My day started at a house on a street I didn't even know existed before today. There are a few little streets in this town that are nestled mid-block between two other streets. I was met at the door by a black man who told me that everything is fine so I canceled it.
The next job was in an apartment building for retirees. There was an old man here. His TV was possesed. It would open up the menu and change the settings. I changed everything to the way it should be, then watched as the TV proceeded to open the menu again. It was freaky. I told him to get a new TV.
The next job was in the retirement neighborhood. There was an old man here. He had a universal remote, the kind with the giant buttons. Because his brother was pretty much blind. they changed the batteries and now it doesn't control the cable box anymore. So I looked online and found the code.
I'd like to take some time now to talk about how much I love my girlfriend. I'm going on vacation this week and will really miss her.
Now, back to cable talk.
The next job was an apartment not too far away. In fact I did the install here. I didn't realize it at first, but the guy mentioned it and in fact he was right. He wasn't getting some channels. I chased it down to a connector that was loose. I tightened it up and everything was fine.
I then picked up another job in the country club area. This was a large house across the street from a friend of mine. A woman answered the door. She had a little dog and a really cute puppy there too. She mentioned that her TVs were not working as well as her Internet. She showed me to the TV and it was working. Then to the Internet and it was working as well. We talked about their neighbors (my friends) a while then I went to lunch.
After lunch I went to my first job in a apartment complex. No one was here, so I called ahead and went to the retirement neighborhood. There was an elderly couple here. They had bought a new HD TV and a new web TV setup from Circuit City but they wouldn't come and set it up for them, so I ended up doing it.
I then headed to another apartment complex. There was a black man here. His cable box wasn't working at all so I replaced it.
The next job was back in the retirement neighborhood. There was an old woman here, though she didn't look old enough to be retired. She said she was messing with stuff and unplugged something and her TV doesn't work anymore. I looked and hooked things back up right.
This was my last job, but it was still 3:30. I thought about laying low but got bored quick so I picked up another job. This was a house a little south. There was a Jewish woman here who was convinced I had been here before even though I hadn't. She was having problems with her Internet service. I unplugged it to check the levels, cleaned out her cookies and temporary Internet files and then everything was working fine so I left and went home.

Of the eight jobs I was scheduled today 4 turned out to be not at home and two canceled. The first two jobs were in neighboring apartment complexes and turned out to be not at home. So I picked up an extra job. This was a house up north. The job was labeled as raise cable. With notes that there was no need to contact the customer. I looked and the cable was fine. No one was home so I called and left a message asking what they wanted me to do.
The next job was in the retirement community, but nobody was home here either. So I went to an apartment complex in the same neighborhood. I was flagged down by somebody who works with the company. He just wanted to introduce himself, he only started with the company recently. He works at improving our relations with certain apartment buildings in the area. The job itself turned out to be a place I had been to about a month ago. There was a little frail old woman here. The place wreaked of cat. She had changed the input of her TV. So I switched it back and left.
As I finishing up I got a call back. It turned out that the woman wanted me to shorten a cable that was in the living room. I also ended up giving them a new remote. After this I went to lunch.
After lunch I went to an apartment in the fancy shopping district. There was a woman here that was having some strange problems with her TV. She had a fancy HD set up and when people would move it looked like it was going fast or stuttering. I had not seen this before and wasn't sure what would cause this. Her set up was so nice that she was watching Empire Strikes Back and it was the clearest I had even seen it so much so that it looked almost 3-D. I felt like I had never seen it before. I was flipping the channels and came across some old Eddie Murphy film and it was the same effect. I didn't think it was our problem but I thought I would switch the box just in case. The only DVR I had in my truck turned out not to work. So I took her original box and left for a while then came back in as though it was a brand new box, then I hooked it back up. I'm getting a little too good at the bullshitting.
The next job was a big fancy house not too far away. An older guy answered the door and led me downstairs. The TV wasn't working at all. I looked over and noticed the cable wasn't plugged into the wall at all. He blamed it on the cat. I plugged it into the wall and everything was working fine.
The next job was another house. No one was here, so I headed to the next job. This was another house. The woman here said several techs have been out and no one fixed the problem. Her reception was terrible. It took me a while to figure out, but whoever installed the original line really fucked it up, so I had to replace the whole line. Afterwords she was extremely happy.
My last job was a unit in some row housing. The door was answered by an old white woman who was hunched over. There was also a old black man here. The second I entered the guy started to speak gibberish at me. He would mumble and drool and every so often I could make a word or two, but it didn't seem to make sense. He would also follow me around. He would sit down and talk and then get louder and angrier and then get up and start flailing. I was afraid he would attack me while I was working. At one point I went into another room, I turned around and he was standing there waving his prescription bottles at me. I needed to install a phone outlet in one of the rooms, but there was no wiring, so I just stung along a really long phone chord and tapped it down so no one would trip on it. As I was leaving another black woman showed up as well as a young black man who gave them some packs of cigarettes and some change.

