Musings while waiting for the Time-Warner cable guy

I am not actually waiting for the Time-Warner cable guy, because he has come & gone, leaving everyone feeling that it is SOOOOOOO Monday. And since I still don't have cable, I guess I'm still waiting...

So these are my musings.

Why do we have to get cable anyway? Why is it in the interest of the US government that everyone be required to have digital tv? Do they need the digital so that they can send subliminal messages? Or do the cable and satellite companies have really good lobbyists? If I say "screw it" & just use my TV to watch DVDs, am I being unpatriotic?

Why, in a society that supposedly values the free market, do have the choice of Time-Warner Cable or else? I could get satellite, and at least there is some competition there, but why aren't there at least two cable companies?

Does Time-Warner Cable know that its service people are jack-asses?

I knew it was going to be bad when, after waiting on hold for an hour, my husband decided to order cable on line. The set up date was three weeks later, and they gave a two day window for when they might come. Almost immediately, the first month's fees came out of our account. So we know they CAN be efficient. When he set it up, he said that the house was not cable ready, since we didn't know for sure. The guy we bought it from said he was told it was cable ready, but he didn't use cable either. Since we didn't know what we had, he said nothing, and the installation price was supposed to reflect that.

So this morning, the guy calls. Give him credit for calling and for being there early on the first day of the window. He loses credit because he said it was not acceptable to have our 19-year-old son sign for it, and Bob had to take annual leave and come home immediately. There are limited benefits to having a 19-year-old son at home. One of them is supposed to be having a responsible adult to wait for service folk.

He loses more points because he went under the house and said there was a leak, and he couldn't work under those conditions. He also said it would cost an additional $80 to run a wire to our bedroom upstairs. I said I didn't want tv in the bedroom, but Bob said he did, and since I like sleeping with him, I relented.

The cable guy then loses all credibility because he leaves before Bob gets there (fifteen minutes after the call), saying to reschedule when we get the plumbing fixed, make sure Bob is home, and have a nice day.

I actually do not want cable. Other than Monk, it offers me nothing. I do want high-speed internet, so I can read pretty blogs without waiting minutes for the pages to load, so that I can upload photos, so that I can do things. We can't get DSL, even though we are in the middle of the city. If television weren't important to everyone else, I'd say, let's just get Verizon wireless internet. They cost a lot, but at least they provide good service.

As far as I know, Bob has talked to the Time-Warner Cable people, who have probably let him know they don't give a rat's patootie, after all they are a government sponsored monopoly. I'm pretty sure we are going to reschedule. I already have a plumber on the way (Outhouse Plumbing, where a flush beats a full house.) I am sure this is the beginning of a really crappy relationship, and if my best friend dated someone like this, I'd have an intervention.

But no, I'm going to be patriotic and put up with this crap. Too bad my reliable plumbers can't do something about the Time-Warner Cable crap that is filling up my house.