The Cable Company Asked Me for a Death Certificate

True story: two weeks after my dad died, I spent 45 minutes on hold with the cable company only to have the rep say, “I’m sorry, but I need a death certificate before I can cancel your father’s account.”

I laughed. Then I cried. Then I mailed them the death certificate.

That was the moment I realized: grief is hard enough without adding a scavenger hunt for paperwork on top.

Here are the other top four bureaucratic absurdities I ran into (so you don’t have to learn them the hard way):

1. The electric company wanted a death certificate to take his name off the bill

2. One bank froze the joint account for three weeks because they “saw a death notice”

3. SiriusXM tried to charge me for a full year after cancellation

4. The DMV made me bring the car title, death certificate, and my birth certificate to prove I was his daughter

Every single one of these has a workaround — and I’m putting them all in the workbook so you never have to sob on hold with Xfinity.

If you’re nodding along thinking “This sounds exactly like my life right now,” get my workbook. It has all kinds of tips and tricks.

You deserve one less ridiculous phone call.

With love and hard-won shortcuts,

Jessica