Of all things this province lacks, technical support is not one of them.

I am near tears after calling the cable company for some tech support.

Having been a Bell client most of my life, I have to say that I dreaded calling Shaw Cable because our cable had been messy for the last couple days. I never had cable living in Ottawa because I just felt it was a waste of time and money - why stay cooped up at home watching TV when there's a city to enjoy... moving to Saskatchewan suddenly made cable mandatory. I digress...

I called the local number, didn't have to enter my phone number/client number or speak with Robot-Emily - a simple greeting then a click and miraculously, Dylan was there to help me right away. That's right folks, no wait time, no 90s music and I didn't have to be reminded that my call was important and would be answered as soon as possible by an associate eager to assist me. Dylan, an actual human being - we're tight now.

All this easy-ness made the conversation quite awkward. I have to admit, I was ready with my "no, I don't know what my customer number is - I don't have a bill handy and I want to speak to your supervisor" routine.

"Good afternoon and thanks for calling Shaw, my name is Dylan, how may I assist you?"
"... huh... my cable's being wonky."
"Alright! What's it doing?"
"... ... huh, it's lagging kinda and the image gets all pixelated."
"Does the sound cut off at the same time as the image gets weird?"
"Yes, it-sou-li-thi-all-t'e-ti- ..."

What's this I hear, real human laughter on the other end?!

"Alright we'll do a couple tests and if that doesn't work, we'll send someone out there to have a look. Can you confirm your name and phone number please?"
"I don't have my customer information or anything and I'm not sure if the account is under my name or my boyfriend's name... *gives phone numbers*... is that enough?"
"Sure is. Alright, you'll see your cable shut down for a couple seconds and then I'll ask you to turn it back on."

*waits-turns cable back on*

"It's back... and still doing it."
"Then it must be something with the cable that runs to your house or something. We'll schedule a tech to go see what's up."

At this point I'm rolling my eyes because well, it's Canada Day in a couple days, they will be all booked at it will be weeks until we can watch cable TV again... sigh!

"How does tomorrow morning sound?"
"Pardon?"
"We can have someone there tomorrow morning or between 2 and 4pm or if the evening works best, there's some availability there too!"
"Sure! Tomorrow afternoon sounds fine!"
"It's done then. I'll ask the tech to give you a cell when he's on his way to make sure you're home."

Words cannot express... That's when I really wanted to cry. I couldn't believe how easy, friendly and speedy that was. Dylan had such a "not a huge deal" attitude, he kinda reminded me of Jim and I kinda swooned - not at his rugged good looks which I'm sure he's got - but at his Hero of the Day customer service.

To anyone who's ever dealt with Bell or even Rogers, you know where I'm coming from and no, this isn't a strange fairy tale or a lovely dream. It's all true - you can't make that shit up!