Coffee, Pills and My iPad

I received a call from my daughter this morning and she asked how I was doing. I debated telling her about my sore shoulder and generally feeling out of sorts, but I was pretty sure that it was a rhetorical question. I told her that I was fine and asked how she was doing. She said fine and then I asked her what she wanted.

Don’t get me wrong, Arwen will call just to talk and see how I am, but my “spidey” sense was tingling today. She said “What are you doing between 3:00 and 5:00PM today?”

I was pretty sure that I had left that block of time open just in case I was needed, so I told her “Nothin’” She asked if I wouldn’t mind going to her place and letting a TV repair guy in. Like I said, I didn’t have anything pressing so I got the particulars and psyched myself up for doing something in five hours. When the time came, I had taken my antihistamine pill, made a cup of coffee to take, brought my iPad to read my book and listen to music and I made sure that I would get there with about ten minutes to spare. I was as ready as ready can be.

This is the kind of thing I don’t mind doing now that I am retired. It was always a pain in the ass to take an afternoon or morning off in order to meet one of the utility companies that were coming to hook up a service. There was a time when I was still working and the cable guy needed to come and check out why our cable connection wasn’t working. I had called two days earlier when some guy that was digging a trench in the back alley cut through the cable. I was watching TV at the time and one second it was one alien killing another and the next second there was nothing but static. I suppose that it could have been part of the show, but when I looked out the window and saw the guy with the machine digging the trench in front of the cable box I was pretty sure the static wasn’t caused by aliens.

I called the cable company right away and told them that the cable was out and if they got a guy out here right away they could fix the problem because the trench is still open. The girl asked if there would be someone at home next Thursday. I said “Why?”

“Well, we need to send a technician out to assess what the problem is.”

I said “The problem is that some idiot just dug a trench in the back alley and while it was chopping up stones and roots and things it also chewed up the cable!”

“It could be a problem with the line in the house.” She said in a very sweet voice.

“It’s not in the house, the line was just cut in the alley!” I was starting to get a little angry.

“We just have to be sure. Will there be someone at home next Thursday from 12:00 to 5:00?”

“How about I give you my cell number and have the guy call me when he is leaving the place getting serviced before mine and I will meet him there.” Of course that is what I did and when I got home on Thursday at 1:15 there was a card in the mailbox saying that the cable company was there and no one was at home. FUCK!!!

The upshot was that I took the following Tuesday off and the technician determined that the cable had been cut in the alley. He ran a temporary cable across the alley which didn’t get buried for six months.

I wonder when service companies got the upper hand? I can remember that if you had a problem they would make an appointment based on when you would be home. Yes, they would work evenings and weekends, but it was their job. Sometimes jobs have to be done outside of the hours 9 to 5 and I personally don’t think that there should be extra pay for working those hours. Whatever hours you work, have good things about them and bad things. It is just work! Ahhh…well…

When I arrived at my daughters, the guy was waiting for me and just a little pissed off. So, I didn’t need the coffee, the antihistamine or the iPad. I could have used the time that I took to gather all of that stuff up though. He told me that he had a lot of calls today. I said to him “Sorry, but I’m just not used to anyone being on time.” Under my breath I said “ Go FUCK yourself asshole!”