e-mail crap, part two

(Note: read previous post first)
I went to see my ISP today.
They are unbelievably dense about the problem.
The guy tried saying that they're upgrading the security on their server, so no one can get through with spam or spyware.
Fine, I said, I don't want spam or spyware either, but I would certainly like my friends to be able to e-mail me.
I explained that NO ONE had been able to get through; everyone's e-mails were bouncing back.
At first he tried explaining that as proof that the system was working, that this must mean there was something wrong with my friends' computers, they must be sending viruses or spam or something unsavory.
Um, NO.
Nice try.
No.
I showed him the stack of error messages that people had forwarded to my Gmail account, from everything that had bounced back.
He took a highlighter and marked their addresses, saying he'd have the boss enter them manually into the system as "safe" sometime on MONDAY.
Excusemewhat?
What about everyone else? What about the people who comment on my blog, who have their comments bounce back to them? I'm not going to have each and every one of their e-mail addresses entered into my ISP's system. Some of them may not even want me to HAVE their e-mail address. Besides, isn't that done through Blogger anyway? Even Blogger stuff was bouncing back. AND wordpress, too!
Still, the guy didn't get it. He just kept ranting the same schpiel about how they were cracking down on spam and spyware. "We won't allow it!" He kept saying, over and over.
He took my list of "acceptable" addresses and said he would ask the boss to mark them as "acceptable". Other than that, I really don't think anything was accomplished.
The guy said "Well, can't you get Yahoo mail or something?"
"Um, I DO have G-Mail," I said, pointing to the printouts of G-Mail I had just finished showing him. "But that's not the point. Part of what I pay you guys for is a functioning e-mail address, and right now I don't seem to be receiving that service."
I swear I wasn't bitchy about it, but dammit, this guy just wasn't GETTING THE POINT.
The way it stands, no "new" people can send me e-mail.
Here's why that's frightening: it has effectively killed my online graphics business. I can't receive any new orders from new people.
I suppose I could receive orders via g-mail, but I couldn't sent the actual graphics through that service. Yesterday I tried sending larger files through g-mail, and none of them would go through. I kept getting a "server error."
Plus, G-Mail is really slow, because I am on dial-up.
I really wish there were more ISP options available for people like me, out here in the middle of nowhere.
.