[Rod Serling Voice-Over, please[/]
Submitted for your consideration: Quasimodem, single German-American male, somewhat immature but hard -working and unsassuming, discovers the internet, and finds he can pay his bills “online”.
He signs up with Georgia Power’s “E-Bill” program, so that he can have his monthly power bill debited from his bank account, and he leans back in his cat-hair covered office-chair thinking he’s taken one more problem off his back: All he has to do is authorize payment once a month when he gets the Georgia Power e-mail reminder that his bill is due. Right?
Wrong!
He has become complacent, too dependent on the service offered, and he finds that his e-bill reminders sometimes contain 2 months of service instead of just one.
“Was in der Frigg?”, he ejaculates. How did he miss a month of paying for his power bill?
“Okay, my bad. Musta missed one”, he says and makes the double payment.
But it happens again. And again. The E-bills aren’t getting through and he decides in April to go back to a paper bill. Sure, it’ll cost a stamp, but what the hell, at least the power bill gets paid.
Fast-forward to 5.21.03…
Our bell-ringer gets a notice in the mail that he’s three months behind, hasn’t made a payment since February and he owes 220.00. He panics, checks his bank statement, and sure enough, no debit since February, even though he’s pushed all the right buttons on the screen, thinking the payment went through.
Quick call to the Credit Union and all is well. A check will be sent.
Quasimodem: A trusting soul. A techno-phobe who was “coming around” to the cash-less way of doing business rescues himself by realizing he got zoned.
There’s a sign-post up ahead! Next stop: Reality!
doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo- DOM!
[end Serling voice-over[/]
