedule was to replace the tube in my bike’s front tire. My brother Warren stopped by to help since he knows about such things. I think I can do it myself next time but I would still take it to a local bike shop if we had one.
The Day Goes South
My day was progressing well. All that was left was grocery shopping. Then my phone rang. It was Verizon customer service.
“Sir, did you just order an iPhone, an Apple Watch and an iPad from Missouri?”
“Ah, no, I definitely did not.”
There was a lot typing and waiting while their computer system opened a case. I was assured I would not be charged for them and even was sent an email stating that.
I had gone through this kind of thing a couple times before with credit cards. They canceled the old card and mailed a new one. The hassle was that I had to change the autopays that used that card. But then I was done. This should be like that, right?
Nope. They were able to cancel two of the items but the iPad had already shipped. So while they were working with the shipper, they had me log in to my Verizon account to change the shipping address of the iPad to my house so at least it wouldn’t go to the bad guy. I had to go through a number of hoops to do this including using a temporary password and texted code verifications.
Just the Facts, Ma’am
Since this was taking awhile, Catherine went grocery shopping without me. On the way she received a call from Verizon’s fraud investigation team who noticed my sudden change of shipping address. They called Catherine because her name is on our joint Verizon account. Catherine told them what I was doing but they could see no evidence of another team working with me. That’s because the new case hadn’t gone through yet. But neither Catherine nor the agent knew that.
Still talking with the investigator, she suddenly thought I might be dealing with a scammer. She turned the car around and started racing back home – just in time to get tagged for speeding on Pioneer Road.
“Oh, no! I’m being pulled over!” Catherine said to the investigator on the phone. She pulled over going up steep Hennings Avenue. Then they had to wait as two garbage trucks passed by each other.
When the officer approached the car, Catherine tried to explain. She asked the agent to say hello as proof.
“Good morning, officer,” the voice on the phone said. The officer let Catherine go.
Back at home we ended up with our two phones facing each other trying to get the two Verizon agents to talk to each other. It didn’t work. We eventually sided with customer service and everything turned out fine. Verizon is giving us a token credit for being inconvenienced.
Catherine reminded me that it was a full moon.