What really grinds my gears

Does America, in fact, "got" talent? Was the season finale of "True Blood" spectacular? I really couldn't tell you.

It has been many months since I have written a "What Really Grinds My Gears" blurb, but I'm feeling sufficiently enraged today. There's nothing like ludicrously bad customer service to make your head nearly explode.

I was moving, and as I thoroughly enjoy my cable television, an installation appointment through a new (hopefully better) provider was set up two weeks in advance. Calls were made to confirm. Forty-five minutes after the scheduled window of time (don't you love that? Surely, I have nothing else to do for several hours on a weekday), we were called and told they had to reschedule. The appointment was now set up for Saturday; it was confirmed. This time, they were a total no-show. Several calls were made to set up a new appointment; there was nothing available until Tuesday morning. Finally, someone came on Tuesday as scheduled. He decided the job was "too complicated," and left without doing a thing.

I found this funny - an hour before the technician arrived, I received an email from the company promising me they would do anything they could to make up for the poor service provided so far. I suppose they meant anything except actually installing the cable.

I've never experienced anything quite like this.

Instead of scheduling a fourth appointment, we went elsewhere. They managed the seemingly impossible: showing up and completing the job. Who knew that was so hard to find?