Saturday In The Cable Office

by. Tom Picciano

It seemed easy enough after the telephone call.  The tech support guy from the cable company set up an in-home visit for Monday.  He told me to drop by the cable store to pick up a new DVR to carry me through the weekend.  And he said don’t forget to turn in the remote. Twenty-five minutes later I was number 10 in line.

There were four “customer service” windows. The first had a stack of mail, the last was dark, both lacking staff.  At one of the other windows there was quiet woman who seemed to be going about her task. And at another was a man working slowing and loudly with customers.

Overheard in the line more than once…”I’m getting really close to getting satellite TV.”  Dozens of pieces of equipment were turned in, money taken, service set up.  All the time, the “customer service” man challenged people trying to return equipment.  He had been in “tech support” and “knew” the problems.

When it was my turn…I ended up with this “tech expert”.  I quietly explained I’d been told to bring the box and remote back for new ones. He objected. I had to tell him twice (calmly and quietly) that I’d been told to bring back the remote. His last words on the subject came with a huffy voice: “Well….you’ll have to reprogram it.”