2001
| August 15, 2001 In June I decided to stop the internet war - "Get off the internet, I need to send somebody something!" "But, I need to go get my body!" "Get off line! I need to check my email!" "I need to finish killing this guy!" "Get off line quick! I want to call QVC! I am shopping!" (Never get between me and today's special value.) "Did you connect? You knocked me off line!" "ooops!" "But Mooommmm! I am killing things!" So---I sprang for a second phone number. We have lines to the house. Some terminals. There used to be two lines active in this old house. Of course, the second phone number terminates in the attic, where the guy I bought this house from had his computer room! I called - simple task, right? Four layers of voice menus plus a disclaimer, "No, you cannot send me offers", I order, with multiple passes at an explanation, a second line, a new terminal in the boy's room with a dual-jack - one for his phone and one for his computer. Of course, a single jack would work, but then I'd have to get a couple packets of wire and a splitter. And, in my new-addition-now-two-years-old, I want to terminate the wires hanging out of the wall with a triple jack, a dual jack for my own phone line, and a single jack for his line. The wires are in the wall. What I did not know was that they were no further than that. They were stopped and stopped short in the attic. So we picked a day. I would need to be home. I am home several afternoons a week. Because he is a partially-deaf leukemia patient. June 28th arrived and the guy showed up at 4PM. The service "window" having been 1-5PM. He decided that the job (which I diagrammed so he could get it) was "too big" because he "wanted to get back to the barn in San Jose." So he asked, tomorrow? Tomorrow was a Friday - no, I just was home, "I need to be at work. How about Saturday?" He said fine. Confirmed. He left. Friday, when I said I would not be home, they came. My son is partially deaf. He did not hear them knock. They knock, they do not ring the bell. And, they wrote 6/30 on the "Sorry we missed you" ticket. Saturday's date! Oh no you don't! So I call, and get through those multi-levels of voice menus and back through the disclaimer, "No, you cannot send me offers", and tell them what happened. They confirmed that yes, the job was still scheduled for Saturday. OK. Saturday came and went. By the time I realized he wasn't showing up, the office was closed. And my son threw a little problem with a spider bite and ended up in the hospital. Staff infection. And then on medication. Several. So I ignored the missing service. But the Internet wars were getting worse. My boss couldn't reach me. Consultants couldn't reach me. So I called again. And made it through all the voice mail menus, etc. etc., and they had to start from the beginning because the work order, partially done, had expired. So we pick a Saturday and here we go again. Saturday arrives, and this order has a service window of 8-1. By 11:30 I am nervous so I call, and go through all those voice mail menus, etc. etc. and find that they "don't make appointments for Saturday." How cute. How did they manage to make TWO of them I ask. Not much of a favorable comment on other people's incompetence was the reply. So we pick Tuesday. It is now August. Tracking this? On Tuesday he arrived by 3PM - I was already calling to be sure someone was coming, and had gone through all those levels of voice mail menus. "He's here." I hang up. We start. First we find the short-leash in the attic which is about 180 degrees. I bring up a fan and open the one little window. This does not help much because the house is a big "U", the fan at one end and the wire he needs to connect to at the other. He runs the line. I check on him every now and then in case he passes out. I bring in the dog (who does not like men near her yard or me.) We locate two phone terminal boxes (one for each line). He runs the lines. He adds the terminal in my son' room. The double jack. He adds a double jack in my room. I do not notice that he forget jack number three with the new line. I do not check - the outside boxes were left open and the screws were unturned. He was melting. On Wednesday my son's line, now being used to kill things with Diablo II, drops off and looses dial tone. Oooops. And my son has discovered he doesn't need a walkie-talkie - he can call his mother on her phone line, when his phone line works. And he can leave me voice mail messages. He was miffed. OK. I call again, and get through all those levels of voice mail menus and say-----well, actually, I called "611" repair - and get the same menus--- that I have a line failing "Oh yes", they say, "It has a problem". And someone is coming on Thursday. Let's see. Knock loudly, he is home but deaf. Send the guy from yesterday and he'll know about all this. They said that's who was coming. It turns out that my son's counts are down, no chemo, but I am sent home with $6,000 worth of the GCSF shots packed on ice and stop at my office (where I encounter another story) and get home by 1:30PM. They are due at 2PM. Cool We made it. My son is talking on the phone----his brother? Nope, the phone company. Chatting with the deaf kid. I take the phone and they tell me "They found the problem and fixed it.". Fine I say. What about the missing jack? Jack? He don't know about no friggin' jack. But---he will come by after his next call and see if he can do it if I can find the receipt from yesterday. Amazingly I find it before I am even off the phone. As I hang up, there is a loud knock on the door. Knocking loudly because there is a deaf kid in here. Another phone company repair man and he knows about the jack. We will try to catch the other guy when he calls back. We find that the terminal box is open, the new line screws backed off (not screwed down) which would account for line drops. They had repaired crossed lines - another problem - further down the pole as it turns out. He finds the new line and that the new number is not there. He tests and moves and manages to get the line active. He had a terminal plate for six outlets, not three, so we jury-rig inserts in three and I have three stacked jacks. The second guy shows up and helps in the finish. Cool. Job done. They assure me that they have closed all terminal boxes. But I look out later and find the dog roaming around in the street--they forgot to close the gate. |
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