The incompetence of corporate Canada made me think my mum was missing for 3 days...

So for three days (ending yesterday) I could not get a hold of my sturdy, independent yet elderly mother. We talk on the phone about once a week but sometimes let it slide a little longer until one of us realizes it's time to check in (me being unhealthy, her being... well... a senior living on her own). Never more than two weeks though. So last week it stuck me it was approaching two weeks since I'd heard from her and called. No answer and her message thingie didn't pick up (the latter is very strange). Fine, she's out or busy or whatever. No biggie. She'll call back... but nope. I called a few more times and nuthin'.
 
Alright so maybe I'll get a call the next day in the morning. Nope. I call a bunch more times. Same deal. Nutin'. Now I'm getting worried but don't want to spazz out and send the cops by to check on her (even though I'm imagining her wiped out somewhere needing help). Being the independent old bird she is she gets pissy when I get all uber concerned son and I just saw her a while ago... totally healthy. Maybe she's off visiting friends (which she would only do for one night because she hates being away from her house and even then she'd likely let me know in advance where she's going). I'll let it be until morning... she's totally gonna call... right?
 
Yesterday, still nothing even after a ton of calls (which would show up on her phone). F*ck this. I go into total creeper stalko mode and start hunting down all her friends (not an easy feat because I have no digits for these people and only know their first names). I start leaving messages everywhere I can dredge up telling people to get back to me (even on machines that I don't even know belong to the actual people I'm tracking down).
 
After hours of doing that, waiting for call backs, talking to some people and telling them to leave messages for other people (like neighbors who can go chek in on her), much to my relief, I tracked her down.
 
She had been at home the whole damned time. Somehow the phone company had f*ck up her line and she had no idea because she hadn't tried to call anyone. She said she only noticed because it had been days without her phone ringing (an odd occurrance in that house).
 
So essentially Bell (one of the 3 massive colluding megacorps that have a stranglehold on all comminications stuff in Canada) did something f*cky to a senior citizen who always pays her bills on time and had no damned answers as to why. These idiots have consistently screwed with her bill (overcharging/"helpfully" changing her phone plans without consent/tossing a ton of confusing ass garbage that someone from her gen has a hard time figuring out/etc). In my mind it's senior abuse and I gotta wonder how many people who are less with it than my dear ole mumsy get burned over that crap because they don't realize they're getting screwed.
 
And now this. I have been totally freaking out thinking the damned worst. She's the only family I've got and we've been through hell and back (individually and together).
 
Anyway, this is nothing new with these dipsh*ts and it seems to becoming the norm more and more with these monolithic POS money grubbing incompetents. I told her to flip the hell out on them and express the angst/worry they caused with this, yet another, screw up so maybe at least she gets comped on her next bill or something.
 
The sad part is that's all these companies know how to do to make problems go away. They'll never really fix these issues and seem to constantly make things WORSE just to save a few more bucks. Comping a bill is nothing to them if they can keep degrading their service (which is really an absolutely essential service... especially for seniors).
 
There is a serious human cost to crap like this. This of course had a happy ending because there was no emergency but I could not think straight for the last two days of this ordeal out of worry so that's lost time. If something HAD happened and she wasn't able to call out... well that's a fooking crime, especially at the ridiculous rates these mufuggas charge for a simple land line.
 
Yeah, rant over but what an awful couple days over dipsh*t corporate bullpuckery. I already had tragedy on my mind over the news of an old friend dying and then this crap.
 
Standards. WTF happened to them?!

I doubt that Canadian utilities will reform because you are upset with them. My US phone company does not routinely test my phone line to be sure it is working, and I have had to depend on people telling me that they can't get through to me. Next time you cannot get an answer, you could try calling the telephone company technical help line and have them run a test to confirm it is a line problem. Google Bell Canada test line.

slartabartfast
I doubt that Canadian utilities will reform because you are upset with them. My US phone company does not routinely test my phone line to be sure it is working, and I have had to depend on people telling me that they can't get through to me. Next time you cannot get an answer, you could try calling the telephone company technical help line and have them run a test to confirm it is a line problem. Google Bell Canada test line.

Ya, good idea. I hadn't actually even considered the line was screwed though because it rang through fine. No I know better. That's really what I'm pissed about. There was absolutely NO indication the phone line was down.
 
And of course they totally won't reform. They have no reason to because they've got the CRTC (the Canucker equivelent of the FCC) in their back pocket. Like I said... these companies solution to everything is a comp to shut people up. I just went through it with my provider. My line kept going down and I made a complaint (because if I can't call out and I have medical emergency I'm essentially dead... literally). It was meant to add what I can only assume is another complaint on the file for the area so they'd get their sh*t together and they immediately jumped to "WE'RE COMPING YOU!! YES? YOU HAPPY??!! BE HAPPY!!!". I didn't ask for that and that behavior implies guilt.
 
