My day started at an apartment building near a local university. There was a young Chinese guy moving in, his mother and younger brother were there to help move him in. I went out to try and find where to hook his apartment up. After searching for half an hour I finally got in touch with someone who told me that where I needed to go was on the roof, which was locked and the only person who can unlock it was off today. So I had to reschedule the job.
So I picked up a new job. This was in a gated community that I have driven past many of times through the years. The houses here were huge. As I rolled up I could see a landscaping crew coming out from the back, so I immediately knew they had cut the line. And sure enough when I got out back they had. So I worked with a guy who said he was the son of the guy who lives here, to repair the line. Eventually I saw his father, who looked rather old and moved around gingerly. The son was keeping a close eye on everything to make sure it was all done right, probably because he would be living here soon enough. Once I finished outside I went inside to check the TVs. In the bedroom I saw pictures of this guy with Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Henry Kissinger, some were autographed.
Next I headed east towards the burbs for an install. There was a tall lanky black man here. He was of good humor and very comfortable to be around, he reminded me of Bill Cosby in this manner. As I was installing he started to ask me what I like to do. I told him I like music, he mentioned that he mainly listens to jazz. I told him the jazz artists I liked and he stood there shocked. At one point he mentioned that he was shocked that some white kid listened to that stuff. He then showed me his record collection. All original stuff from the 60's. He then gave me one of his records. I felt a little bad for taking it. So I helped him hook up his stereo and his DVD player and his VCR. I felt I should at least earn it. The whole while we talked about jazz. He played records for me. Then when I was done he sat me down in front of his TV and we watched DVDs of live performances of these artists. Before I knew it, my lunch had past and I should already be at my next. But who cares I was having fun and I can't remember I could honestly say that during this job.
The next job was in a different gated community south of the university. The woman here was old and very clueless. When I explained that the only way to get the Internet to her computer was to have a cord going through her bedroom, she got very frustrated and started complaining that this city is so backwards compared to Arizona. Apparently she has a house there too where she lives in the winter. In fact she said she would be there in a month. I was really hopping she would cancel and save me the trouble, but no such luck. One thing I noticed was that all the TVs in the house were set to Fox News. I tried to finish as quick as possible, because I was running a little behind and still had one more job.
My last job was in a rickety apartment. I haven't been here before. The stairs were rusty. There was an old man here who answered the door with no shirt on. He told me that his TV would turn black and white on HBO at night. This is the second time I've heard this in two days. So I contacted my supervisor. He said he would check some things. I replaced the box and told the guy he might want to check his TV out.