Is customer service a dirty word?

I just got labeled a “weasel” by my husband. I didn’t realize I had become a weasel... but I guess it’s true... and I didn’t mean to become one... it just happened.

I can easily take no for an answer. I always have. I always thought ‘no’ meant ‘no’. But evidently over here “non” doesn’t quite have the same meaning.

So here’s what happened that got me this label. In late January, husband has a business trip planned to the US, not just any old place in the US, but to DC. As you may know, youngest kiddo goes to college there in DC, so here beginnith the attempt to tag along.

Husband had travel arrangements made (and paid for) by the company, bien sur, and so I started looking for cheap flights. Since I had planned on paying with euros, I thought it best to use a travel place based over here.

I found an online site, found a flight that I liked, and proceeded to book it. The payment options were to either do a bank funds transfer or pay by credit card. No problem...I thought.. I’ll pay by credit card. Bank transfers seem too complicated for me, and it can't be done online... you have to go to the bank to do it. Way too much trouble, especially trying to get all those numbers correctly translated into French! So, throughout the process, it NEVER asked me for a credit card number, never. I finally got the confirmation, etc... but never got asked about paying. So I emailed them and told them of the problem. After 6 emails back and forth... I finally said... “forget it, just cancel the reservation”. I received an email that told me how to cancel it myself. OK, I'll do it... well, low and behold, it asked for a credit card number because there was a penalty for canceling.

So I emailed them back and said... “Hey, you can take a credit card for the penalty, so why can’t you take a credit card for the payment?” (I think that’s when I got the “weasel” label.) Anyway, after about 4 more emails, I THINK I have a flight to DC and it’s paid for.

Je pense.