Welcome to the day of planned obsolescence, automated voice mail, and customer service that isn’t. Yesterday our cable box became dysfunctional, for the third time in as many years. Now, you might say that once a year isn’t all that bad, but ask yourself, is it really reasonable for a product that probably costs $200-$300 to break every year? And when I contacted my “friendly” cable company to schedule a repair, they apparently determined that I am an idiot-savant and asked me to try re-booting the box. I explained that I had done that approximately 7 times already. “Humor me and let’s just try it one more time”, he said. No, because I’ve been through this before, I know quite well how to re-boot the box, and it is NOT re-booting properly, so please just send a repair person to replace it. Again. So, the next available appointment is in three days time, take it or leave it. No choice in the matter really, is there? Okay, fine, but please be sure to enter a credit to my account for five full days that my cable is unusable. “You’ll have to contact us after the box is repaired to arrange for a credit. Have a nice day.” Click. Apparently the $94 a month that I pay to watch a few hours of television does not earn me the right to expect a quality product nor timely service. It’s a sad sign of the times.