This was wriiten a couple of years ago but it still seems relevant

If Symptoms Persist...

Growing up as a kid, i had this thing for television. We didn't have cable tv, no Dstv, no HItv not even STV. All we had were Nta 2 channel 5, channel 10, channel 7, LTV and a few others but i still loved watching anyway. I knew the days and times of my favourite cartoons and tv programmes like Voltron, Superted, Robin hood, Dr. Who, Battle of the planets and many others. And at night, my dad would make me watch the network news. It was a ritual i must observe. Looking back now, i think it paid off. But that's not why am writing this. Am writing because am angry again. I woke up this morning thinking about all the different commercials that i watched back then especially the drugs' commercials. There was always this particular warning at the end of everyone of them; 'If symptoms persist after two days, consult your physician' and i wondered if people really heeded this little piece of advice. It was important they did, because if one had a nagging headache for instance, it would require more than taking two tablets of panadol at three-hourly intervals to stop the pain. Then again what if you were to completely ignore it or pretend there was no headache, the people around you will suffer because your ill health would inadvertently affect you in every possible way and you'd end up taking it out on them or at best they end up as caregivers cause you ignored a minor headache or refused to see your doctor, if you have one, when the symptoms persisted. Exactly..., that's what the network service providers are doing to their "headache" right now and we the consumers or customers, 'who are never right' in this great country of ours, are suffering. I call it their "headache" because its their duty to provide this service and a disservice not to. I don't understand and still can't fathom why i have to try and load a recharge card for two days and it still wont load and the last message i got from my network providers was "...it would be loaded within 24hrs...". What i don't understand is, do they not know that the service has been terrible 'or is it horrible' and have they been intentionally ignoring it or pretending everything's fine? It beats me. I really hate to do this but MTN or is it mtness has left me no choice. Loading or recharging has been a problem for some days now and the calls, when they eventually connect, lack clarity and in the worst case scenarios, you may not even hear your callee. And in some other cases, i have lost some air time without actually making calls or sending sms. What is going on? The symptoms persist and i think the best thing to do now since they have refused to consult their doctors is...i better not say it here but this is so awesomely insane.