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Gaffer Variety:
Shame On Me 047:
By Willie Gaffer:
July 3, 2006:
Recently, the government of the county wherein I live decided to pave part of our rural road. They chose the two mile stretch that gives access to my driveway. Okay! They did not ask me or anyone else, but I guess they have that power. So the paving started about a month ago and has proceeded slowly ever since. It's a pain in the butt getting past them to get out and go somewhere, but they do manage to allow us to pass.
That was all fine until a few days ago. Then things went downhill. I had been working at my computer and, as is my custom, I started to go on line to access my email and my website. Unfortunately, the dial-up software reported a dead line. Oh, oh! I suspected the road builders, so I quickly checked my home phone line. Sure enough, it was dead too. My suspicion was no longer just a suspicion.
I hopped into my pickup and drove the 1/4 mile up my driveway to the road. There, I immediately saw the problem. For some inexplicable reason, these jokers had dug a deep trench across the road opposite my driveway. When they did that, they severed my phone line which ran under the road to a pole on the other side. That's how the phone company had installed it. The line went underground about 1/4 mile from that pole to the pole beside my house. In fact, the line was buried about three feet deep. However, the road guys had dug a trench about eight feet deep. Don't ask me!
Anyway, there were three or four typical beer bellied "workers?"
leaning on the back of a pickup jawing with each other. You know
the type. You know they are not wine connoisseurs. You see them
on construction jobs and you wonder how they can work at all with
those massive guts.
I jumped out of my truck and shouted out, "You cut my phone
line!"
These guys just looked at me and kind of laughed and went on with
their jawing.
That's when I lost it. I really overreacted. I used words I had
not used in years, words no one would use in a parlor. They were
words I would not normally use even in a locker room.
The just ignored me and continued to jaw.
Well, I had my Verizon cell-phone which sometimes works, so I
got back in my truck an dialed my landline company, also Verizon.
It sort of worked, but I had to dial three times before I got
part of my message through. The phone kept dropping out. As an
aside, that only happens near my home. Everywhere else I have
used the phone it has always worked. The only place it consistently
does not work is in my home. If that were not true, I would not
even have landlines. That'‘s another story.
There was nowhere to turn around so I had to back up all the way down my driveway. By the time I got that done, I was really steaming. That was unfortunate for a couple of Detroit Edison (DTE) kids who had followed me down the driveway. I mistook them for verizon servicemen and proceeded to unload on them. The trucks do look similar, but I make no excuse. I was just overreacting. They told me who they really were and what they wanted. I told them I did not give a snort what they did, just do it and go. I'm sure they were happy to go.
After I realized I had abused two innocent kids, I began to calm down. I could not do what I had intended, so I went outside and began working in my yard. It was not more than half an hour when a real Verizon guy showed up in a truck. Enough of my message had gotten through for them to locate me. I ask the guy if he was going to fixe the phone line those fools had cut. He responded, he did not know what I was talking about as he had just arrived. I got my mind working well enough to explain in detail what had happened. The guy did understand and he promised to have the line restored in less than an hour. In fact, it took about four hours, but he did get it done right.
Instead of jury rigging a temporary fix he worked with the road guys and put the line underground in a trench they dug just for him to do that. This time, they got it plenty deep. When he told me about the cooperation, I remarked that they were not such bad guys after all. He agreed and explained that none of it was their fault anyway. A verizon man was supposed to be on the job with these guys, but he had not shown up. It was Verizon who drooped the ball. The line should have been restored immediately after it had been cut.
Now for the silliest part. I should have known the line was out, because the road guys told my wife as she drove out in the morning. They stopped her and told her what had happened. Instead of coming back to tell me, she went on. She thought she would just use her cell phone to call me and let me know. Say what? To her credit, she was just about to dial our number when she realized her mistake. She was going to call a phone that she knew would not work. Oh well!
The whole point is, I had been inconvenienced and I behaved
badly. No excuses. I wish I had not done it, but I did. I lashed
out at everyone in sight. I'm sure they will all survive. They
will just think they encountered a real jerk that day and write
it off. I can't write it off myself. That bit of bad behavior
becomes part of my baggage to carry with me everywhere I go. Someday
I may learn to pause before I go off. No one else may notice,
but I will be better off.
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