The day is cold as fuck. My first day was a large fancy house. The door was answered by a middle aged white man. Behind him was his Hispanic maid. One outlet wasn't working. this was a recent thing. I noticed that the connection between the EMTA and the phone wiring in the house looked flimsy and upon further inspection was in fact broken. So I replaced it in a matter much more befitting myself and went on my way.
Next I headed to another house. There was a sign outside notifying that there was a disabled child living here. The place was a large and nice. The mom was here, she told me that DVR wasn't working at all. So I replaced it. She was rushing to get to some meeting, so she left me there. I wanted to get out of there quick because I needed to find a bathroom, so I didn't wait to full load.
The next job was another nice house up north. the door was answered by a guy with a Nordic accent. He was having phone problems and was worried it was going to be something stupid or easy. The dog had a chew toy that looked like giant lips, it was pretty amusing. The problem turned out to be the phone line out back was cut. The dog may have been chewing on it. I replaced it but it still wasn't working. This was because when the guy himself tried to solve the problem he put the phone chord into the line 2 slot in the back of the EMTA instead of the line 1 slot.
The next job was at a duplex. It didn't look like much but it was really nice on the inside. A guy answered the door. He had a large German Sheppard, that looked like it could have eaten me for breakfast. He was having problems with his EMTA, which of course was fine now. I found a suspicious looking splitter which I replaced as well as an erroneous splitter which I bypassed. I was content with this solution so I went home for lunch since I was in the area.
After lunch I headed to an apartment building not too far away from where I live. I was greeted by a woman who told me she wanted to cancel her service and asked if I could just take the equipment now. I consented and took her equipment then I left and canceled the job.
I then drove out to resort town. The door was answered by a young woman who had obviously just got out of the shower. She was shocked that I was early. She had a cat that was black and white. The head was white except one black part that formed a perfect Groucho Marx mustache and another little triangle for a goatee. She was having some problems with her TV as well as her phone was never hooked up. I replaced a splitter behind the wall plate where the TV was. As for the phone it looked like someone had already set the apartment up for our phone system. I don't know if whoever did the install just didn't plug in the EMTA or if the previous residents here had it. Either way it made my job easy.
At this point I was asked to pick up another job by dispatch. I was running ahead so I agreed to take on another job. This was apartment complex no too far away. The door was answered by a Hispanic woman. She was here with her two children and they were watching some Mexican soap opera. She spent the whole time I was there pulling apart chicken with one latex glove on. The problem was that the original modem we gave them was dead. So I replaced it with one that works.
The next job was a house further up north. There was a black woman here. She said she wanted to participate in the Martin Luther King Jr. celebrations going on downtown, but it was too cold. I was here to fasten down some cables that were lying in the hallway. She had tripped and hurt herself. The whole time I was there she would ramble on. She talked like she was not going to be living here soon, but in such a way as to say she is dying. But she didn't go any further than that. She also talked about how she owns her house, and how it needs all these repairs. The place was awfully cluttered.
When I left dispatch tried to give me yet another job. I gave them hell for it. They then called back and said they solved the problem over the phone so never mind. So I went to my last job. This was my third time at this place. There was a wrinkled blond woman here with her kid and her large black boyfriend. they were missing a bunch of channels, so I looked and found a loose connector. I tightened it up and all the channels came back. Then I went home.

My day started at a house on a busy street. In fact the house was across the street from plastic land. There were two women here. One of them looked familiar, like we may have gone to school together at some point. I didn't bring it up though. They were missing a bunch of channels. They also wanted the outlet in one of the bedrooms activated as well. I looked out back and saw that the cable was damaged in two places. I fixed it and hooked the bedroom up and everything was working.
The next job was a house further south. This is a predominantly Jewish neighborhood. The door was answered by a man. He explained that last night the EMTA started to smoke and emit a foul odor so they unplugged it. I didn't ask too many other questions, I just replaced the box.
Then I headed to another house. There was a young man here. Judging from the diplomas on the wall I'd say he is a Pediatrician. He said that his modem would slow down at time and stay slow until he would call us and we would reset the box. I found some problems with the line to the TV but not the modem. I replaced the line to the TV and then I replaced the modem.
The next job was a place I was at last week. This was in resort town. There was a little Jewish man here. Last week I told him his computer wasn't working. This week the modem is in fact not working. He wanted to replace his modem, and picked one up from us. But that one was dead. So I set up yet another new one.
Afterwards I did a disconnect then I headed to my first afternoon job. This was a very nice house. The guy here also had a modem that wasn't working. The guy here looked to be a lawyer. He updated me on the game that was going on. I replaced the modem and went on my way.
Next I headed to another house up north. This house was so hot and humid, my glasses fogged up the second I entered. The woman here wanted me to set up her remote for the TV. I also needed to get her computer working. This involved adding a driver for using the USB. At first I thought I didn't have the appropriate disk, but was relieved to find that I did. I also showed the lady's teenage son how to hook his X-Box 360 to the modem.
Then I headed to a house further south. This was another large house. There was a thin older woman here. I believe she was an athlete who may have competed on a national level at some point of her life. I was here to check out her Internet. She explained the problem and thought it may have to do with her old modem. It was really old, so I decided to go along with that explanation and replaced it. Sometimes it's easier not to question.
My last job was at an apartment complex. It turned out no one was home, so I went home.

