Since retiring it seems like I spend a lot of time waiting. Maybe it’s more noticeable now because I have more time to wait than I did when I was working. It’s not that I enjoy waiting. Sitting idly waiting for anything can feel like a big waste of time. There are some things you might find yourself waiting for that are unavoidable, like my call to the I.R.S. last week when I waited two hours and never talked to another human being. I’ve called every day and have yet to resolve the issue they sent me a letter about. Another example was when I called a car rental company to rent a car for my upcoming visit to Minnesota – I’m coming back home to play some golf with the guys I golfed with for nearly 40 years. I will also be doing some visiting, but the time I’ll have will be short, so my visits will be short too. I had seen the same car I was going to rent on a road one day and it made me wonder if I’d be able to fit my golf clubs anywhere in that size car. I had made the reservations online, but couldn’t figure out where to cancel the reservation since I had found a larger SUV for less money from a different company. I made a phone call and waited at least a half hour until a person with a very heavy Indian accent came on the phone. After I explained that I wanted to cancel my reservation I was told they would need my credit card to cancel since I booked through a third party and there was a $50 fee involved with the cancellation. I tried my best to get the person on the other end of the phone connection to let me speak to his supervisor and all he did was hang up on me. I had booked my airline tickets through Sun Country Airlines and booked the car rental at the same time, so I decided I’d try calling the airline to see if I could cancel the reservation. That call required more waiting. Once I was able to speak to a person I learned that since it had been more than 24 hours since I had reserved the car I couldn’t get my money back unless I accepted a voucher from the airline. I still don’t understand the problem since I had called more than a month ahead of my arrival date and that should have given the car rental company ample time to re-rent the car I wanted to cancel. I voiced my opinion to the lady representing the airline and told her if they couldn’t refund my money I would be checking other airlines any time I needed to fly in the future. She told me she would check with her supervisor, but warned that it was extremely rare that they would change their policy. You guessed it, more waiting. When the company rep got back to talking to me she told me she was sorry, but the only thing the company would do is issue a company voucher – and it had to be used before April 25, 2025. After a very disgusting time of waiting for answers, I figured I’d be happier if I ended up giving in and keeping the car I had originally reserved and then I contacted the second car rental company to cancel and get those charges refunded since that reservation was made that very same day. I figured I was going to be better off trying my best to get my golf clubs (inside a club-carrying case) into the car I had rented in the first place. What I learned was this: 1) shop around a lot before you rent a car. 2) no matter where you make your reservations, be prepared to wait and wait – and maybe never talk to an actual person. 3) customer service doesn’t mean anything near what it used to. Not many companies care if their customer(s) are satisfied, it’s all about keeping your money. I’m sure glad I don’t have to report to work anymore because it seems like everything I have to do lately requires considerable waiting time. If I had to work I wouldn’t have the time to wait.
Have A Good Week!
