I'm mad as hell

Here's the deal. A few years ago, I joined a gym. Occasionally I get the idea in my head that I'm actually going to exercise, and I forget that I hate gyms and the people who go to them.

I knew, in the back of my mind, that they were still billing me, but I kept forgetting to call and cancel. It hardly matters. My issue is that by signing their little piece of paper, I geve them license to bill me forever, or until I canceled.

Now, they're still going to take my money for the next month, which annoys me. If I had a little more time, I might switch banks just to spite them.

(I'm not going to do that over $50, though.)

Their excuse? "You signed the contract." Well, yes. Yes I did. I probably didn't read it that closely when I signed it, because I'm the kind of person who doesn't really read things before signing them. I assume that there's no room for negotiation with the person or company that's providing a service.

This has caused me problems in the past, like some clause in my agreement with Sprint that says they'll charge me $35 every time I activate a new phone.

I don't know why I'm so very irritated with this, except that it just seems like a license to steal. The thing that really got me was that the supervisor I talked to didn't seem to be listening to a word I said. I probably wouldn't have told her to burn in hell if she had actually responded to my wuestion, even with an "I don't know."

Companies that have a license to print money for themselves, such as banks with ATM networks and health club franchisers just make me mad. I hate to be mad.

before - after