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March 15, 2006
In a Nutshell
We have no cable. Here is why.
Allow me to introduce you to our friend the backhoe. Mr. Backhoe has been ripping up Van Brunt Street for about a week now. Prior to this location, he was ramming Verona Street, which is right around the corner. It looks like Mr. Backhoe is assisting his human counterparts in repairing and replacing some sort of sewage and/or storm drainage system.
Let us put aside the stink of seawater that rose up into the holes they created. Let us even ignore the vermin that have reawakened due to the digging and shaking. This is New York. We can deal with smells and rodents. But you know what? Do not fuck with our cable.
It’s bad enough that the cable goes out on its own every so often. We all know the pain of sitting on hold with Time Warner, wasting cell phone minutes, just to have an operator ask you to reboot your cable box or modem which, of course, you’ve done twelve times prior to calling. Try calling Time Warner to report that someone has severed your cable line. Oh wait, try getting them to fix something that the city has cut.
Apparently, Mr. Backhoe was too tall to fit down the street without knocking into all of the wires leading to our building. Instead of the common sense route of lowering the backhoe, the city decided simply to cut the wires. Then, instead of letting them dangle, they affixed a long piece of wood to the “No Standing” sign, forked the tip and rested the cables in the notch.
So here’s our little Red Hook building, scratching their heads at why the cable was out. Time Warner tells us on Thursday that they were upgrading the system. Not to worry, they said, your internet should be up in four hours. On Friday, they tell us that an emergency technician is coming on Saturday. No one shows. On Sunday, they tell us that someone will come in 24-48 business hours. On Tuesday, a technician calls Lex on his cell (while Lex is at work) to tell him that no one is home. Lex explains that it is an outside problem and that the tech does not need access to inside. He tells Lex that he still needs to talk to him in person. Two phone calls and several holds later, the tech is redispatched to fix the problem.
It is Wednesday and we still have no cable. And I just told you the shortened version of the story.
Posted by callalillie at March 15, 2006 9:28 AM | Rabid Rants
isn't it funny how we can no longer live without internet? i feel so disconnnected when i'm cut off.
Posted by: phc at March 15, 2006 10:52 AM
It really sucks, especially when you are in the middle of writing a major term paper that requires research.
Also, we'd just started getting into Weeds...
Posted by: corie at March 15, 2006 10:54 AM
Oh I feel so bad for you. In the past Time Warner has jerked me around and it sucks. I'm so sorry. It's amazing how when you don't have it you realize how much time you spend on the internet.
Posted by: Suburbia in the City at March 15, 2006 3:32 PM
Ick. Yuck. Once I climbed down 4 flights on the fire escape into the backyard because the Time Warner guy was too fat to fit out the window and the downstairs neighbors weren't home. However, somehow that was better when we called and asked for a guy to fix our wireless modem, and when the guy arrived he said he could only fix modems connected by actual cables.
Posted by: yp at March 15, 2006 5:13 PM
