Phones and Phone Numbers

It's a record! I went a whole 7 months without a robbery! Unfortunately that came to an end yesterday when my phone was snatched. grrrrr. But 7 months is a robbery free record for me! That's good! At least this one was just a snatch and grab- I'm fine- just annoyed.

Today's adventure, in the aftermath of said robbery, was tons of fun. Or maybe it was just tons of work. As is the procedure, after my phone is snatched, I have to call the company and put a stop on my SIM card. Done. Of course you have to actually know your own number and 2 other numbers you often call (which is funny b/c who actually dials the numbers anymore?) but that was out of the way. My remaining credit and my phone numbers that I saved to the SIM are safe. Step 2 is going to the Safaricom Care Center to get a new SIM card and recover my old number. Seems straight forward. I went to Safaricom House (the big building named for the company). That wasn't it. But some friendly escaris (guards) told me to go to the old Safaricom building near Sarit Center. So off I go. This one's even named "Safaricom Care Center" so being the direction follower that I am, I went in- through all the crazy security. Nope not it. The lady at the desk sends me TO Sarit Center. Lower Ground Floor. Ok. Went to Sarit, lower ground floor, Safricom store. STILL not the one. They said "Same floor, just across". FINALLY get to the right store, get a replacement SIM, recover my number, find out I can't actually recover my contacts (SAD). Ok. Now time to get back to work. I get in the matatu and tried to make a call and find out that even though my number has allegedly been recovered, its still blocked from service. Nice. I finish my work, talk to a few friends who tell me I just have to add more credit. Tried it. Didn't work. I finally get through to Customer Care and a machine gives me the directions "Simply dial *180*8*yournumber*youroldpin*somethingIcouldn'tunderstand#somethingelese. " Yeah, that's not going to happen. I finally got through to an actual person who tells me that I had to call them, verify all this info again, and then he can unlock my number. So why did I have to go all the way to the Care Center if they couldn't do that for me there? And why didn't they tell me I had to do all this to get my number to work??????

So here's the deal, if I usually call you or you happen to call me or if you just want me to have your number, give me a call or SMS me your number. Mine is still the same... I think.