Welcome To The Laws Of The Jungle

The Odds Are Not In Your Favor...

This week was an emotional roller coaster for me. My cable company decided they were giving me too many channels for the price I was paying and took away about two thirds of them. I will miss TNT, TBS, Travel Channel, BBC America, and ABC Family, but it seems the cable company in question has me in a chock hold over how much the internet is worth. 

Now before I start getting an earful about what an entitled little millennial I am, I would like to point out that I am a) just starting out on a tight budget, b) my cable bill is almost always higher than my utilities bill combined (not counting January, February and March of this year with all the freezing weather), and finally c) the internet is required for me to do my job if I ever have to work from home. Believe it or not, sometimes I have to work from because of personal issues, complications with the internet at work (yeah this happened too), or I climate weather. Now I could go to the public library or coffee shop for internet service when I have to work from home, except when snow hits everything closes and I am still expected to work. Here lies my problem. 

Now there are a lot of self help website out there explaining how to "get the most out of your cable company", these morsels of advice only work if there is competition in your area. Since my apartment management apparently has an exclusive contract with one cable company, I have no means of competition to work with. I am stuck in a localized monopoly that seems top league the majority of the nation. Is this fair? No, but this is the way of life. 

I guess I was lulled into the fallacy that I live in a "free market capitalist society" where competition keeps prices low and consumers have choices. I guess I was wrong. There are very few things I can do to change these circumstances, though I am looking at my options carefully (writing the local politicians and national senators seems like a good yet useless endeavor). 

I think what I am most displeased with is my lack of choices. I like having many options that I can choose from and still keep a level of security. If life has taught me anything since leaving college, it's that the world is an expensive place to live in and that it's just not fair. People and companies lie (no a corporation  is not a person no matter how many loop holes they have to make it appear otherwise). I also have learned that I like having choices and get very cranky when these choices are taken away from me. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off) please leave a comment or share it with your friends, family or worst enemy. I kindly ask that you do not leave mean and spiteful messages as this will be seen as cyberbullying and I will be blocking, reporting and committing your name to memory (I will leave you to your imagination with that).

I would also like to take this moment to thank my readers. I am almost to 1000 hits on my blog in less than a year. I feel amazed and am grateful to all my loyal readers. Perhaps without all those channels I will finally buckle down and write those novels. 

Until next week.