Spooniest

I've never run a blog before. I guess there's no wrong way to do it, but...

Just last Friday, I talked my dad into reconnecting our old internet service, offering to foot the bill myself, as a birthday present for my mom. Her dad died after suffering a stroke on Christmas Eve of last year, and she's been very ill with a thyroid condition as well. We thought if we hooked up the computer she inherited from her father, and got the internet back, she could get on facebook and feel less homesick for her mom and two sisters.

Anyway, my entire family, while perhaps not the most judicious people, are lightning quick on the uptake (with, perhaps, the exception of me). It's very difficult to surprise anyone in this family, so whenever a birthday rolls around, the Mission: Impossible theme may as well start playing, because we have to go to [I]extreme [/I]lengths to keep birthday surprises secret.

I got on the phone with Verizon customer service, and went through the process of getting the service reinstated, and it all seemed hunky-dory. I didn't see any need to explain to them that it was a birthday present for my mom.

Today, a courier arrived with a [I]paper bill.[/I] It didn't include any charges; it was just a record of the activity.

Mom freaked. She started calling my sisters (who are also on the plan) and my dad. I surreptitiously went into damage control mode; I texted my sisters, filling them in on what was happening, and asking them to please play dumb, which they did.

Unfortunately, Mom called the fraud department at Verizon. :P She had the service suspended, and when I was done facepalming with all my might (surreptitiously, of course), I called them to try to explain what was happening, but the people in the fraud department are kind of tasked with being skeptical of everything, so it became apparent quickly that only speaking with my dad, the primary account holder, would rectify the situation.

After sighing, facepalming, and saying to myself several times that this was the stupidest thing that had ever happened to anyone, ever, I finally just laid down for a nap.

When dad got home, there was little he could do but just come clean. The service got reconnected and our birthday surprise was kinda ruined.

No good deed goes unpunished, it seems. And who sends paper bills anymore?