Day #1,281 - Phone Company Visit

The phone company guy arrived as expected to complete the installation.  That was a good start.  Unfortunately that was as far as things went.  The rep looked over the situation and said we did not have a line running from our property to the phone company box.  “Our contractor should have gotten a City permit and put conduit in there.”  I told him all the utility lines were placed along the street when the whole tract was initially subdivided.  I noted that the Dig Alert people had clearly marked on the street (where we were standing) the positions of phone, cable, and electrical lines.  I asked him why those marks would be on the street? (Meaning if there were no phone lines under there)  “Because they didn’t want to put the marks on the grass.  Don’t worry, the marks will wash off”.   HUH?    We continued talking.  He said he did not have the equipment to install lines.  He would have to call another department for that.  He expected they would come out later today.

Unpacking Doc's Textbooks

I continued speaking with the rep.  He asked me what kind of problems we were having with their lines?  Was it static?  Calls cutting out?  Uhhhh…. Sure!  Any of the above considering we Have No Lines!!!   “Oh … you mean this is new construction and you have never had any connection with us?”  I gave up and suggested he go on to service his next call.

Since we had not heard from the cable company in over a week, Doc and I next called them.  Same story.  We spoke with a rep (this time in Wisconsin) who reviewed our case and then put me on hold since she would need to talk to her supervisor.  They came back with the same old “you need a City permit, the City Inspector needs to be present, the crew has tried to come out, but they have not been able to make contact with the homeowner…”  All of that is BS!

Doc went out to the yard with a shovel and uncovered the conduit for the phone company and cable company installers.  He called the phone guy and told him our conduit was fully exposed and ready for them.  That should help them out.  The guy then told Doc to keep digging and find their line next!    Grrr…

Finally at 3 p.m. Doc and I had enough shoveling of Sh__.  (Dealing with other people). We headed out to the pet store for dog food.  Doc insisted upon a Starbucks stop so I suggested he visit the one at the Target store so I could look for coins.  He was satiated with his brew while I found a dime and two pennies.

Next we went to the Pomona house for some sorting of "stuff" and of course to check emails and post the Penny Tales.

Total:    3  Coins        P (2), N (0), D (1), Q (0) = $0.12