Just wondering if anyone has run into this problem... I'm 25 years in the business. For 24 years I've been a "Line Technician." Been doing "On Call" for 24 of those years.
So I'm on call this weekend in -25° wind chill factor here in the Chicago area..... I'm on the second of four outage at around 11:30 p.m., I've got this problem narrowed down to one amplifier ... it's the fourth amplifier in a five amp cascade... only problem is... it's a back easement ladder shot... no lights on in the house... (I think you can see where I'm going with this) so I call my boss, who has to call the dispatcher In Order to Get the "Ticket Parked." until the next day during normal business hours, because as everyone knows we line technicians are nothing but the bunch of lazy pampered prima donnas, and are constantly looking for ways to get out of doing work... (but I digress)
so I call my boss on my radio... explained the situation... and then my boss asked me "Why can't we get in the backyard?"
I explain once again that it is in a backyard... back easement... and I'm not going to knock on someone's door at 1130 at night, considering the fact that if I even knew the phone number to this house and asked our dispatch to call them... they would tell me "sorry were not allowed to call anyone after 8 p.m."
so me and my boss get into a heated debate over the radio about this...To Make a Long Story Short.....
My argument is that... If we can't even get our dispatchers to call people after 8 p.m.. Then why is it okay for me to go into someone's backyard unannounced at 11:30 p.m.??
My boss's argument is... "It's part of your job... and that's why they pay you the $40 a night "on call."
I have a lot of thoughts about this whole business of going into backyards unannounced, and have luckily been able to avoid it for the most part over the last 24 years... I think it's time to shed some light on "The Cable Industry's Dirty Little Secret"
Backyard... late at night... what to do?
Member #: 3630
Registered: 1996-2001
Posted:
5
Name:
Uncle T
Company:
Comcast
Occupation:
Network Operations Tech (Grunt)
Location:
S.W.Suburbs of Chicago
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