I was in the south east part of town yet again. My first job was at a run down apartment complex. A young black woman answered the door. She said the box would keep turning off. So I replaced the box. She then asked if there was a way she could get one channel. I asked which channel and she said G4. I was about to tell her I like that channel too, when she said she wants it for the show Cheaters. I watch it for Ninja Warrior. I told her she would have to get moved up into the next package for $15 more a month. She didn't want that.
The next job was another apartment complex further south. The guy here had no service. His line int he cable box was mis-labeled and got disconnected. So I reconnected him and labeled it correctly.
The next job was in the same complex. This guy's cable kept going in and out. He said several techs had been out. Everything had been replaced but the box. So I replaced the cable box and sure enough, it worked. He seemed happy, so I left.
I took a lunch and right as I was about to head to my first afternoon job I saw that it had canceled so I picked up another job. This was a house near the last two jobs. There was an old black man here. He lead me to the TV. It was cutting in and out on certain channels. His son came out of the basement wear scrubs. The two of them proceeded to argue over nothing. I looked behind the TV and saw suspicious looks splitter so I replaced that and a couple connectors and everything was fine.
The next job was a house further north. An old guy lived here with his father. Several of their channels were cutting in and out as well. They said they have had several techs out here and were convinced it was the box. So I replaced the box, more out of hope that the problem really was that easy, rather than my being confident that it is actually the problem. Other wise I would probably have to get in the attic. It did in fact turn out to be the problem. The older guy here started talking to me about how he worked for the transit office and how he would go around and install traffic lights and how they would not work most of the time. They also how a little dog and a cat which was bigger than the dog.
The next job was at a apartment across from the university. There was a young woman here. Here cable wasn't working at all, but her Internet was. It turned out that whoever did the install hooked the splitter up backwards. But the signal was still incredibly low. I went out to the box and it was ripped of the wall laying on the ground. I did what I could for the customer out there and went to the next job.
My last job was a house not too far away. There was a round old man here with a thick beard. He showed me his TV which wasn't getting certain channels. But they were just scrambled, so I new right away it was the TV. He had a small flat screen downstairs so I brought it up and plugged it in and it was fine. he offered me a plant and a pickle while I was there. I canceled the job, because I can't tell someone they need to buy a new TV and then charge them for the visit. That's like rubbing salt on a wound. He was extremely grateful for this.

Wednesday

They scheduled me with installs in the south east part of town today. My first job was at an apartment complex right next to a busy street and the Interstate. When I showed up no one was there. I then found out that the kid moving in here doesn't even have the key yet. He wasn't supposed to get it until 9 am. The people in the leasing office were nice, they let me in to do my job. The kid is going to college here in town. He was telling me that his dad owns a Telecom company in Nevada. He said he frequently works for him burying fiber-optic cable.
The next job was an apartment complex further north. There was a Hispanic man here with a kid. I was here to install video. There was only one outlet in the apartment and he wanted his TV two bedrooms away to be hooked up. Fortunately it looks like someone else already had this idea because there was already holes in the wall. So I just had to thread the cable through the holes. Which was easy enough. The little girl kept following me around, at one point she asked if she was getting cable. I told her to ask her dad, then she said he's not her dad, that's her mom's friend. He said she was grounded so she's not getting cable right now.
The next job was a house near the university. There was at least four guys living here. They wanted me to run a new outlet in one of the rooms. They said other techs were here earlier this morning to fix a problem with the Internet. So I ran the outlet while they sat around and watched TV. Everything from game shows, Springer and whatever movies they could find.
I skipped my lunch to head to my next job. This was an apartment complex that was right near where two Interstates come together. I was here to install all three products. The couple moving in here just moved from Maryland. The previous tenant here had dish, so I had to spend some time trying to figure out how the place was wired. Which required me to look in the attic of the unit. I had the TV and the Internet working but I ran into the most unusual problem with the phones. I could get them working but I couldn't get them to ring. As long as it was plugged directly into the EMTA itself it would ring. I could hook up the kitchen jack and it would still ring, but if I hooked up the next phone jack in the chain it would no longer ring. I must have spent two hours trying to figure this out, to no avail. I eventually told the customer what was going on and that they should buy a base station and satellite phones.
My last job was in the same area but a little more south. This was another apartment complex. The guy here just moved from Mississippi to work at a hospital here. I tried to rush through the install as quickly as possible because I wanted to get home. The only major trip up, was that the box wasn't working. So I upsold him to a DVR, since that was my last normal cable box. He was talking about HD the whole time, so it wasn't that much of a stretch. i finished the job and went home.

