In these times we all must do what we can to help out. Take Congress, for instance. It’s bailing out the airlines (jillions), IBM (billions), General Motors (hundreds of millions). Elsewhere in this document, I speak of my ill-fated September 11 trip to New York that suddenly ended in Little Rock. This relates to that.

The fact is, I had paid $217.75 for my plane ticket. Good price (gotten by buying early and being willing to land 60 miles from where I wanted to go), I thought, but still a lot of money for a non-profit. Given all of the world’s new problems, I didn’t want to appear pushy or selfish so I waited until September 13 to inquire about a refund. Dialed the 800 number, talked to Laurie (very friendly). “Yes, you’re supposed to get a full refund. We’ll put it back on your credit card. Call back if it doesn’t happen.” Bill came at the end of the month and there was my credit—but, uh,oh, for $3!

Dialed the 800 number, talked to this month’s Laura (also very friendly), she called it up, as they say. “Oh, yes, that was refunded on September 20.” “Mmm, I didn’t get it.” “Well, you know, posting delays and stuff.” Bill came at the end of the month (October now) and there was my credit, or a little more of it. This time $110.25. Dialed the 800 number and learned that I had actually gotten my money on September 20. “But, suppose I didn’t?” said I. “Then you’ll have to speak to Customer Relations at 214, etc.” “No 800 number?” “No, sir, not for Customer Relations.”

Dialed 214, etc. Menus and stuff. Got Scott (not as friendly). Called up my account. “Says here your balance is $104.50.” Tone was a little like that was the amount that I owed. “Well, er, yes, could I get it?” I asked. He seemed to hesitate. “Well, yeah, sure … no problem.” I felt pretty bad about this. Gosh, maybe, SRIC isn’t really doing everything it could.

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