Deadbeats

Yesterday we had an adventure.  And it started like this:

I was sitting in my office paying bills.  We had just gotten back from a Joshie-earned lunch at McDonald's.  Cole was down for a nap.  Josh was curled up on the couch watching TV.  Life was pleasant.

And then I heard a phrase that I just HATE hearing: "Mommy!  I had an accident!  I need help!"

Ugh.

Okay, in Joshie's defense he's been having, urm, bathroom issues lately.  I won't go into more than that because I don't want to.  So I went into the bathroom and proceeded to help clean him up.

Only to realize that the water was not turning on.

Strange.  I checked a few other faucets.  No water.  At all.  And the toilets wouldn't flush.  I started to panic just a tiny bit.  I had a poop covered boy and I had just drunk a rather large Diet Coke, which meant I would need the facilities several times in the afternoon, gosh dang it.

So after I cleaned Josh up with a boatload of wet wipes I called the water people at the city municipal building.

Me: Um, yeah, my water seems to be off.  Is there some work going on nearby that I don't know about?
Water Lady: No, your account appears to be delinquent.  The water has been turned off for non-payment.
Me: WHAT?!?!?  We're on Bill Pay - it should be automatically paid each month!!!
Water Lady: My records show that we haven't received payment since you moved in.
Me: WHAT?!?!?

This went on for a few more minutes.  I offered to pay the bill in full right then and there, but she said I had to come down to the municipal building and take care of all of this in person.

Of course I did.

"Moooommmmyy!  I had another accident!"

Of course you did.

So I cleaned Josh up.  And got Cole out of bed.  (Fortunately for me he was being naughty and hadn't fallen asleep yet.)  I sighed at my non-make-upped, t-shirt and tennis shoes wearin' reflection in the mirror, stuffed both boys in the mini van, and raced downtown.

On the way I fumed.  I angered.  I steamed.  I even broke my no-phone-while-driving rule and called Lance to complain.  Grrroooowwwlll!  I was gonna give these water people a piece of my mind!  Rrrrrooooowwwwrrr!

I found a parking spot on the street.  Strapped Cole into the stroller.  Stopped Josh from playing in traffic.  And calmed myself down.

As much as I wanted to really yell and scream at the water people, I knew that I wouldn't for the following three reasons:

1. It's not really in my nature.  I can get pretty worked up about stuff, but when it comes to actual confrontation it really has to take a lot for me to act on those feelings.
2. My momma taught me good manners.
3. That whole "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" thing?  Totally true.

So I found the office and went up to a rather pleasant looking older lady and explained the situation.

Me: So you see, when we moved I talked to someone here in this office...
Older Water Lady: Do you remember who it was?
Me: Um, no.  That was in July.  I can barely remember what happened last week.  So I talked to someone here and they said they would just transfer all of my automatic payment info over to this new address.  So you can see why I just assumed that the payments were going through.
OWL: But the payments weren't being made.
Me: Apparently not.  And yes, I probably should have double-checked my account that they were being made, but in all honesty it just never occurred to me.  The payments had always been made with no problem, and I had no reason to think they wouldn't now. 
OWL: This is a very strange situation.
Me: I know, right?!  And I'm just curious as to why we never received any kind of written notice about this?  Or a phone call?  I know you have my phone number.  If I had known you wanted to be paid I would have paid!
OWL: But you weren't on Bill Pay, and those not on Bill Pay don't get notices like that.
Me: Wait - you don't tell people when they owe you money?  I guess I just don't understand why some kind of red flag didn't pop up in the system?  I mean, we had always paid before, and then all of a sudden, right after we moved, we stopped paying.  Isn't there some sort of system flag for that?
OWL: Unfortunately, no.
Me: We would have paid had we known!  Really!

This conversation went on for a while.  I was very polite, even if a bit incredulous about the whole situation.  To OWL's credit, she was very patient and very willing to help me out.  We got everything set up and I paid my entire bill, and she even got the $24 reconnection fee refunded for me.

And to Cole and Josh's credit, they were very good boys and flirted with most of the staff, which I'm sure only helped my case.

We got everything taken care of, visited the restrooms (Diet Coke, remember?) and made our way home.  Josh played in the basement.  Cole finally took his nap.  And the water was turned back on within the hour.

And thus ended our day of being the bill-paying deadbeats of the neighborhood.