cogeco
tender_square
i
swear
they
make
connecting
with
an
actual
human
through
telephone
impossible
.
the
wait
time
was
supposed
to
be
10
minutes
.
i
had
to
sit
through
a
shitty rendition
of
"
f
ür elise"
on
a
repetitive loop
for
twenty
minutes
that
made
me
want
to
kill
myself
.
i
pressed
zero
to
no
avail.
pressing
one
finally
prompted
a
call
back
when
they
were
ready
,
some
fifteen
minutes
beyond
what
had
already
elapsed. brenda
could
not
find
my
account
by
my
new
phone
number
.
or
my
old
phone
number
.
or
my
address
.
or
my
last
name
.
i
was
blocks
away
from
home
with
no
access
to
the
account
number
. "
you're
making
it
incredibly
hard
for
me
to
cancel
services
right
now
!"
i
whined. brenda apologized
for
not
being
able
to
find
me
in
the
system. "
can
i
go
to
a
physical
store
and
do
this
?"
i
asked
. brenda
said
i
could
,
and
suggested
i
bring
the
modem
in
tow,
so
i
wouldn't
have
to
make
a
second
trip
. "
that
actually
is
very
helpful.
i'm
sorry
for
taking
out
my
frustrations
on
you
;
i
know
it's
not
you
,
it's
the
systems
you
work
with
,
the
company
you
work
for
."
230906
...
raze
back
when
i
still
watched
tv
,
they
gave
me
this
flat
black
wafer
of
a
box
.
i
sat
it
down
on
top
of
the
bigger
beige
box
that
lit
up
and
made
things
move
.
it
wasn't
anything
like
the
five
hundred channels
my
mother
and
stepfather
had
access
to
once
ron
hooked
them
up
with
an
illegal satellite
feed
,
with
the
kinky
stuff
hidden
where
the
kids
couldn't
find
it
.
but
i
had
movies
and
sports
packages
and
random
things
to
bolster
the
basic cable.
something
happened
to
fry
the
signal
somewhere
along
the
line
.
a
woman
who
looked
about
as
young
as
i
was
then
came
over
to
fix
it
.
i
can
still
see
her
face
.
or
maybe
what
i'm
seeing
is
the
face
of
an
actress
whose
name
i
can't
remember
superimposed
over
the
features
of
the
girl
who
killed
the
guy
i
tried
to
connect
with
at
my
first
post
-high
school
job
.
she
was
nice
enough
.
the
whole
time
she
was
in
my
room
,
i
kept
thinking
, "
i'm
a
grown
man
with
stuffed
animals
on
my
bookshelf.
what
must
she
think
of
me
?"
i've
got
so
many
more
now
.
and
that
black
box
is
long
gone
.
and
i
haven't
turned
my
tv
on
in
three
or
four
years
.
230906
what's it to you?
who
go
blather
from
