Technology and Old(er) People...

My mom is normally a very sharp person. She has a Bachelor's Degree, she is versatile, witty and pretty quick to grasp things. However, when it comes to very basic technology, she suddenly becomes...weird? She acts funny as if she never really wants to learn this stuff yet, she has to at least a little bit.

Her cell phone was one of those fool proof archaic ones and she absolutely loved it till it broke down lately. So, my thoughtful sister gave her, her old Samsung phone. It is a touch phone and it is smart. My mom? Not very much so... She is getting used to the phone reaaaaalllllyyyyy slooooooooowly...

She bought a new TV (smart) this year and her cable service had to be upgraded. However the idiot who went to bring the new box and take the old one out screwed up big time and she ended up having two subscriptions with some period commitments. If you cancel either of the subscriptions, there is a penalty. Mom of course did not realize this when the installation was being done. I pay for that service and when I saw two charges on my credit card, I inquired about it and found out the whole stupidity.

I had to call the cable company and pretend that I was mom because they want to talk to the member only and mom wants none of this mess. I was on the phone for several minutes and finally got the cable company understand that there has been a mistake and that it was not on our side.They told me they would take care of it and then they would inform me. I called mom and told her what has passed and told her that she would soon receive a call as to whether the problem was fixed or not. Did she listen to me? I thought she did but, apparently I was wrong. So, when the company called her up to inquire further about the membership numbers, she told them the problem was fixed! Why? Because, I took charge and talked to the cable company and for her that was it. So, a month later, I found out that the problem still existed, called the cable company twice again pretending to be mom and re-do the whole "it wasn't our fault so why penalize us?" thing.

I gave them my number and took hers out of the cable company's system but, her home phone cannot be erased. So, I called her up again told her what was going on twice and told her if she ever receives a call she should NOT tell that the problem is gone. Ahhhhhh! I feel tired. Such a simple problem yet it requires so much talking and re-addressing.....