After this months phone bill came (over $100 due most likely to my internet use increase because of teaching and having a worried mother), we decided that even though we can't afford it, we are going to get broadband or DSL. DSL is cheaper, it goes by the name Velox, and it was our first choice for that reason. After several phone calls to the phone company we were first told our phone line was unable to transmit DSL. The next story was that we could get it, but that there were a limited number of lines per neighborhood and all of the ones in ours were being used. After this came the news that they were planning to expand one day and we were to be put on a waiting list for when that expansion happened - could be next week, next month, or even next year, no one knows. Next we filled out request forms for service, twice, at the mall where they had a Velox display. The girls who worked at the display were very nice and had no idea as to why we had not heard anything from the workers who were supposed to come connect the service.

This is all in direct connection with the fact that we seldom answer the phone because we have caller ID. Constantly being hassled by telemarketers, I think, is what drives Meuamor to not answer if he doesn't recognize the number. If it is someone who needs to talk to him, we assume that he or she will leave a message on the answering machine - and if it's a telemarketer, logically they hang up before the machine is finished playing. When it is just me home, I seldom answer either because unless it is a call from the USA, it's highly unlikely that the person on the other end of that line is wanting to talk to me, and I end up not quite understanding what is going on on the other end of the phone. Long story short - we screen our calls.

So logically, if you wanted to sell a product to someone and they had requested you call them on more than one occasion, wouldn't you leave a message on their machine? If I was going to make money on the deal, I would... This logic does not persist with those who work for Velox it seems. Apparently these people have been calling and calling and calling, but never bothered to leave a damn message. It's a mystery to me as to why.

Finally, Meuamor answered the phone yesterday afternoon to find we could arrange our appointment to have it connected today. So now today, I ran out of the shower just to answer the phone, in hopes it was the Velox guy. Sure enough, it is. So in my not so great phone conversational Portuguese, I manage to communicate that I do not speak much Portuguese and I am not a good person to talk to about what he needs to do (I am quite good at saying this phrase "Eu não falo muito português, então eu não sou uma pessoa boa para communicar sobre isso...") and finally after several attempts by the worker (even some in very poor English, but hey he tried!) I figure out he is asking for my name. I tell him (I think) that if he needs to come by the house today to connect the service, he can, and we don't want to wait anymore. This conversation goes on for several minutes, mean while I am dripping all over the upstairs. Finally he leaves his number for Meuamor to call, I think, to arrange another day ("marcar outro dia") - which sucks because evidently I could not explain what I thought I had explained, and now we still don't have the service connected. So today, ainda, no Velox. Poop.

Now I am hoping he comes home earlier than he planned to call this guy and figure out wtf we need to do to get this service. I really don't want to be paying these phone bills anymore.