Last month I logged on to my computer and instead of my desktop on the screen, there was a notice that Qwest had to reconfigure my modom.

I tried to use the page with it's boxes to be filled in with my user name and email address, to help Qwest reconfigure my modom, to no avail.

Qwest, MSN, and I have been together for eons. Except, I don't much care for MSN and haven't ever used hot mail or visited their home page.

Now what was my user name and password?

Who knew? Not me. Not Qwest. MSN knew but they weren't telling me online, because I couldn't get past the Qwest pages.

I then called the Qwest phone number listed on the page and spent three hours, time I will never get back, with a young man in the Philippines. A very mannerly fellow who called me Ma'am, at the end of each sentence. "I am putting you on hold now Ma'am, is that all right with you Ma'am? I will be right back with you Ma'am, is that all right Ma'am?"

After putting me on hold many times, and together, many times, we typed code, and were shuffled back to the first, "Qwest must reconfigure your modom" page, we did our best to help Qwest reconfigure my modom.

Until in his frustration and to my relief to get away from the phone, he informed me that the modom was broken, and I needed to call the Qwest business office on Monday and order a new modom.

The modom couldn't have been broken. I was online. The Quest page would go from one Qwest page to another and back. The modom showed I was online, and the MSN broadband status showed that it was active. I was on line and the modom was working.

Which didn't matter because Qwest wouldn't allow me to get past it's page.

On Monday, I spent another two hours while Qwest reconfigured my modom. More time I will never get back,

Which wouldn't be so bad, but for the awful, cheerful, electronic voice that told me how important my phone call was to Qwest and to stay on the line while she informed me over, and over, and over, in that oh, so, cheerful voice, how I could save money if I bundled my services with Qwest.

I wanted to bundle Qwest into a box filled with Rocks and that too cheerful woman and throw them both into the river.

I'm old, I have more money than time, and not enough of either from my perspective.

The questions are? and I still want to know... Why did Qwest need to reconfigure my modom?

Why does Qwest outsource their customer service and tech support?

Most importantly, Why do they have the annoyingly cheerful voice, repeating ove,r and over, how important my phone call is to Qwest and how Qwest would be so happy to save me money if I used more of their services?

If my call was so important, why was I sitting on hold? and since I am trying to get one of their services to work properly, and it's not, why would I want more of their services?

I am waiting patiently, and have been for quite some time, I believe some soft and soothing music would be in order, or just some quiet, with a soft, sincere, "Sorry for your wait." every five minutes or so. Or some sort of a refund for my time.

I may have to send Qwest a bill.

Real people can be too chipper early in the morning before the second cup of coffee. I don't have to deal with most of them. A disembodied, voice recording, with that much cheerful should be against the law, at least before noon, and probably always.