The day of almighty Idiots

It started just like any other work day ... except the fact that it has been raining non-stop ... and as fun as it sounds, it is not fun when you have to be outside most of the day. But anyway, that's the job I picked and I won't complain about it.

Idiot #1

Customer requests to call him before I show up at his house for installation. So, I try to be nice and actually call the guy and warn him that I am coming, since it is the first appointment for the day ( i.e. I was planning to be at his house around 8:15 am ) and really I don't want to see him jumping out in the suit that he was born in when I show up at the door. No answer on the phone, but an answering machine kicks in. At this point I am assuming the guy is still sleeping.
I get to the house and knock really loud on the front door. No answer. As I am about to leave a person comes out to the van parked on the driveway ( the insignia on the van indicates it belongs to a company specializing in house renovations ). I approach the person and ask if the owner is available.

Contractor: "Yes. He is inside the house."

I go inside the house and meet the owner.

Me: "Morning. How are you? I called you earlier and left a message as well was knocking on the front door and there was no answer. I was actually about to give up and leave."

Owner: "Oh yeah. I heard the phone ring but did not feel like answering it."
Thinking to myself: [Understandable. Maybe he is screening the calls.]

Me: "I am sorry, I thought you requested for us to call you before I arrive and that is the only reason I called. I guess you can't hear very well at the back of the house when somebody is knocking on the front door."

Owner: "Oh no. You can hear everything. I heard the knocking, but I didn't really feel like coming up from the basement."

Me: "I am sorry, were you not expecting me? Did you cancel the order and I just did not get the message? "

Owner: "No, I didn't cancel the order. I still would like it installed today."

Thinking to myself: [I wish we had a refusal of service to idiots policy.]

Since it was my first call, I didn't know that I would have that same thought again .... and again ....


Idiot #2

Second call of the day. House looks freshly renovated. ( Can I say freshly? Who really cares ..... I am saying it anyway. ) The cable line that was running to the house previously is 'missing' and a new line has to be placed going from the main pole to the house. I can see that the line that was previously there is laying behind the backyard fence in the backlane.

Me: "What happened with the line that was here before? "

Owner: "It was getting in my way when I was painting the house, so I just cut it off."

Thinking to myself: [is every person I run into today will be stupid?]

Me: "Ok. No problem. I'll place a new line for you and we'll get your services going here."

I look on the outside of the house to find out where the original line was coming into the house. I fail to find the location ( generally it is around the same location where the phone line comes into the house). Anyway, I start tracing phone lines to help me in my 'adventure'. This wonderful hunt leads me to a concrete step underneath the patio door into which the phone lines magically disappear [into the concrete step that is].

I ask the owner: "Is this location where the old cable line was coming into the house?"

Owner: "Yes. Well, that is before we put a concrete step there."

Me: "Ok then. No problem, I can drill a new opening at a different location, but just out of curiosity ... what are you guys going to do if something happens with the phone line and the phone company has to access their wiring underneath this concrete step?"

Owner: "That is an interesting question. I never thought about it."

Thinking to myself: [No s*** Sherlock. I can see you never thought about it. Maybe you should think about it and think about some other things too since I see you are renovating this house yourself. I wonder what else you poured concrete over without thinking about it.]

Idiot #3

Work order: "Please install an additional outlet."

I arrive at a residence. Customer welcomes me in.

I start my work installing additional outlet. About half way through my installation, the following conversation takes place.

Owner: "Were you at a nursing home a block away this morning?"

Me: "Yes. I did have a call there this morning."

Owner: "I thought that was you. I work there so I guess it was you I saw. You work for the cable company right?"

Thinking to myself: [No, I work for the electrical company and that is why I am here installing an additional outlet for cable services for you. What did I do to deserve so many idiots in one day?]


Anyway, that's the end of my rant for the day. Although I rant about my 'wonderful' stories I hope you don't get the idea that I am miserable at my job. I actually love my job and it's days like these keep it very 'interesting' and make every day different so I don't get bored.

Challenge: How many TV's, that are located in different rooms, can you watch simultaneously?

It is tough when English is not your first language ( or for that matter any language that is native to the country in which you live, but is not your mother tongue ).
Sometimes I wonder if it is I who cannot communicate properly and get my questions across correctly or can it actually be that the people I have to communicate with are just plain stupid.

Last installation of the day.
I arrive at a home to install Internet service. To make sure I have proper splitter configuration in order to get the signal I want to the modem I ask the customer my regular question.

"How many TV's in the home do you have hooked up with cable services?"

