Bad Consumerism

I had to do two difficult things today, stuff I've been dreading dealing with and filled with anxiety over. Actually, only this first one caused anxiety, the other is just me being lazy.

1. I fired my dog walking company this morning. Yesterday I met the new dog walker, and he is great. A friend is one of his walkers, and they are cheaper, so I really was looking forward to this meeting. The new guy seems to really be on the ball, really open, I felt really comfortable with him. This is very important as one of the main issues with my old company was that I had major difficulty telling them when I was not satisfied with their services. My old company had some positives: I always had the same walker, Audrey got walked alone, the guy lived nearby. But the walker routinely showed up extremely late, when he was sick this woman came to walk the dog and couldn't get her out and neglected to call me and tell me Audrey didn't go out...and they are more money than the new company. So I called and fired them today.

I don't know why that was so hard. The owner called me and asked me if it was anything they did, and I told him the truth. I told him that the walker never showed up on time, and that I had a friend who was a professional dog walker that I wanted to use. He was irritated I hadn't told him sooner about the tardiness, and irritated that it happened in the first place. So now I'm concerned I got someone totally fired today. My friend tells me that its right to fire someone if they give you poor service, but it still makes me feel bad. I have to go get my keys from them and I'm nervous. This has been a source of anxiety for me for a few months now. At least it's over with once I pick up my keys...I just hope the walker doesn't call me and ask me why I fired him.

2. My DVR has been busted for at least a month. I keep putting off calling direct tv because I know they will make me do all this silly trouble shooting that I've already done. I caved in today because I want this ready for when new Lost and BSG episodes start up again. I was right, they made me do a ton of trouble shooting. It seems to be sort of working? I am testing the recorder today, and if it is still biffing I'll call back tomorrow.

I need to call my landlord AGAIN about the dishwasher. I'm not sure if I'm up for it after spending the morning taking care of these other things. I have to get my keys, go to Quimby's, and dye my hair. Maybe I'll have the gumption to deal with the landlord after those things.