When I got into the shop this morning, there were doughnuts. God I love Doughnuts! I'm a fan of pastries in general. Before I left my first job had already canceled. They scheduled me today in the southwest part of town. This is probably the part of town I know the least. The first house I went to had a fence all the way around it. It was a Hispanic guy who lived here and when I showed up he was across the street under a tree talking to some other guy. He obviously didn't speak much English, but he explained to me that he has been out of town and wasn't sure why I should be there. The lawn was a mess with various things. Inside they had large statues of Jesus and Mary both with rosaries wrapped around their neck. He spoke to a woman there who explained that they were accidentally disconnected and needed to be reconnected. But as she was saying this I turned on the TV and cartoon network was on, so I explained to them that they currently had cable.
Then I picked up a job near one of the nicest parks in town. When I got there no one answered the door. Then I took a peak in their backyard and the job looked a lot more involved than I originally thought, so I was glad to call it not at home and leave. I had some time to kill so I read a while before going to my next job.
Next was a house that was kind of small and nondescript. No one answered the door right away, than an older lady showed up from around the side of the house and said she was going to get her son. He obviously just woke, shirtless he offered as an excuse that everyone in the house are big drinkers. The problem was a really low signal and I traced it all the way to the tap, so I had to give the job to the next person down the chain. Though it took time and I get nothing towards my daily quota for it.
My next job was at a run down apartment building a ways away. This is the sort of place where the stairs are rusted and the concrete is falling apart. All I had to do here was show the woman how to work her remote. This was a very quick job but the first one that actually goes towards my workload for the day, and it 11:30 a.m.
The next job was another one that I picked up. This was a house that I believe is the southern most area that my office handles. What's ridiculous is that there is another office less than a mile away while this area is at least 30 minutes away from my office. All I had to do here was replace the cable to her house which she cut while doing yard work. She needed to leave, so I worked quickly and got out of there.
After a short bathroom break I forged ahead to my next job. This was another little house. The guy explained to me what was going on but of course it wasn't happening while I was there. So I looked around and replaced various things in and around the house. While I was in the basement I noticed that the windows were blocked with a plastic with stars decorated on it. the whole far side of the basement was decorated with this same plastic as a backdrop. There were two mattresses laying on there side and a rather large sound system in front. I'm not sure if I really want to know what goes on down here. In the end I just had to leave and hope I fixed the problem.
The next place was answered by a very elderly woman, who looks like a man. I just had to set up a box that her nephew had picked up for her from on of our offices. Eventually he showed up as well and was curious about what he did wrong, but really it was our fault and I should have never had to show up.
The next job was another house. The man greeted me at the door and mentioned that whatever the problem was it was no longer happening. I took a look around and saw nothing wrong, so I cancelled it and left.
I called in and picked up one last job. An install. This was a retirement apartment complex in the north west part of town that has recently been built where an old amusement park used to stand. This woman was moving in and had her two daughters and their husbands there to help her move in. There was a lot of confusion it trying to figure out what exactly I was to do. One guy would say something to me, while another would say under his breath, "Don't listen to him, he doesn't know what he's saying." It was interesting how everyone was going out of there way to try and make her feel comfortable, dragging people in from the hall to introduce to her. This was going to be her first night here. She mentioned that she spent her whole life in Michigan until about three weeks ago. In fact she seemed to really enjoy talking to me. Told me how she had all her teeth removed by Michigan State University, because they were infected, and they only replaced them about a month ago. She also mentioned about how she worked at Arby's for about 14 years and when she mentioned she needed time off for this surgery they told her not to come back. She was nice, she reminded me of my step-dad's mom. She seemed very nervous about his endeavor, she kept talking about the move and how she's out here because all her family had moved out here. I kept telling her it's good to be with your family, I kept re-assuring her.