March 15th

Kenneth still isn’t eating. He just sits on the bottom of the tank. All the food flakes just drift to the bottom of the bowl and he doesn’t touch them. I’m really worried about him. The book says he might have ‘ick’, ‘a fungal infection, needing medical treatments from your vet.’ I don’t know why they called it ‘ick’, but apparently it’s easy to treat.

There is going to be a seminar on personal finances at work. I think I’ll try to go. You can take your own lunch in, which is nice. I need to learn more about personal finances because of the warning I had received from the Collective Gas company that had threatened to switch off the gas if I didn’t pay $874.67 in the next ten days. This was caused by an error in the account number, meaning that for eight months I had been paying my money into someone else’s account. I had not detected this error because in order to be environmentally friendly, I had opted for paperless billing, but unfortunately, it had been sending the bills to the wrong email address. I called the company, and a rather unfriendly lady told me I had to file a complaint in writing, using form B1498-4. She said she had emailed the form to me using the address they had on file. I tried to explain that the email address on file was incorrect. She said I wouldn’t be able to change the email address without first confirming my identity. I would be able to do that by clicking on the verification link within the email. I explained this would remain a problem as the wrong email address was on file. I was then informed that due to this problem being beyond the expertise that she was able offer, that I was going to be referred to their ‘Customer Pro’ team, would I mind holding. I said no, and I listened to hold music, whilst being reminded every thirty seconds that my call was important to them, that I mattered as a human being, and that one of their representatives would be with me shortly. After thirty-five minutes, the call disconnected. I tried calling back but there was an announcement telling me that business hours were between 9-5 Mondays through Fridays, and I should call again soon. I checked my watch, and it said it was 4:45pm.

It also told me that in the event of a suspected gas leak, I should call the following number. I put my head inside the oven and smelled. There does not appear to be any leak. It does need cleaning however.

I will use my savings to pay the gas bill. This means I will have to severely curtail the purchasing of luxury items, such as teabags, toothpaste and that fridge magnet I had seen in a thrift store last Tuesday.