Side note to the above question: [ Given that it is not illegal to have more than 1 TV hooked up and my company fully supports multiple outlets at no extra charge. It also helps to establish which connections I can eliminate in order to have minimal signal loss for all outlets in the home by eliminating unneeded splitters. ]

Customer answers: "One."

Looking at the connections I can tell that 3 TV lines are connected already. So per my usual routine I like to double check with the customer to make sure I got it correctly.

"So, to make sure I understand correctly, you only have 1 TV hooked up with cable service that you watch and after my installation today you will have 1 TV plus an Internet outlet. Is that correct?"

Customer: "Yes."
Me: "Great."

I go on to change the connections to accommodate my installation. After the installation of the services I check the TV that the customer said they watch to ensure I have acceptable signal strength and reception. I wish the customer to have a good day and make my way to my vehicle. As I am about to drive away I see the customer waving at me attempting to get my attention. I get out of my vehicle and go the door once again.

Customer: "My other TV's are not working anymore."
Me: "Other TV's?"
Customer: "Yeah. The TV's in my 2 bedrooms."
Me: "I am sorry. I thought you told me that you only watch cable services on one TV?"
Customer: "I thought you meant how many TV's I watch at the same time."

I rest my case.

But if you think I should change something in my line of questioning, please feel free to e-mail me or make comments on the blog.

P.S. I hope so far you are enjoying these [hopefully] amusing stories.

Priorities

Technology. With each coming day we add more and more technology to our daily lives. More computers, more cable/sattelite channels, more Web sites. Where do we draw a limit and will we ever draw a limit? Is technology taking priority over other things in our lives? ... perhaps a lot more important things?
Those are all fine questions ... but either way here is my story.

The situation I am about to describe took place on a Wednesday afternoon. As sad as it sounds it is true. I attended an Internet service installation call at a residence in the housing complex for people on financial assistance from the government ( i.e. people that generally barely make it and should be 'strapped' for money).

Once I have arrived a woman opened the door and invited me in. She looked roughly about 40 years old, not that age has anything to do with it as I am sure person of other age could have done the same thing. Two small girls were also present in the household. I would say they were roughly 5 years old and 3 years old. I proceeded to take a look around the house to see what I was about to face [in terms of work to perform the installation].

After checking the computer I advised the customer that unfortunately the computer did not meet minimum requirements to run broadband service and will have to be upgraded in order for me to install the service. The woman seemed quite dissappointed and said that she will have to call us back to reschedule the appointment. Less than 2 hours of me leaving the residence the woman called me back and said that she got a different computer and requested for me to come back to finish the job and install Internet service for her.

One other call was cancelled that day so I had no problem coming back and doing the job. So, I went back. As I was installing the service the woman mentioned how lucky she was to get such a great deal on the computer that had all the features to run broadband service ( i.e. enough RAM, processor speed, network card, etc.) and she only spent $200 on it. What took place next shocked me, but it was not my place to make any comments or was it? The older daughter approached her mother and the following conversation took place.

Daughter: "Mom, I am hungry."

Mother: "Go eat some cereal."

Daughter: "But I don't want cereal. I had it this morning."

Mother ( Noticebly irritated voice) : "That's too bad. We don't have anything else right now."

Daughter: "Can you cook something?"

Mother ( Yelling) : "Are you deaf??? I told you we don't have anything else right now and we are not getting paid 'till Friday from welfare so go eat some cereal and shut up."

So at this point my question becomes "Where are your priorities?".
Is the Internet service really that improtant to you that you are willing to spend $200 that same day to get a different computer so you can get Internet vs. going out and buying some food so your daughters are not starving?
Is the technology ruining our sense of responsibility and priorities? Or we ourselves becoming "screwed up" and cannot control ourselves with our wants and totally ignore our responsibilities as parents and as humans in general?

Anyway, that's my rant for the day. Perhaps this situation only seems strange to me, but for everybody's sake, especially for those who yet cannot take care of themselves, let's set our priorities straight.

First Post

Hey, everybody!

I am not sure yet what I will post on this blog, hopefully stories from work as mentioned in the description. I will try to keep this blog as current and updated as possible, but apologize in advance if it does not happen all the time.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the stories to come and if you don't find some of them funny at all .... oh well, not my problem. LOL. Seriously though, I will probably will write some stories from work that may not seem funny at all, but I am going to write them anyway as I need a place to vent and this is it.

Disclaimer

I do not mean to offend any people by postings in this blog. For such purpose I cannot mention any places where these events take place or any names. If any posting personally offends you please e-mail me at molodoi[AT]shaw.ca , so I can remove it as soon as possible. ( Note: I am assuming you'll know that you have to replace [AT] with @ ) .