Back From The (Metaphorical) Dead

Alas, I have been away too long, leaving you--my gentle reader--to wonder what has become of your dear Patwoman. Have I folded under the stress of weeding out the one job seeker in twenty who can follow simple instructions? Have I collapsed under the weight of my ever-growing yarn stash? Have I been spirited away by a playful bat-suitor?

No. My neighbor cut my cable line with his lawn mower. Such is the excitement of my life.

Actually, it's been very frustrating. And certainly disappointing to know that there is no courtesy in this society. (I actually knew that, trust me. But every now and again that fact is proven to me materially, just so I remember.)

Let me say first that I, personally, have never chopped through a cable line with a lawn mower (or anything), so I'm speaking theoretically here. But let's say I did. I--having been raised with manners, if nothing else--would apologize. "I'm sorry." That lets the cable owner know you sympathize. It's a crappy situation. The tree root brought the improperly buried cable up above the ground and I didn't see it. Now, even though I didn't mean to do it at all and would never do that to you, you are without cable. That sucks. I'm very sorry.

Or you can be my neighbor. "That's not my problem. The cable shouldn't have been above ground." Yes, we know that, jackass. I'm not expecting you to reattach the cable with your own hands. I just think it's only common politeness to say, "I'm sorry" when you do something that causes someone else damage or inconvenience.

Also, I have never run a cable service center. (But I have run multiple customer service departments of small to multi-million dollar businesses, so I might know a little something about this.) I just think the response should be "Let's schedule a time for our service crew to get out and replace the line."

Not Comcast's responses of "It's not our fault. The cable shouldn't have been above ground." and "We're not getting anyone out there for over a week." And it's an insulting spit in the face (but not wholly unexpected from Comcast) to say "While I have you on the phone, have you considered adding phone service to your cable and internet package?"

No, Asshat. The phone is the one thing I've got that works right now. If I had phone service through you, not only would I have no television or internet right now, but I'd have no phone, as well. WTF are you thinking?

Never mind. I know what they're thinking. They're thinking, If Patwoman has no phone, she can't call and complain about the rude condecension and substandard product she's paying out the bahooey for.

So, long story short...and trust me, I could go on...I have had no internet or cable for so long, I might as well be Amish now.

And I'm very disappointed in the lack of service in customer service. And the lack of courtesy in society in general. And the lack of accountability overall.