The Latest Technology: Wood Putty

I often adapt within a year of the latest technology. So when ATT knocked on my door and insisted I order U-Verse, the fiber optic high speed internet line and DVR television service that can record up to four shows at once, I said, “Sure.”

I dreaded install day. Today it happened.

Look, how hard is it when you say to someone, “Drill the one hole you have to drill in the floor, right here, right next to this desk leg, here, just to the left of the leg, right in this spot?”

I came back five minutes later to see the guy had moved the piece of furniture next to the desk, a flat-bottomed wooden file cabinet, and drilled the hole over there. Being flat bottomed, there was then no way he could push it back against the wall. I asked him, “Oh, I’m sorry, wasn’t I clear? Okay, well, you can’t have the cable come up there because the filing cabinet will never again be able to move back against the wall. Please, I will fill the incorrect hole, please drill over here just to the left of the desk leg.”

I came back five minutes later. He had found a different hole in the floor molding that already had some cable coming up, about four feet away. He tapped into that, stapled cable going across the molding, which then turned up, right at the place where I wanted him to drill the hole. Then, I was stunned, “Okay, I don’t know why you can’t understand this. I want you to drill the hole right here. Right in this spot, right here. I do not want extra cable stapled along my wall. I do not want to add to the mess of wire at my feet. I want you to drill the hole just to the left of the desk leg and run the cable up from there. Please. This isn’t difficult.”

He did not respond. I left again and returned. He drilled the hole to the right of the desk leg, very close, which still would be a problem for the file cabinet that he pulled out. He snipped the plastic little skirt that goes around the cable at the floor so the file cabinet next to the desk could be pushed back in. It was not ideal, but it did fit.

He simply would not drill where I asked him to drill.

Basically, the guy did not want to be told what to do. He certainly didn’t want to move the desk a few inches away from the wall so he could make room for his four foot long drill.

When he finished the installation he just left, never saying goodbye, leaving behind another guy who took two hours to trouble shoot all sorts of connection problems.

Can you imagine going into someone’s house and just drilling wherever you please?

I filled the two extra holes. The new service is spectacular, even though the installer was a twisted, aggressive man, lumbering and sneering around my house for five hours.