As most of you know, Louisiana is graced with a plethora of water! Oh yes. The entire Gulf of Mexico is to the south. The Sabine River (and Toledo Bend Lake/Recreational Area) is on the west. The Mississippi River is to the east. The number of lakes, creeks, bayous, swamps, and other liquid items probably comprise a good percentage of the entire mass of Louisiana.
You can imagine my surprise, then, at how expensive water is around here. I know we may have used a bit as we moved in but the bill I received today for the period 05/01-05/14/2009 was pretty astounding. A selected excerpt for you all to review:
Okay... perhaps I underestimated the town's need for money? How could this be?!?!?!?!? Now that you have had the time to absorb this (and it took me a few minutes, for certain!), I will tell you the follow-up and outcome.
I called the Water Department. A VERY nice young lady answered the phone. Those of you who know me well can hear the tone I had in my voice when I said, "I need to chat with someone about my $32,000 water bill." She just started laughing and asked, "What is the account number?" I provided same and we both had a great time discussing WHY my two-week water bill was quite so "off-the-chart." I told her we could limit our flushes if that would help. She told me they billed in advance... for twenty years worth of water. We continued our bantering with each exchange getting wilder and wilder. The final result: She is sending someone out to re-read the meter (DUH!) and I can call on Monday to get the "correct" amount I owe. Yup. A little bit of fun, a painless phone call, and the issue was resolved. Oh... and she did tell me they TRY to catch these before they go out (obviously I am not alone in my multi-thousand dollar sticker shock!) but they don't always manage to do so. She also mentioned the lady who called in and told her that the Water Department "might as well come and take my house" since she clearly did not have the funds to cover her multi-thousand dollar billing. *Chuckle*
Does this let the Water Department off the hook for the weird encounter I had when trying to establish service? No. What it does mean is that I have great blog fodder for today. I even told my very helpful Water Department lady that I would be blogging about it. She found that amusing! Gotta' love it.
So... I will visit those other things I mentioned at the end of the last post... but not as long as these wonderful blog-worthy events continue to occur!
Until next post...
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