Time Warner does not have my number

The day my gas was finally turned on was the same day Time Warner came to install my cable. I think I could have lived without cable longer had it not been NFL/NASCAR season. Those two sports just do not translate well onto radio. Besides, the new season of 'Biggest Loser' (my guilty pleasure) just started and the new season of "Project Runway" (my not-so-guilty pleasure) is soon to. But what was really making me tear my hair out was not having Internet. I'm addicted - I admit it. I had resorted to using my BlackJack as a modem. Never for very long though because I feared AT&Ts fees.

I had asked for an install time between 2 and 6 PM. I got back to my apartment at 1:30 but I figured that come 5:30 PM I'd have to call Time Warner and ask where their guy was. That's been my experience with Comcast and Cablevision. Not so though. At 3 PM the installation guy called and asked if I was home now. Now? As opposed to when exactly? Turns out he'd come by at 1:45 PM but I never answered the buzzer. Odd, because I was there. But whatever. I was so excited that the cable guy was actually coming during his appointed window!

But wait, there's more. I had called my non-Super the night before to inform that the cable guy was coming between 2 and 6 and might need access to the roof or basement of our building. Because weirdly though my apartment had just been renovated there was no cable jack. In any event, my non-Super arranged to have the roof and basement doors left unlocked.

So the cable guy comes and sure enough he wants to go into the basement. But the door is now locked. I called my non-Super, who gets mad at me and says they locked the doors because the cable guy came by earlier and I wasn't there! What??!? So my non-Super is mad because the cable guy came early and no one thought to call me? Not to mention the fact that I was in my apartment at the time the cable guy first came. So they locked the doors? It boggles the mind.

I had to beg the cable guy to stay while the non-Super made some calls. The cable guy searched my backyard and found a line he thought might be active. It was, so he started hooking me up. Then he discovered he needed to get on the roof. Soon after a guy came by and opened the roof. I found out this guy was the Super. The actual Super! We hung out on the roof while the cable guy did what he had to do and then it was back to my apartment.

My little old 19" CRT was soon aglow with digital cable and my modem happily blinked green for internet. I hooked up my router, the cable guy checked my VOIP phone line and that was that. I asked for my phone number and he told me it would be on my receipt. I soon discovered why - I had requested a 212 number but had been assigned a 646. Lame.

I called Time Warner immediately, and got the spiel about how 212 numbers are so rare nowadays and there are hardly any left. Then they said that even if they did find one it would be a $100 fee to change the number. I got mad and requested a supervisor. I held on the line for 30 MINUTES before finally being connected to one. I explained the situation again. He said he'd look for me and call me back in 2 hours. No promises, he said, but he would give me a call either way. One week later I'm still waiting for that call. Thanks Time Warner!

All this has made me realize that I'm never moving again until I'm rich beyond belief. Everything is a hassle and it's making me pretty whiny. I kind of wish I'd stuck to my guns and waited for a doorman building. Although my friend L lives in a doorman building and has an equally miserable time getting things fixed. Maybe there is no winning.