The first thing that happened wasn't a surprise. The Supervisor rang our bell at 7:30 to share his plan for the day. Once certain measurements were made and approved, his team would fill in the hole and be out of our way. We were to expect him to be back around 10am.
10am came and went.
At 11:06am, we had lost everything except electricity. No internet. No land line. No television. No wifi hot spot.
After resetting the system with Xfinity's AI (shudder) didn't help, I wandered back to the burly young men in the ditch behind my home and asked if it might be possible that our problem began with them.
Much mumbling ensued. Feet were objects of great interest. When they realized I wasn't going away, one of them said something about maybe cutting a cable. The Supervisor wasn't around. I left them in the ditch.
Inside, I called Xfinity and explained the situation to a live human. She bumped it up the food chain. When I returned from lunch (a post to come) TBG met me in the hall. They called with the worst possible news. Xfinity won't come if there's an open hole and work in progress. The guys say they won't be finished until Friday. We have an appointment for next Monday.
No connectivity for a week was unacceptable to TBG, who watches the markets and Perry Mason and over-dressed humans talking about sports all the day long. I wondered if Little Cuter remembered how to post here, to explain my absence.
As TBG considered expensive solutions, I called the contractor. The receptionist listened to my tale of woe and said the person I needed to speak to was gone for the day. She did not realize to whom she was speaking.
I explained that her company had broken stuff, that we were unwilling to shoulder the burden of living without this stuff that they broke, that it seemed to me that they were going to be on the hook for our hotel bill... which reservation I couldn't make because I had no internet. I needed help because this was an emergency, a disastrophe of their making. I tried to sound as pitiful as I could.
She sent me to a voice mail but he'll be off the phone soon and call you, I know he'll call you. (He never called.)
The Supervisor rang the bell as TBG fumed. He was perfect. He'd fill in the hole and Xfinity would do their thing and all would be right with the world.
A delightful if somewhat talkative young man at Xfinity called a friend, if I would just hold on for a bit, and before I knew it I had an appointment later that afternoon.
Things were looking up. Then the doorbell rang. We shared a look, I opened the door, and saw an Xfinity guy in a red polo shirt running to a white Xfinity repair truck while waving to me and saying You're good to go!
After calling into the house to share the good news with TBG, I walked out back to The Supervisor.
Did you do that? How did you do that?
I have friends in low places.
Best answer, ever.
He laughed and told me about the status of the project, what to expect going forward, all the while smiling as I gazed upon him with admiration and respect and delight and profound pleasure in spending time with someone who is very good at all aspects of his job.
And one who is willing to, as he told me, make calls to low places.
I hesitate to say the saga ends here........
You may remember our long trek with PG&E replacing gas lines in our development. It was a huge, lengthy project involving numerous contractors. I always went out to talk to the guys doing the work. I smiled, I asked questions, I complimented their effort. One fellow was an actual PG&E employee overseeing the whole project (which took almost 2 years) and he and I waved at each other throughout the process as well as solving the world's problems while standing in the middle of the street.
ReplyDeleteOur next door neighbor complained and whined the whole way through, never being gracious to the workers. The fellows who did the work bent over backwards to take care of the Zodys. Keep smiling and mixing the sugar in.
Your persistence paid off and you found the right guy.
ReplyDelete