My day started a few blocks away from where I live. This was at an apartment building for retirees. I replaced a splitter and a couple connectors, but the real problem turned out to be the cable box. I replaced it and everything worked fine. In fact she had been unable to get her VCR to record but that started to work as well.
The next job was another apartment building for retirees. I was met in the lobby by a black man. He had an accent, possibly Jamaican. His apartment was filled with old tattered posters from the 80's of women in bikinis or just plain topless. He wanted to get BET. His TV was so old he didn't get any channels that high. He wasn't too thrilled about this, but there wasn't much he could do.
The next job was just a couple blocks away. I spoke to an angry lady through an intercom who said she couldn't do it today and that she wanted to reschedule for the weekend. Then she hung up before I could figure out exactly when she wanted us to come out. So I just scheduled it for Saturday.
Then I headed to another apartment building. The guy here kept complaining about his cable box changing the inputs on his TV. So I replaced the TV. I also got his big TV working. The coax input of his big TV wasn't working anymore, so I switched it to a different input. He was extremely happy I got his big TV working again.
So I dropped by home to use the bathroom and grab my cell phone which I forgot this morning. Then I headed to the retirement community to do a disconnect and then I went to lunch.
After lunch I went to the country club area. This was a huge house with an Escalade and a Benz in the drive way. A lot of interesting artwork inside as well. But no one answered the door, so I picked up another job in the fancy shopping district area. There was a very little very old woman. There was two young men here, younger than me. She kept calling them her friends. She said she had a problem with her Internet but it was working fine. So I canceled the job and left.
Then I headed to a house up north near a friend of mine. This was a large house. I saw some rabbits in the back yard. No one answered the door here either. So I headed to the next job. This was a house divided into two units. The door was answered by a guy in dreadlocks. He said nothing was wrong, but then he asked me to hook up his DVD player. So I came in and took a look around. There wasn't much in the way of furniture. They had a lot of shit in boxes. I went back out to get a cable and there was a police officer talk to some black woman in front. I'm not sure what that was about but the guy was hiding and trying to see what was going on. It turned out that their TV doesn't have a hook up for a DVD player, so I told them to get an adapter from radio shack.
The next job was near by. I was at at his place last week. In fact this is the fourth time I've been to this house. And once again it was their TV. The grandma was here in a bathrobe, that looked like it was about to fall off. She was watching Springer. She just wanted me to make the screen lighter and show her how to do it herself in the future.
It was still early so I picked up one more job. This was an apartment complex way south. It was a corporate account. Which means I dealt with a company who put some important person here. So I had to call somebody who told me whatever the guy was complaining about. Unfortunately I could find nothing wrong. The place had a few things in. I saw a couple of cans of Chef Boyardee on the counter. This guy probably makes 10 times what I make and this is what he eats. Afterwards I went home.

Monday

My day started at an apartment building on one of the busiest streets in town. There was a very short Hispanic woman here. She was dressed like she had to go to work. Her levels were all out of whack. It had to be the line to the apartment, so I turned it over to our post-wire team.
Then I headed to another apartment building. The person wasn't at home, but I was flagged down by someone else in the building also having problems. I had some time so I decided to check things out. I figured out that they needed two lines to the building instead of one, which was standard for an apartment building. I called it in expecting to turn it over to post-wire, but my supervisor told me to go ahead and run the new line. Since it turned out to be a not at home, I got no credit for this, but whatever.
The next job was in another apartment building. The guy has been having Internet problems. His modem wasn't working at all. He said he's been through several modems. So I figured it to be a bad splitter. I found the box and switched him to a different splitter, and he was up and running.
The next job was in resort town. I think I had actually been here before. I didn't detect whether or not the guy recognized me. He was having trouble with his computer. It was running through his router and one of his computers wasn't working. It was brand new and the ethernet card wasn't working. He figured that was the problem, but the company he bought the computer from refused to take his opinion, he needed to get someone from his Internet service out there to look at it.
The next job was in an apartment building for the retired and disabled. This particular apartment was full of little dolls. There was a bed next to the TV. Apparently the woman here is getting back surgery soon. The problem was the chord to the TV. I replaced that as well as a splitter. Everything was working fine, I had all my channels, then they all cut out. I spent the next hour trying to figure out what happened until I was finally informed that the computer in charge of this area had gone down.
The next job was in plasticland. I was greeted by an old woman. She was having trouble with her modem. But of course her modem was working now. So I looked around and didn't find much of anything wrong. I replaced some connectors, I hope that did it.
Then I headed to another house in plasticland. The guy directed me straight to the modem, which wasn't working. So I replaced it. We didn't talk much.
I then went to the fancy shopping district. I was greeted by a possibly Hispanic man. He had a slow deliberate way of speaking almost like that of a Native American. ESPN 2 was breaking up on one TV. I tried to track that particular line. It ran into the basement. He led me down there and there was a Frenchman listening to some broadcast in French over his computer. The basement was full of electronics, like a guitar amplifier, reel to reel machines and various miniature train set pieces. The place was extremely cluttered. They had every room hooked up but only 1 TV plugged in. So I removed one of the cables that was not currently hooked up and that fixed the problem.

