I think the gods are toying with me and laughing at my misfortunes. Perhaps in a year or two, I will look back at this time of my life with much laughter. Being in the middle of it, however, has been less amusing. These last two months have been filled with challenges. This is what has happened to me lately, in careful chronological order:
First, following an incredible amount of paperwork, in early October I was finally able to dismantle my house. I did not personally do it. I had four men working for one full week. The logs are labeled and stored under plastic on my property. The plan is to dig a foundation in the springtime and lay a course or two of stones to keep the wood off the ground. Eventually the house will be rebuilt.
When the house was taken down, down also came the receiver for my internet connection. It was not a problem, I figured, as my phone had an unlimited data plan and would serve as my primary internet connection. However, I discovered that my phone was not working properly and I had no signal into the house. No internet. No phone calls. Nothing.
I had had several problems with this phone ever since I had returned home from the hospital in Stará Ľubovňa in mid-July, and had visited my network provider several times to try to resolve the issues, always without full satisfaction. The last time I visited them in Kežmarok, it became clear that the mobile phone itself was the problem, not the network. Unfortunately, this meant having to return to the place of purchase, fifty-five minutes away.
I returned to the store on October 11. There, I told the representative that the phone was broken and that I wanted an exchange. “It doesn’t work like that in Slovakia,” answered the lumbering elephant of a salesperson, as if this customer with an accent didn’t understand how things functioned in Slovakia. I have nothing but contempt for this person. Finally, the boss, Emil, worked with me. After around 1.5 hours, it was clear that the phone could not recognize 3G networks, which is what I have at my house in Osturňa. He prepared the paperwork, I signed and left the phone with him. In the meantime, I would be forced to use a very old and damaged Huawei phone that Michał had sent to me as a backup. Two weeks later, I was notified that the phone was “fixed.” I again drove to Stará Ľubovňa without high expectations.
Sure enough, the phone was still not working. “But it says here that they replaced a part and that the phone was now repaired,” claimed Emil. I pointed out that, regardless of what was written, the phone was still not functioning properly. “You sold me a piece of trash, refuse to replace it, and now cannot fix it. I will never buy another thing from Nay Electronic,” I said as I returned the light bulbs to the rack from where I had taken. “Poriadku,” Emil answered, “That’s fine.” What great customer relations this store teaches its employees. After 1.5 hours arguing and not being the most polite customer of the day, I told him that I would take the phone back to the network provider and ensure the problem was not with the network.
O2, the network provider, has been nothing if not helpful and kind. I spent at least one hour with Kristina who remembered me from several years ago, and who performed multiple diagnostic tests. She finally announced her conclusion: the phone is broken. When I explained that I really needed a working phone, she made me an offer: a phone similar to but better than the one I had for nearly two hundred euros less than what I had originally paid. I took her up on it. Now I had a nice working phone.
I returned to Nay, lay the phone on the counter and told Emil that it was broken. “O2 will contact me with their results, but the phone is clearly broken. I’ll email you when they contact me.”
In the meantime, I was scheduled for laparoscopic surgery to insert a stent over my weakened aortic wall. On the 29th of October, I arrived at VUSCH in Košice where they prepared me for surgery scheduled for the next morning. Surgery was however delayed until Tuesday. The nurses with their seemingly arbitrary rules were as equally disagreeable as was I. It was a bit of torture for all of us. The surgery finally took place on Halloween and I was (surprisingly) released the very next day. Lying to the staff that a friend was coming to pick me up, I sneaked into my car and drove to Old Town where I met Martin, Zoe and Karol for lunch at Slávia.
Back at home, my computer suddenly stopped working. All my data was lost. I took it to my friend in Prešov who has a friend who teaches computers. The friend would try to read the hard drive and retrieve my data. A week later, the friend reported that he could not read it and that I needed to send it to another company in Bratislava with a branch in Košice.
On November 8, I chartered my course. I would first go to Poprad to purchase a new computer, then on to Prešov to pick up my old computer, and then to Košice to drop off said computer for analysis. I accomplished everything on my agenda and arrived home eight hours later feeling exhausted.
On November 11, exactly one month after making a report with Nay, I received a letter stating that “the problem had been resolved” and that I should return to the store within seven days. I returned that same day to learn that Emil had not resubmitted the problem phone to Samsung for repair, but was awaiting an email from me about O2’s results. “Irate” is a good term to describe my demeanor. He prepared new paperwork. I signed. I showed Emil my new phone and pointed out that I did not buy it from Nay. I also mentioned that I had just purchased a new computer but, again, not from Nay. He seemed nonplussed. Slovakia is, by the way, known for its poor customer service.
I let the new computer sit in its box for several days. Undertaking the task of firing up a new computer for the first time just seemed too overwhelming. But then one day, I opened the box and plugged in the new computer.
Over a two-day period, I spent several hours to reestablish contact with the websites I needed. Then, on a lark, I opened the OneDrive application. Almost miraculously, my desktop was filled with many of the files I needed, including many photographs. Not everything, mind you. But many things. Life began looking up.
Also, in October I visited an ophthalmologist because my eyes were worsening. The verdict: I have cataracts. Lovely. Just lovely. I will have to deal with this in January.
I received word from Bratislava that my hard drive – actually an SSD – is fried. They gave me the option of accepting a nonfunctional computer or to have them install a new SSD. I chose the latter. So I will have a laptop that I can donate to someone. I’ll return to Stará Ľubovňa at the end of the month for a CT scan to ensure the stent remains successful. Perhaps on that same day, I still stop by Nay Electronics and find a working mobile phone – or my money returned.
I now look forward to an uneventful December. We’ll see …