I called on Friday to drop our Roanoke Times subscription from daily to Sunday only.  We’ve never really gotten that much out of getting the paper every day, although I have enjoyed it from time to time.  Since Charlie was born, though, we hardly even look at it.  And we’re left with nagging guilt every time we haul another stack of unread papers to the curb for recycling.  But we wanted to keep the Sunday paper for those occasional quiet afternoons — plus Becky usually grabs enough coupons to more than pay for our subscription.

In any case, I’ve been putting off and dreading this call for weeks, because companies have made canceling any service by telephone such a dreadful experience.  And my past experience with the Roanoke Times customer service department had been less than stellar.  But this time it was different.  Great, really.  I said, “I’d like to change my subscription to Sunday only.”  She said, “Sure.”  She took my account information and by Saturday morning there was no paper.  Just like that.  Maybe it’s because I called at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon and she just wanted to go home.  But still, it was a pleasant surprise.

Unfortunately, their website still stinks.  Sigh.