Stop the Madness...Where's My Tylenol?

by Skip Cohen

​Most of the time on Sundays when I sit down to write Reflections, I really don't know what I want to write about until I start typing...then, it's whatever's in my head that spills onto the keyboard.

Before I could get started this morning, I needed to visit the Hulu website.  In early February, we made what we thought was a terrific decision. We wanted to get rid of Comcast/Xfinity and go back to Frontier/Verizon, which we had 9 years ago. In the process, our Hulu account expired and needed to be linked to our new accounts. 

Here's where the madness comes in: the marketing departments at Frontier and Verizon don't talk to each other. Every few days, there's another special offer to bundle your phones, Internet, and entertainment. Then, just to add a little more spice to the mix, there are multiple offers within each category. For example, on Hulu alone, there were 10 different bundles to choose from.

And to go one step further, when you start searching for what you thought you wanted, you're pitched something else. God forbid you should ask for help by phone. It all starts with every company's robot that needs to know why you're calling. You're led to believe there's going to be some logic applied, but whoever you finally speak with, you can NEVER connect again.

So far, just at Frontier alone,  I've talked to "Judge," "Brandon," "Sam", "Joy," and "Thomas," and I've written one letter to Frontier's CEO. Thomas is the ONLY one to actually help, but he was my last stop, working through the executive office of Frontier. And on Verizon, it's ongoing as I learn various discounts don't show up until the 2nd or third billing cycle.

They say you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone...Well, I want to go back to the days when I was a kid. We had just three stations, and they all signed off at midnight with the test pattern to the right. We got the "Chief," and nobody complained about not being woke because a Native American appeared on your TV screen, essentially telling you to go to bed!

No choices beyond that, and if you wanted to figure out what you were going to watch on any given evening, the TV Guide was on the coffee table.

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Today, in an effort to make our lives easier, more fulfilling, and less expensive, we've switched to YouTube TV.... Then there's Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, Prime Video, Disney+, and 100+ live channels. Trying to reach most of the shows we enjoy watching becomes a giant WTF moment. In fact, if it wasn't for the F-bomb during the search for something we'd like to watch, Sheila and I would be mutes!

But the confusion doesn't end... as contracts between studios and networks change, so does the platform on which we want to watch. Or we can search for what we want to watch, but can't access it without signing up for an additional entertainment provider.

Will somebody STOP THE MADNESS! Imagine if your doctor switched to dentistry, or your cardiologist became a proctologist and didn't tell you until you were in the dental chair or examination room. Which reminds me of a Tony Corbell joke:

A woman goes to her dentist. She says, "I don't know which I hate more: having my teeth drilled or having a baby." He replies, "Well, make up your mind so I know which way to tilt the chair!"

Wishing everybody a day ahead with nothing but easy choices. No matter what you choose to do or who to be with, remember: what's most important is the peace and love they bring into your life. That's why those eleven-second therapeutic hugs I always write about become even more valuable—especially when you feel like you're about to be lost at sea... a sea of choices and decisions!

Our world is filled with too many choices. And no matter what you choose, there's always another offer waiting in the wings. It's choice overload, and I've got a headache just thinking about it. So, time to take a couple of Tylenol...if the government hasn't found my stash.