That BTW is another company of the "Big 3" in Canada. Emergency service is why I keep a land line and the service is supposed to ensure that line is next to impervious barring downed wires (not the case).
 
These people are f*cking around... bad, and putting people's lives at risk.
 
Yeah, I know. Pushing water uphill on this. Just ticked off is all.
 
Cheers.

ampfixer
Shame on you Beepster. If the situation is as you explain it, you should be calling her every day to say hello and make sure she's well and eating properly. How hard is it to pick up the phone for for 10 minutes and check in. You've only got 1 mom.

Dude, she's healthy as a horse and would tell me to f*ck off if I did that. lol
 
Seriously that's why I held off on calling the cops to go smash down her door (and if she hadn't called me back when she did they would have been my next call).
 
Don't "shame on me, Beepster"... I dote on my mum as much as she'll allow me to. We're not talking about some crippled up old bitty. She's in better shape than I am ferfracksake. Doesn't mean I don't worry.
 
She was a) really appreciative that I started hunting her down like I did (no one else was) and b) glad I didn't spazz out like I have in the past and have the authorities damage her property.
 
Real nice, John. Accusing me of being a bad son after this. Jesus.

My mom's 86 and I follow ampfixer's style.  I check-in with her at least twice a day over the phone (usually at 9am and 3pm to make sure she's awake and taking her meds).  Plus I visit at least once a week to take care of things.  I've also had phone issues which have had me driving the 25+ miles over the river into Oregon to make sure she's ok.  She doesn't have a cell phone (nor would want to figure out how to use one) so she has a landline with both an answering machine (for screening calls) and voice-mail because I want to ALWAYS be able to leave a message.  Several times now the phone company (Comcast in this case) has messed up the line so all I get is the message: "All circuits are busy, please try again later." and all she gets is a busy signal when she picks up the phone to call.  Now I've had this happen before where you call back immediately and it works, but we're talking about having this situation for hours and hearing that message dozens of times.  That's wrong.
 
Of course, I have to take "missing time" seriously because twice she's fallen and couldn't get up (which is why I tell her to keep her cordless phone with her at all times - both times she was able to eventually reach the phone and call me though once she was on the floor for almost four hours before I could get there!).

I hear ya, guys but really she's nowhere near the point of needing constant monitoring. I think maybe people forget I'm quite a bit younger than a lot of my fellow forumites and thus my mom, who even though she's a senior, is still relatively young as well (she just hit her 70's) and is healthier/stronger than most women 20 years younger. She's an ox and has just recently gone through a whole slew of doctor's stuff (at my INCESSANT prompting) and aside from arthritis she's in great shape. Totally self sufficient to the point she still does her own freaking landscaping and crazy house renos. I am fortunate to not have to worry about her on that level yet but trust me... when the day comes she'll be getting a whole pile of whatever I can do to ensure she's okay whether she likes it or not.
 
She seems to have finally accepted the idea that if she can't take care of stuff she'll go into a retirement community but that seems at least a decade away and she much prefers being on her own. She also just moved to an area where a ton of her friends are that constantly stop by and whatever. I'm very happy about that.
 
That's why this was so bizarre and worrisome. As I said though it has gotten her to finally round up some decent contact info for people who can check in on her for me. I had been pressing her for that for a long time.
 
There's only so much pushing a kid can do before it turns into disrespect/intrusion when dealing with a parent. If she were losing her faculties or ill then then all bets are off but seriously at this point it would be like treating a healthy fifty year old adult like they're useless.
 
She does NOT like that... at ALL... especially coming from snotnosed, spazzo me. lol
 
It was just a brief window of paranoid terror on my end.
 
Besides... would YOU want ME calling ya every day? Just imagine how annoying that would get.

Beepster

ampfixer
Shame on you Beepster. If the situation is as you explain it, you should be calling her every day to say hello and make sure she's well and eating properly. How hard is it to pick up the phone for for 10 minutes and check in. You've only got 1 mom.

Dude, she's healthy as a horse and would tell me to f*ck off if I did that. lol
 
Seriously that's why I held off on calling the cops to go smash down her door (and if she hadn't called me back when she did they would have been my next call).
 
Don't "shame on me, Beepster"... I dote on my mum as much as she'll allow me to. We're not talking about some crippled up old bitty. She's in better shape than I am ferfracksake. Doesn't mean I don't worry.
 
She was a) really appreciative that I started hunting her down like I did (no one else was) and b) glad I didn't spazz out like I have in the past and have the authorities damage her property.
 
Real nice, John. Accusing me of being a bad son after this. Jesus.

You are doing the right thing Beep. I am in your mother's age group I think. I have a granddaughter. One thing I know is no parent wants to burden their children ever!  Keeping in touch is important but not all the time. Heck we need our free time too. I am busy with things I do. My kids know this and are there if I need them.
 
 
In my view you did everything right under the circumstances. Give her my best next time you talk to her.