Dept. of self-screwing

I was supposed to take a business trip next week, but it's been cancelled. Most of it was made through company websites and the cancellation is fairly straightforward, but in an effort to save the company -- a 10 billion dollar company -- money, I made my car reservation through HotWired. Well, I can read, so I knew that if you make a reservation on HotWired and cancel the trip, you're screwed. So I'm out $270 for a car and $120 for a hotel room.

But this happens to thousands of dopes every day. The funny thing is that when you call HotWired to beg them to refund your money anyway, they put you on hold for about ten minutes with the most soporific, calming piano music you ever heard. It's like what they play in the nursing home to make people realize it's time for bed. By the time you've listened to that for ten minutes, you can't possibly be angry at the lady who recites the rules to you -- the same rules you agree to when you make the purchase -- and tells you you're screwed. In fact, I felt sorry for her -- what a crappy job she has, telling people all day long that they're screwed. I'll bet she listens to that calming piano music all the time.