how i lost $120

days since getting sick: 29.

someone once said that bad things always happen in threes, and if nothing else, yesterday was indisputable proof for me of that. not one, not two, but three guys in my life showed their true colors yesterday (read: they demonstrated their genuine douchebaggery) and thus turned me off from interacting with them anymore. one was a former flame who ignored me upon passing him on 22nd street, one was a friend with potential who brought up the "friend from home," and one was a potential date who turned out to be the biggest meathead on the planet.

i guess it's a sign that i'm beginning to accept the fact that i'm single — and, frankly, will probably be for a very long time — because i was more pissed off by what happened at the student travel agency than by any of the aforementioned manboys. you see, last march, i bought airline tickets to visit the infamous § in florida. when it turned out that i couldn't go, i was able to easily get a refund for my ticket on airtran from washington to ft. lauderdale. the return ticket, however, was more complicated. i booked it on delta, through student travel, on a flight from ft. lauderdale to new york (where i was going to see my brother in performance at carnegie hall). i called delta, in march, to try to get it refunded. they wouldn't, but they said that i could use the cost of the flight, minus a penalty fee, as a voucher toward any future flight. okay, fine. so i decided to use this voucher toward my flight home for christmas.

i went to the travel agency yesterday and told this to the agent. he rolled his eyes at me and said that i probably didn't have any voucher. but he called delta anyway and found out that i was right ("oh, really? that's surprises me," he said to the representative on the phone with an arched eyebrow). but then he crunched the numbers with me. you see, i bought the ticket for $120. delta charges a penalty fee of $75, which should leave me with $45. however, since i booked the flight through student travel they charged me their own penalty of $25. so by that time, i was down to $20, but hey it's better than nothing so i was more than willing to use it for a flight. hmm, apparently not. the agent told me that my voucher is only good for flights on the ft. lauderdale --> new york route. what the heck?!!? i have never even heard of an airline of pulling such shit like that.

by this point, i was so pissed off by the agent's negligent and cavalier attitude that i left, without even having bought my ticket to go home in december. and even though i was planning on going ahead and buying my ticket at the agency regardless, i was so ticked by the fact that the agent wasn't willing to help me out that i decided to just take care of it online at home. as someone who used to work in the service sector, i am always very put off by poor customer service, but i digress.

this incident, in conjunction with the heart attack i nearly had after seeing my visa bill for last month, made me realize the necessity of me being a little more conservative with my money. or, maybe, i need to be more reserved in general: i am sick of meeting all these guys and them turning out to be assholes, usually before anything even begins. and the best way to avoid this, of course, is not to even meet them in the first place. perhaps, then, this is the best course of action for me to take for now. for in the end, a new boy is like a roundtrip flight: he seems to be taking you somewhere at first, but in the end, you're right back where you started.