Penny-pinching customer service: This sign of the times is only going to get worse with more layoffs

I've gone five full days without television, which as a child of the '60s is akin to a violation of 8th Amendment protections.

Worse, I've had no CNBC during that time to measure the current Bear market rally for its legs.

I'm in a dispute with my landlord about the company's responsibility to provide a place that is cable and internet ready.

The place is an old home a couple of blocks north of one of this nation's most respected centers of enlightenment and research, Vanderbilt University. I also receive medical treatment there for my leukemia.

Yet I am stuck in a home -- that does have a cable outlet and cable running into the home -- which I spotted when I agreed to take the place. But the COMCAST guy now tells me the cable is so old that it won't support the basic service I need.

So I told the management company. It replied that it wasn't its responsibility. Old homes come with limitations. Then their smart ass attorney writes and tells me not to be so stressed and how to handle my leukemia. Pretty insulting stuff.

I'm writing this because it is indicative of what I am seeing from so many places -- a sharp decline in service to the public and a penny-pinching attitude that ignores all fairness and integrity.

As layoffs mount, we'll see more of this. And that creates the necessity to only communicate in writing with people you are doing business with. What they say vocally will be forgotten, or you'll be told you didn't understand.

Protect yourselves. You'll be surprised as to who is going to cheat you next.