
I Was a Cable Guy. I Saw the Worst of America - aaronbrethorst
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cable-tech-dick-cheney-sex-dungeon_us_5c0ea571e4b06484c9fd4c21
======
badrabbit
Had a similar job in a different lifetime. Had more than a few "interesting"
jobs at people's houses, on poles,terminals and the like as well.

To me,it wasn't the worst of america but just humans being humans. The angry
customers,9/10 of them are not all that bad when you realize they're mad at
either the problem or the crappy company you work for. Maybe my working in a
different state has to do with it.

The cat piss,dog poop and nastiness was bad but not as bad as being chased by
animals and having turn your back to a growling hungry dog the owner insists
"oh,he doesn't bite"

The bad ones stand out but I've been in really nice mansions and houses too.
Very respectful and kind people too. Most offered water on hot days,some even
snacks.

Meh,people are people. It's not good to generalize. Most people are just
sorry,life is rough on the 99%.

~~~
tonyarkles
One of my favourites was quite innocent. I’m in a mobile home, and I had
interacted with the family before (they owned a local restaurant). I’m in
their home office getting their DSL set up, and slowly it dawns on me that
something really smells like shit. Like... it’s permeating the whole house. My
eyes are starting to water up a bit.

Finally, I’m getting close to finishing up. Through the door I hear their
4-year-old girl yell “grandma!!! I think I stepped in dog poo outside!!!”

Followed by: “oh honey you got it all over the carpet!”

Sure enough, as I’m leaving I notice an epic trail of tiny dog shit shoe
prints spanning from one end of the house to the other. 10/10!

When I went to the restaurant for breakfast the following Saturday, the mom
apologized and told me all about how many times they had to run the carpet
cleaner through the house to get it cleaned up.

~~~
kuhhk
Poor lady. She must have been super embarrassed .

~~~
tonyarkles
Yeah, most definitely was. I did my best to communicate “I get that kids do
stupid stuff”. We carried on going there every Saturday for breakfast :)

------
paultopia
"Irate," eh? Maybe if the cable companies weren't local monopolists that
operate with the business ethics of a purse snatcher their employees wouldn't
have to deal with angry people.

(Aka why I have slow DSL: because it was either that or sue Mediacom until
they actually supplied the service I was paying for. Yeah, there's a grudge
here.)

~~~
drewrv
I agree that cable companies suck, but would like to add that taking it out on
low level employees also sucks.

~~~
paultopia
Oh, absolutely. And the author sounds like a great person---no surprise at all
that these companies screw over their employees even worse than their
customers.

------
plinkplink
I was a cable guy in San Francisco. The stories in this article are very
plausible and even tame compared to the shit that I've seen.

My first day on my own I went to a "hotel" run by an Indian that barely spoke
English in the Tenderloin. He pounded on a door for ten minutes shouting
something unintelligible and finally unlocked the door to reveal a tiny room
with shit smeared on the walls and a naked transvestite covered in blood from
a heroin needle writhing on blood-stained sheets.

"Shouldn't we help?" I asked. "No. Is OK. Fix TV." All the little metal
fittings on the cables throughout the whole hotel had been cut off by guests
for use as makeshift pipes. The hotel charged by the hour and didn't ask any
questions.

I have many anecdotes if anyone is interested in hearing them.

------
rak00n
I'm surprised at the quality of the article. I didn't realize Huffington Post
can publish things like this.

------
wrisoft
My best memory working in "cable" (satellite) was when I learned how OTA
antennas (the big ones) worked... It was... _shocking_...

~~~
novia
I think you are being downvoted because of the pun at the end of your comment,
but if you don't mind sharing, I would love to learn how OTA antennas work.

------
jelliclesfarm
I am grateful for articles like this. Every time I need a tradesman or repair
person to fix something at home, I will remind myself that my home..my
personal space.. is a zoo and I am better off learning to fix things myself or
go without inviting strangers into my home who may or may not get all judge’y
and write about it for public consumption.

------
remir
I'm usually not into these long narrative article, but this was an interesting
perspective and a good read.

------
NedIsakoff
I don't get why she says she refuses water when offered. I have offered
bottled water to all the techs that came by our new home, no one rejected it.

~~~
solatic
I imagine that she, as a woman, could be afraid of customers spiking the water
they serve to her.

------
bradknowles
So, does anyone know what bar here in Austin can I go to, just to say “Thank
you for your service”?

~~~
SOLAR_FIELDS
There are really only four or five official gay bars here, most of which are
in pretty close proximity to each other. So I guess this person wouldn’t be
too hard to find if you barhopped over a few days based on the description in
the article.

------
jayalpha
Wow. I posted a quote from Time Magazine and the quote was flagged within
seconds.

~~~
dang
It was off topic and trollish, so correctly flagged. Posting like that will
get you banned on HN, so please don't do it again. Instead, if you'd review
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
and take the spirit of the site to heart, we'd appreciate it.

------
RickJWagner
I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'm sympathetic to the author, she seems to be struggling. This seems true in
her article to the Guardian
([https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-
relig...](https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-religious-
cult-former-member-recalls-experiences)) :

"How have you felt since coming out? Have you had a lot of therapy? Not so
much and most of it wasn’t so helpful. I’ve had therapists cry and hug me and
it was really strange. They just don’t really know what to do with it. I mean,
I still hide things. I still have nightmares, I can’t deal with crowds. I will
always feel kind of separate. For a long time, I just didn’t really have
friends. In high school, I had no idea how to talk to people. I didn’t
understand cultural references. Ninety per cent of conversations are: “Hey, do
you remember that episode of Seinfeld?” and shit. And I was weird, I was just
awkward. I read everything I could get my hands on. It’s just what I did, I
hid in books."

I think she's a good writer, but her own comments suggest her perspectives
might not match most people's.

I hope she keeps writing and finds more peace in things around her.

------
Waterluvian
"But I didn’t ask him that. I just stood and glared at him until he looked
away. I needed the job. I assumed his kid would grow up to hate him."

Or hope that things work out and his father finds ways to love him more. This
author seems a little angry. The more I read, the more I wondered if this was
a normal account, or the account of someone who always seems to find
themselves in strife.

But I can't say no to a peek under the sheets of people's lives. It fascinates
me. I don't think I could do her job but I've always wanted just an afternoon
where time freezes and I can lightly snoop on how a random assortment of
people live (though realistically impossible without hurting others). Being a
cable technician seems like a fair, legal alternative.

~~~
cup
Or maybe its a chance for you to wonder why a gay woman might find themselves
constantly frustrated and angry when living in a patriarchal homophobic
society?

~~~
dsajames
Ever hear the saying "when the whole world stinks, you have shit on your
nose"?

The world is unlikely to be how any one person likes it. Learning to live with
it is a good skill.

~~~
berbec
Would the same comment be applicable to other classes/races/sexes who have
been and/or still are discriminated against? Would you say "learning to live
with it is a good skill" to a straight white woman? An African-American man? A
Jewish person? If the answer is no, investigate more closely the location of
the fecal matter.