My first job was at a apartment not too far from where I live. A young shy woman answered the door. She had a big dog. It didn't like me at all, and wasn't shy about letting me know that. She said that a couple of days ago both her television and Internet cut out. I knew right away she had been accidentally disconnected. Our audits teams have been out and about and disconnecting people that aren't supposed to be disconnected. She tipped me $5 int he end.
I had a little time and I was close to home so I stopped by to pick up my cell phone which I had forgotten and check in on my girlfriend. Afterwards I headed to my next job. A guy pulled up with his daughter when I arrived. This was in the land of scrape offs. I was here to install an HD box. When I looked at the line outside I noticed a bunch of old filters on the line. So I had to go up there and remove them. He also wanted a box put in the basement. Which I did as well.
Then I headed to the fancy shopping district. There was two young women living here. The one who answered the door said she just got up, she's had a rough day already (hangover). Her roommate was on the couch watching High Fidelity. I tracked the problem down to the chord leading to her modem. I replaced it and everything was fine. They were extremely thank full.
After a short lunch I went to my first afternoon job. This was a house. There was a young married couple here. The guy was watching football. He complained about his Internet going down a lot. Everything looked fine, but the signal was low. The only way to remedy the situation was to redo the line to the house to make it shorter and newer. That improved the situation, so that it was now borderline.
My next job canceled so I headed to a house further north. This was another young married couple. They wanted an outlet hooked up in the basement. Then he wanted a new outlet drilled in the guest bedroom. Then he wanted a DVR installed as well. Usually I get annoyed when people string things along, but today I didn't seem to mind. It was about this time dispatch called to see how I was doing. They wanted me to pick up more work, because there was still a lot of work to be done. Strangely enough it was about this time I started to slow down.
My last job was an apartment building. I was here to do an Internet install. To get the key to the room to hook her up, I needed to call a number, give a woman my name and phone number, then she gave me the location of the lock and combination to the key. The install went smooth. I was contacted by another tech who was on call. He got stuck with the last two jobs and needed some equipment. So he was coming to meet me so I could give him what he needed. We talked a little then went our separate ways.

They put me in the south east again. I hate being down here because I feel like I'm cleaning up someone else's mess. The first job was an apartment complex. A young Hispanic woman answered the door she said she had some problem with the cable, but it turned out her TV was on the wrong channel. I turned it to 3 and left.
The next job was a house not too far away. In fact it's only a couple blocks away from the area I normally work. There was a young guy here. He has two dogs and they keep chewing through the cable. So I had to fix it which was easy. They also chewed through a bunch of his remotes as well. It sounded like he was pretty fed up with them.
The next job was a little town home complex in the fancy shopping district. The door was answered by an old Chinese gentleman. He showed me downstairs to his TV and it was breaking up on a bunch of channels. His wife eventually showed up too. They had a really low signal. I asked her where the splitter was and she acted like she had no clue what I was talking about. Then she told me to look in the garage. Then her husband said there was nothing in the garage. So I was confused, and then she said I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't appreciate this at all. I told her her husband keeps telling me there is nothing in the garage and she showed me where it is. The splitter looked fine so I went outside. I rearranged things in the box outside to give them a better signal. But someone will probably come by in a couple weeks and rearrange things in the box again and they will lose signal again. I wasn't sure what they should do other than re-wire the whole building. In the meantime they kept talking and talking to me. It was non-stop. They talked about how they used to have their own restaurant. And how he's Chinese but she's Hispanic. After a while I just wanted to get out. I told them I would have someone redo things outside than I left and canceled the job. She was watching me from the window the whole time I was outside. I got really creeped out by the whole situation.
After this I went to a house near the university. I was here to install and second phone line for this guy's ankle bracelet. There was a whole white trash family living here. A grandmother, mother and three sons all of which were in their twenties and thirties. The place was a mess. This one guy's room was completely full of Motley Crew paraphernalia. The job wasn't too difficult, though it would have been easier if I could move the box that makes phone calls into another room.
I took a short lunch and went to my first afternoon job. This was a nice house. The door was answered by a woman with a huge black eye. She asked me not to freak out about it. Apparently she was working with the rain gutters in the back yard and fell and got head trauma. He TV in the bedroom wasn't working it was in the back of the house, in what looks like an addition. She had our old phone service a long time ago, but stopped it. It was never properly disconnected. What this means is that I have to go up the pole in a situation where I normally wouldn't have to. Which sucks because there is no alley way and the only way to the pole is through a neighbor's yard on the other side of the block. Once I was finished with that I replaced a splitter and got rid of an unnecessary cable, and that seemed to do the trick.
Next I headed to house further north. I could see that the line to the house needed to be replaced and I cursed whoever did the install and didn't replace it. The people here just needed me to show them how to work their VCR. Which I did then I canceled it and headed to the next job.
This was an apartment complex I've been to before. A big white guy answered the door. He looked like ex-military. He had a cat he named Shithead. His phone had dropped out. He showed me to his balcony where there was electrical tape on the cable. It looks like someone yanked the chord out of connector then tried to tape it back in. I fixed and talked to the dude a while. He talked a lot about X-Box Live and Call of Duty 4.
Then I headed to my last job. This was a young girl who hooked up her cable box completely wrong. It was an easy fix, but her signal was low. I tried to go out see if I could improve the signal but none of my keys would work on the box. Everything was working in her place so I decided to leave well enough alone and go home.

