What exactly does cancel mean?

Okay, so today is my day off and I am trying to take care of some business that has been put off for way too long. The first three things on my to do list are canceling useless memberships that I belong to. Two of them were for savings on travel but cost me almost $10 a month! Each! What was I thinking? I don't even TRAVEL that much!

So I pick up the phone and call membership number one. I give them my account number and after around 5 minutes some guy named "Manny" with a heavy accent comes on the line to get the rest of my information. I tell him I need to cancel my account. He then goes on to a three minute shpeel (Yes, it's a word!) on all of the wonders of keeping this account. He took no breaths because otherwise I would have stopped him, and ended with "So I will keep this account active for you so that you do not miss out on any of these great deals, okay?" NO! Not okay, Manny. I tell him to please cancel the account. He asks why. So I gave him the whole "husband was out of work", "Need to cut down expenses" blah, blah, blah. This guy, this MANNY, then has the nerve to go on to tell me of all the ways I can save on TRAVEL...AGAIN...if I keep this account. I'm like, "Dude, if I can't pay my rent, do you honestly believe that I am even THINKING about going on a damn vacation??" And before he could answer, I demanded - nicely - that he cancel the account. He finally complied. Thank you and good bye.

Phone call number two was to number one's sister company. It was a two for one deal, I was confused. Don't judge me! So I dial the number, give them my account info and wait. Three minutes later a guy comes on the line - who sounds suspiciously like Manny, btw - named Jess. I tell him that I'd like to cancel my membership. "Okay, I understand but..." Then he goes on to tell me the wonders of eating out and shopping that I can enjoy with keeping this memebership. Again, never once stopping for a breath so that I cannot interrupt him and at the end says "So I will keep this account active for you, okay?" NO!!! What is it that you don't understand??? I mean, I'm having trouble understanding YOU with your heavy weird accent but I think I'm speaking pretty darn clear here! He offered me many other kinds of coupons and incentives and you know what? I was a little bit tempted but because of the simple fact that these people do NOT respect my need to cancel and are basically just talking over me, I'm ticked. I did FINALLY get my cancelation and now feel as if a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.

Membership number three I probably could have kept. It was with Microsoft for my own domain name but I am just not tech savvy enough to be bothered. It was only $14.95 per year but I haven't touched the site in almost a year and I'm having just too much darn fun here on the blog! I tried all week to cancel the membership on line and always ended up at some weird location somewhere in the depths of the Microsoft site and I was determined that it would not happen to me today! I approached the computer with a full head of steam and a boatload of attitude, punched in a slightly different web-address than what was sent to me and VOILA! Canceling was a breeze!! I think that the directions that they sent to me for cancelation were designed to make you too crazy to quit. So I just went a different route and got the results that I want.

I feel as if I have climbed a small hill. I won't be dramatic enough to say a mountain because really this stuff was pretty tame. Annoying, yes, but basically tame. Still, I feel the need to reward myself with some take out. Have a pleasant day!