What a Fiasco # 3
What a FUN
afternoon/evening I had yesterday. (NOT) At 3:00 I slipped up to the bank to
pick up some traveler's checks in an attempt to avoid the "Day
Before" rush.
As I was
leaving the bank (I had forwarded my calls to my cell phone, just in case) my
phone rang. It was Lt. Byrus from Lee County. He said that he'd rather have Red
on the front of their shirts instead of the Green. So, I told him that I'd be
back in my office in 15 minutes and I'd call and ask to have the colors switched.
Other than that, he said that he approved the Front and the Back designs!
:)
Here is where
the afternoon got interesting. I got back to the condo at 3:40. However, I had
NO electricity. I dug out an old electric bill and called the
"Service" number. I of course got a recording, but this one said
"The number you dialed is No Longer In Service". No wonder I have no
electricity! Maybe they went outa business! I found another number, but it was
for billing problems. The lady that finally answered said that she didn't
handle "Outage Calls" and hung up! It is now 5:05! I called the
billing number again because I knew that they'd be closed and maybe I'd get a
recording that would give me a REAL "Service Outage" number. It did
give me a number, but I got another recording. I was told to leave my number
and I would be called back in the order that my call was received.
OK. Now it's
6:15. I finally get a call! But, it's my neighbor asking if I have electricity!
I told him no, but that I had reported it and they were supposed to call me
back. At 6:45, the power company called. She asked what the problem was and I
told her that I had NO electricity! I heard her ask someone what she should
tell me and they said that I need to go out to the pole and switch the breaker
back on. She relayed the message. But, I told her that there "Is NO
pole", all the electric is under ground! "But SIR, there has to be a
pole, that's how we get the electricity to you!" (DUH!)
By now, I'm
NOT a happy camper! I heard the background voice say "Tell da guy we'll
send a repair crew ober dare, but it's gonna cost him 50 bucks for da service
call when our guy flips dat breaker!" I told her that was fine, just SEND
the crew!
At 7:30 I
called them again. This time I was told that "What are we supposed to do,
pull the crew off the job they're on to come and flip your breaker?" Thus,
I asked them if that meant that they only had ONE service crew for the whole
city of Lakeland? They said YES!
At 8:40 the
crew showed up. By this time I had digressed to a prone position in a lawn
chair with my sun tan radio and a "Big Orange!" Da "Boss"
lumbered up the sidewalk and asked, "Ok, where's the pole?" To which
I replied, "I don't have a clue, it's DARK out!" (Probably shouldn't
have done that, but I was NOT in a good mood!) So, he instructed his little
helper to retrieve a voltmeter from the truck and they went around back to test
something. (I followed) He flipped the lid off the main, touched each lead with
the meter and announced that "You've GOT juice here!"
I responded
with "That's fine, now can you figure out how to get it into my
condo?" He walked back to the front of the condo, looked at a big power
box on the side of my neighbor's condo and told me to go get the key for the
lock on that box. I told him that I didn't have a key and that the guy that
owned that condo was in North Carolina for Thanksgiving and the landlord that
owned my condo was in Tampa at the hockey game. "Well," he said,
"that's where yer problem is and until you get the key you won't have any
electricity!"
While trying
to contain myself, I said, "I'm not buying that! What you're telling me is
that the LOCKED box controls MY condo, HIS condo, and ALL the street lights on
this end of the subdivision?" He did an abrupt about face, grabbed his
little helper, scurried across the street to the green power box, and checked
the transformer. He then strolled back to my lawn chair and admitted that the
transformer had in fact failed. But, he said that I probably otta get a key to
whatever that big box on the side of my neighbor's condo is for! (RIGHT) At
9:35 PM I had electricity again! :(
Cheers,