My day started at an apartment complex. I was here to drop off a new remote. I had all day to do it, but i wanted to get it out of the way. I was in and out in a flash.
The next job was an install at an apartment. The guy had just moved here from St. Louis. I assume for work. I wanted to finish quick so I didn't talk much. He just sat there and read I Am Legend. Some of his stuff was still in boxes. He left when I did, he had to get to work.
I then headed to resort town. I was here to downgrade someone. I didn't even need to knock on the door, I just worked out side. Then I headed to a house up north. A young woman black answered the door. There was an elderly lady here as well, who was ridiculously wrinkled she looked like a California raisin. I almost thought she was some homeless lady who just happened to wander in. The place was empty except two old crusty TVs that looked like they were just purchased from the Salvation Army. The job was easy, I was in and out.
After Lunch I went to a retirement apartment building in plastic land. There was a large lady here in a wheel chair. She just moved here from St. Louis. Her son is in the Navy and is posted in the area. She had the usually things to say about the area. I was here to install all three products. The install went well.
My last job was near the first one. There was an old lady here who just bought a fancy HD TV and Tivo. none of it was hooked up. I stuck a cable card in the Tivo and got it working. Then I went home.

My day started at the retirement community. There was an elderly gentlemen here hunched over. He's been having problem's with his phone. It keeps cutting him off in the middle of conversations. It sounded like packet loss, but that's a tricky thing to track down. I've had problems with the lines to the individual units here before so I turned over to our post-wire crew to replace. Otherwise everything looked fine.
The next job was was a series of town homes a little to the north. The woman here was complaining about her phone. She said her phone would click and pause before she could talk. She thought she was getting prank phone calls. It was her voicemail. It stutters when you have messages. She felt a little stupid. She talk about how her daughter and granddaughter have moved in with her and how she has gone back to grad school. I showed her a bunch of stuff on her TV she didn't know about either.
Next I headed to plastic land. A really old guy answered the door. They had Direct TV installed and the disconnected the phones. I hooked it back up and the EMTA wasn't working, so I replaced that as well.
I skipped my lunch and forged on. The next job was a house. A guy was here and the place was a mess. They were remodeling it. I was here to install a DVR. The job was quick.
Then I headed to a house not too far away. This was actually the third time I've been to this house. Every time I've ever been here the problem was their TV. This was no exception. The only person here was the grand mother. She explained that her daughter plugged in a heater and she heard a pop and nothing has worked since. you hear static from the TV but there was no picture. I told her it was the TV and she needs to get a new one.
The next job was an apartment complex down south. This place is usually pretty ghetto. The door was answered by an African man. He had an infant with him and his apartment was sweltering. He was complaining that he wanted news channels and all he was getting was MTV and BET. I looked outside and noticed that that he had recently downgraded his services and in doing so he canceled those channels. So I had to remove a filter to give him those channels again. He was very happy. He told me he is from Liberia. They just got through 15 years of civil war and it was brutal. He said people had regressed to cannibalism. He also said that the U.S. is now saying it's ok for him to go home, but he doesn't believe it. He said his sister tried to go back and she got attacked with machete and had all her stuff taken including her passport.
My last job was at an apartment just off of prostitute row. There was a young woman here. The placed looked like she was an art student. She had paintings as well as drafting stuff. It looked like she wanted to get into clothes design. i thought I was here for an Internet install, but she already has Internet. She was getting it through a chord in coming through her window. She wanted an actual outlet drilled through the wall, instead of the cable coming through her window. It wasn't that hard to do. i finished and went home.

