"I Was A Cable Guy..."

savatage1973

Addicted Member
A little long, but well-worth the read--I was amused, anyways.

Perhaps more than most because a close friend of mine did this job for a number of years (before absolutely "hitting that wall"), and used to regale me with the "horror stories".

When he first started, as "low man on the totem pole", he was primarily assigned to perform disconnects (and other services) in BAD neighborhoods, under constant verbal and physical assault by unhappy customers.

Then, he "graduated" and moved on to the "expansion team", stringing service lines and doing installations in rural Appalacian territories--no indoor plumbing, but they had a TV. Spending days and weeks on the road staying in "motels" that looked more like a run-down "U-StoreIt" than a residence (I've seen the pictures).

Last straw was being "promoted" to a designated "route" in an affluent area, where the homes were nice, but the people weren't, and everyone needed "assistance" of some sort practically every other day--you know it's bad when you recognize every name and address on your daily route sheet before you leave the shop.

Enjoy!

EDIT--I forgot the damned link to the article I was referring to: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cable-guy-saw-worst-america-141612001.html
 
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Hard to believe what she put up with.

I don´t think anyone would put up with that shit here. I don´t take shit from a customer; and my boss doesn´t expect me to.

Not that I´ve ever really had to. Most customers are reasonable.
 
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A little long, but well-worth the read--I was amused, anyways.

Perhaps more than most because a close friend of mine did this job for a number of years (before absolutely "hitting that wall"), and used to regale me with the "horror stories".

When he first started, as "low man on the totem pole", he was primarily assigned to perform disconnects (and other services) in BAD neighborhoods, under constant verbal and physical assault by unhappy customers.

Then, he "graduated" and moved on to the "expansion team", stringing service lines and doing installations in rural Appalacian territories--no indoor plumbing, but they had a TV. Spending days and weeks on the road staying in "motels" that looked more like a run-down "U-StoreIt" than a residence (I've seen the pictures).

Last straw was being "promoted" to a designated "route" in an affluent area, where the homes were nice, but the people weren't, and everyone needed "assistance" of some sort practically every other day--you know it's bad when you recognize every name and address on your daily route sheet before you leave the shop.

Enjoy!

EDIT--I forgot the damned link to the article I was referring to: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cable-guy-saw-worst-america-141612001.html
My prior lighthearted response post notwithstanding, this article is a strong dose of the reality of working in a hostile self-entitled environment with few choices.
Thank much for sharing it.
 
I changed cable companies and after 27 - yes 27 phone calls - online chat etc. they finally sent their A team with 2 trucks and technicians and fixed it in under 30 minutes. The A team kept saying how the "installation guy" missed (or fu ked up) the installation. I got their attention by filing a report with the FCC which then served a report to the cable company - The FCC's word - served - that got their attention. This is in an established neighborhood - not in a rural area.

Service in any industry is not what it used to be. Sigh

Anyway, All of you great AK members have a very Happy New Year!
 
Hard to believe what she put up with.

I don´t think anyone would put up with that shit here. I don´t take shit from a customer; and my boss doesn´t expect me to.

Not that I´ve ever really had to. Most customers are reasonable.
The difference must have something to do with the way 'business ' works in the two places.
We're being pushed to the American model in all sorts of ways.
 
Very, very little in that article passes the "smell test".

Yes, there are all kinds in the world, but that essay traffics very heavily in the realm of popular stereotypes and we should all be wary of narratives which confirm our prejudices.
 
Very, very little in that article passes the "smell test".

Yes, there are all kinds in the world, but that essay traffics very heavily in the realm of popular stereotypes and we should all be wary of narratives which confirm our prejudices.

Until you have worked ‘in the field’, in thousands of homes, in thousands of basements, I’ll
tell you the author’s description of disgusting job sites is not exaggerated.
No need for me to recall old war stories. After you come home from work with the smell of death and who knows what else on your breath, change clothes in the yard and shower with Ajax maybe you’ll understand a real “smell test”
Nothing to do with prejudices or stereotypes, everything to do with the crap the service people put up with daily.
I was never a cable guy but ‘was there,seen that’.
Anyway—— Welcome to AK and your first post.
 
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Yep, I spent 20 years in the local CATV industry ... started with an Over the air Pay TV system circa 1980 (Pay TV movie service on Microwave signals in the DC metro area - typically well-heeled community -= some nice, some snobs), Then 82-84, did service calls for an over the air Scrambled UHF channel Pay-TV outfit for a year before I became the test-bench manager. Afterwards '84-86, got a job in SMATV - Satellite-dish Master Antenna TV (distribution systems for apartment complexes with dedicated satellite dishes and such). After i showed I had technical skills, I got promoted to managing dishes and head end gear. 88-92 - got a job with Cable TV Montgomery (MontCo MD) and did mostly dish and head end work and was glad not to crawl in and around customers homes, and did more head end type work (system rebuilds and such) in the early- 90s. For '93-4 I got a job with Media General running ad insertion equipment over fiber to 6 local systems, then fell into a Web design job and never looked back!

Verizon wasn't even on the CATV map back then.
 
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Totally real writeup IMO. My step dad was a OO for Allied then Bekins and when I turned 6ft tall I started spending my summers humping and driving till I put myself thru college (in fact I got my first job at IBM due to a move...). Dont see as many people in a day when you are doing long haul but moving peoples entire house lets you see all the little secrets. The sex gamers were actually not too bad to deal with as they wanted discretion as you toted the 'Vietnamese pleasure basket' across 2 front lawns and in other houses it was easy to spot the spouse abusers... and then the utter security BS of moving someone into the same NYC apt. building where Maureen Reagan (yeah, Dutch's daughter) lived so I nod my head in silent agreement with everything she wrote.

Ps - I tip all my installers or delivery people. from being on both ends, even just $20 does go a long way.
 
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