Funny coincidences are funny

[captainsblog]

Most of my clients are in with me  for a short-term relationship. I collect an account of theirs, or a file a bankruptcy for them, and then it's done. Except when it's not. "Service after the sale" is an implicit part of the deal, even when you don't hear from the person for years, and so at least a few times a year, I have to dust off computer records, if not actual files, from last year, ten years ago, even further back than that to answer a question, address a concern, or whatever.

It's just unusual for it to happen twice in the same sixty seconds.

I was already on the phone with a more current client, about a fairly complex piece of business, when call #1 came in at 10:37 a.m. yesterday. Eric. Eric the client. Eric, who I hadn't thought of or heard from in probably eight years, who was suddenly getting collection demands on something included in his bankruptcy and could I make them stop.

The earpiece wasn't cold- it may not have even been hung up- when at 10:38, call #2 came in. Different client, a county away, almost the exact same issue. He does still owe a small sum that remained as a lien on his house when he filed, but he can't find anyone from either the creditor or their prior lawyer that will take his money and clear up his title.

Maybe I should play 1037 and 1038 in the Win Four game today, just to see what happens.

----

That was yesterday. The weird karma continued into today.

Late last week, something reminded me of one of my favorite high school teachers. "Pistol Pete" taught physics and advised the school science magazine, which had a strong fiction tradition; one of its Star Trek short stories got optioned by Paramount and became one of the quasi-canonical episodes of the animated series in the mid-70s. I friended the teacher on Facebook, and he got back a few days ago with a nice comment, remembering me and our class year quite fondly, and asking if I'd stayed in touch with Howie, who wrote "Pirates of Orion."

Well, I had, for awhile. He's begun a second career as a dog trainer and was writing mostly about that, last I knew- but he does still respect his Trek roots and I knew, for instance, that he was a speaker at the same Shore Leave con in Maryland last month that princesskraehe attended (and which I almost went to, too). So a bit of googling later, I tracked him down to his blog.

Which, of course, is right here on LJ- under the name puppykissesblog.

This note, from his most recent entry as of right now, told about how his day went after fighting with the cable company first thing in the morning:

I had an appointment for a home visit with a new doggie client. The moment I walked in and smiled at this cute Schnauzer puppy named Ebony, I instantly and completely forgot about Comcast, enjoyed my hour playing with and teaching a really winsome puppy...and the moment I stepped outside, Comcast took over my brain again. GRRRrrrrrrrrrrr.

There's a lesson here.

If you're lucky enough to have your own dog (or any other pet whose companionship you enjoy), then please remember this: On your worst day, just playing with your pet can make almost any level of gloom and doom less gloomy and doomy!

Naturally, I had to report on the Ebony that's been living here, winsome and all, for the last seven-plus years, and our almost-meeting in Bawlmer last month, and all kinds of other things from the wonderful world of Kevin Bacon.

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

More proof that there really are only a dozen people in the world, or something along those lines, and two of them have money issues. Three have Comcast problems.