The more you yell the more rediculous you seem

So my day started out at a apartment complex. No one answered the door, so I went to the retirement community. The guy here said he didn't make an appointment so I canceled the job. Then I went to a house not too far away and they weren't home either. So then I headed to a house up north. A black lady answered the door. She said she had a problem with her TV. Everything had shut off. So she called her nephew who came down and got it all working. So there was really no need for me to be there. Everything looked fine, so I canceled it and took an early lunch.
After lunch I went to a house in the same neighborhood as the previous house. There was an older black couple here. As I approached the house I saw an army of oxygen tanks on the front porch. Eventually Apria showed up to exchange the spent tanks with new ones. The lady was very tentative about her new carpets in the basement. she didn't want to mess them up. She has been having all sorts of problems since Friday. Her channels keep coming in and out. I checked everything and could find nothing wrong. So I ended up turning it over to line. But I spent so much time trying to fix this I ended up running late.
The next job was in the same neighborhood. There was another old black couple here. These people had an old projection TV in the basement. For some reason it didn't react well with the box. The premium channels (HBO, Showtime, etc.) would flash colors. I guess the wife was blind and deaf, so when it flashes she can't watch it. I tried it without the box and it was fine and I tried the box on a different TV and it was fine. But the wife here thought the problem was my fault. She kept insisting that I somehow compensate her for this. I told her that I would pass it on to my supervisor.
Then I headed to a town home complex. The door was answered by a troll of a guy. The moment he answered the door he started yelling at me. He was assured the problem was outside and was told he was not going to be disturbed. But it is impossible for me to do my job without going inside. It got so bad I almost left. He was cussing at me and at some woman he spoke to on the phone. The TV was perfectly fine. So I replaced a cable outside and told him it was fixed. Then I canceled the job as I left. My last job was taken from me, because I was running so late. So I went home.

My day started in a townhome complex. A black woman answered the door. She had two kids running around. Everything was working fine, so I was about to leave when she told me that once a month everything goes out, and by the time a tech shows up it's all working again. I really wanted to just leave but I couldn't. I replaced some cables inside and replaced the line to her unit. I hope that did it.
Next I headed to a house not too far away. The woman signaled me from a room in the back to wait. She works from home and was on the phone. She eventually let me in. She proceeded to give me this long sob story. It was difficult to get any words in edge wise. I really didn't care, I was running behind and just wanted to figure this thing out. She assured me that all the wiring in the house was pretty new. I found some old connectors outside, then I noticed some old filters up at the pole. She had a tree right next to the gate and there was no alley way, so the only way I could get to the pole was parking on the other side of the greenway behind her house. I removed the filters and went to the next job.
The next job was a house way up north. There were three doors at the front porch, I wasn't sure which one to knock on. An old Hispanic woman answered the door. I got the impression that her son probably bought the house and she is living with him. The place was cluttered, they hadn't unpacked yet. The problem was the modem had died, so I replaced it quickly and left.
The next job was a ways away. This was a very large house. I actually did the install here back in September. Their EMTA wasn't working at all. It had gotten disconnected. Almost like it unscrewed itself from the splitter. I don't think the customer did it. He started asking me about ethernet jacks versus phone jacks. I explained to him the possibility of having his house hardwired for Internet. He asked if he could get me to come back out and do that for him. It was more work than I really wanted to deal with, so I told him to give us a call and we'll see who gets the job.
At this point I was hoping to get a lunch, but I got saddled with a job. This was a high rise apartment. The guy had a really bad DVR, I don't like that particular brand at all. It had died, so I replaced it.
Then I headed to a house to the east. No one was there at first but then a car pulled up and two guys got out. A white guy and a Asian. The white guy seemed kind of effeminate. I wasn't sure if I should read into this. Nothing was really wrong. I removed a splitter that was useless and convinced them to not use a router, because it was slowing down their Internet connection. The white guy said he works for TIAA CREFF so we talked a bit about IRAs and 401ks.
Then I headed to resort town. The door was answered by a young black guy. He spoke very quietly, with a lisp. They had been disconnected and I was here to reconnect them. They also wanted to upgrade. The job seemed easy enough, but I had to replace some bad splitters behind the wall plates, plus they had an extremely low signal, so I had to try some things to make that better.
My last job was a house on the way home. The guy wasn't getting a signal to his modem. i went out back and found that their two puppies had chewed through three cable lines. The guy tried to act like this had never happened before, but I could tell I wasn't the first tech out here to replace this. As I was fixing one of the lines I got shocked. I couldn't tell from what and I was more concerned with getting home rather than investigating this. So I finished and went home.

My day started at a house. An Asian guy answered the door and told me that everything was working fin now so I canceled the job. I then headed to a townhome complex not too far away. A short round woman answered the door. She had a little dog with here. She apologized for its jumping all over me, it's still a puppy. Her phone keeps cutting in and out. Whoever installed her phones hooked up the splitter backwards. I also saw some suspicious phone splitters which I replaced. I'm hoping that does it.
I then headed to an apartment complex not too far away. The door was answered by an Indian woman. She said everything was working now, so I canceled it. I then called my afternoon jobs to try and work ahead. I went to an apartment building that is for retirees. There was an old Jewish couple here. Their phones weren't working right. I had to get behind all the phone jacks and fix the wiring. One of the phone jacks was behind the bed. The bed almost fell apart pulling it from the wall.
I then called ahead again and went to a house in the country club area. A young woman with an infant answered the door. It was obvious they had recently moved in, everything was still in boxes. Their phones weren't working. This was because of the EMTA. So I replaced it.
I skipped lunch and went ahead to resort town. There was a woman with a southern accent here with her two parents. Here phones weren't working. It turned out that she wasn't disconnected from the other phone company so their was competing signals over the line. I disconnected the other carrier and went on my way.
The next job was a house way up north. I was greeted by a large man who said he was leaving for work and another parent wouldn't be here for 30 minutes. So I went to another job a few blocks away. This was an escalation. I was the fifth tech out there. My girlfriend is really pretty. A line tech was supposed to meet me out there, but he was a little behind. No one was there at first, but eventually a tall black woman showed up. Their EMTA keeps cutting out. She plays a lot of online games so she would notice this more than others. Eventually the line tech showed up but we really couldn't pinpoint the problem. I fixed a couple things a told her to call us when it happens so that a line tech could figure it out.
Then I went back to that last job. A woman was here now and she showed me to the basement where the EMTA was. It was working fine now, so I canceled the job,
I picked up another job. This was an apartment building near the hospitals. I was met by an Asian woman. I was here to finish her Internet install. The problem was that she has no ethernet jack on her laptop and she doesn't have the software on her computer to run it on USB. So I told her what she needed to get for her computer to make it work. Then I canceled the job.
Dispatch convinced me to pick up one more job. This was an install at an apartment building on a busy street. There was a young woman here I think she went to the nearby college. At this point I just wanted to go home, so I tried to finish the job as quickly as possible.

My day started in a townhome complex. A black woman answered the door. She showed me to her bedroom and turned on the TV. I could tell the box wasn't hooked up at all and I told her so. She then told me she wanted me to take her cable boxes, so I downgraded her services and took the boxes. But the TV downstairs was getting poor reception, so I had to figure out what the problem is. I replaced a few things both inside and out, but in the end I think it was the cable to the TV. In her basement she had a reproduction of some historical document from 1887 saying that black people can come to the territory of Kansas and buy land for $5.00 to help make it a state. I guess that is where her family is from.
The next job was in resort town. The guy's HD channels were cutting in and out. I knew right away the problem was behind the wall plates. There was some old connectors and splitters back there that I replaced. Afterwards everything was fine.
Next I headed to a ghetto apartment complex. I was here for an Internet install. But no one was home so I went to the next job.
This was a apartment building for retirees. I was met a the door by a guy in his nineties and a woman he was talking to. She informed me it was his birthday. he told me he hasn't had any cable for two days. I looked around outside and found he had been disconnected by somebody. So I hooked him back up, but his cable box was acting up. So I gave him a new one.
I took a lunch and then headed to my first afternoon job. This was a nice house exactly two blocks south of the New Years party I was at last night. A woman answered the door. She showed me to the bedroom and turned on the TV and everything was working perfectly fine. So I canceled the job.
My next job canceled as well, so I headed to resort town. I was greeted at the door by a woman. It became immediately obvious that she and her roommate were both deaf. She showed me to the TV in the bedroom, she wanted me to have the time display on the front. That was easy. Then she showed me to the TV in the living room. She wrote down that the DVR belonged to some guy who didn't pay his bill and got disconnected. She wanted it on her account, so I obliged.
I then headed to a house right near plastic land. No one was here so I picked up two more jobs. These were both downgrades right near where I live. They were both apartment buildings. When I finished these I was about two blocks from home but it was too early to go home, so I called into dispatch. There was no work to pick up but they had me help some tech way down south. I got to the house before he did. A guy met me at the door and showed me out back. He pointed me towards some phone wires dangling out. I tucked them into a nearby box. When I finished the other tech arrived i told him we were done here and we left.