25 Reasons Cable Guys Hate You

Let's see if I even remember how to present a thread with external content. It's been a while

Part of the reason my participation in ATS has dropped over the years is mostly to do with work (and seeking work before that.) I mentioned in another thread I am now a cable guy. Been doing it about 5 months now and am loving it! I am currently working 12 hour days (or more) 6 days a week. I often browse ATS in between jobs or on break.

I spend so much time in work mode that it has become more of a lifestyle than a job. Many days I am just hopping from job-to-job and then come home to complain about it all.

Apparently I am not the only one--"25 Reasons Why Cable Technicians Hate You" consumerist.com...

1. We call you to confirm the appointment and to let you know we’re on the way. We get there. You’re not home, so we leave, and we end up having to come back to do the damn job because you are liars and said you were home, when you weren’t. We are on schedules

I always get the customers who do not answer their doors or phones, only to have dispatch call them up and tell me they're home. You made the appointment. Answer the door! It makes me look foolish calling dispatch 4 times a day to cancel jobs because you won't answer your FRONT DOOR!!! I know you're there. I hear you stomping around in there.

2. Your dogs s*** everywhere in your yard. Pick that s*** up, we have to work in it.

And stop leaving soiled diapers in your yard while you're at it. Seriously? I'd feel more comfortable trying to set up my extension ladder in a minefield.

3. Your dogs s*** in your house

See #2...yes, I see it all the time and it's disgusting that I even have to use such banal wordplay!

4. Your children are climbing on us. Control them. I for one love kids, and love playing with them but put that bugger in the crib sometimes.

I am not here to babysit or entertain your 6 toddlers. Put down your Clash of Clans and pay attention to your kids because I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible!

5. Your house smells...It’s gross.

I know people become unaware of their own odors, but I have been in ballpark bathrooms that smelled better. How can you breathe?!

6. Your router. Do it your damn self.

And DON'T call the cable company to complain that you couldn't figure out your own router that you bought AFTER the installation. I get charged money for your ignorant complaint calls.

If it's your router, it's your responsibility.

7. Offer us a drink, it’s hot, we’re probably going out of our way to make sure your s*** works!"

I know you're comfortable hanging out in front of your oscillating fan asking me every 8 minutes if I'm almost done, but it's 100 degrees while I'm running 5 new outlets for you!!!

( And to that one guy who offered me homemade Kool-aid )

8. We’re not going to assemble your piece of crap computer! We’re not going to fix it either, we’re the cable company, not Geek Squad.

And while we're at it, I'm not there to set up your wireless printers, fax machines, or take a look at your water heater.

9. We’re not there to set up your surround sound system.

Any product or service not on my work order is something I don't care about. And don't call me 2 weeks later to help you set up anything new for your entertainment centers! Are you out of your mind???

10. MOVE YOUR CRAP OUT OF THE WAY!!! If we have to access your attic to change splitter configurations (or to do a wallfish), move your own s*** out of the way, it’s not our job to move your boxes and luggage in your closet. We’re not Mayflower or any other moving company. In fact we’re not there to move any furniture, electronics, computers, clothing, boxes, etc. IF ANYTHING HAS TO BE MOVED, YOU NEED TO MOVE IT OR YOU DON’T GET YOUR CABLE. If we break something we have to pay for it. Here’s a solution, move your s*** before we get there (ie. dressers, entertainment centers — move these AWAY from cable and AC outlets, so we have access)

If you're going to block access to your one cable port with a giant antique hutch with your fancy plate-wear, game over. Know where your outlets are and don't block them off. I don't care where you want your TV or modem..your outlet is THERE and that's where your devices are going! Don't even complain to me about having to route and clip cable throughout the house/ room because your outlet isn't where you want it to be!

And if you don't have a power strip to cram all your devices and gadgets, I'm going to lose it. The ones I give you are ones I pay for out of my own pocket.

11. If you are ordering Internet make sure you have a computer there for us to test it on when we arrive. common sense.

You can skip the laptops, pc's, and tablets. Your modem provides internet and you can figure out the rest from there...one less thing for me to do. But if you don't have TVs when you order 5 boxes, you're going to get rescheduled. There's no way for me to check a faulty cable box without a TV.

Why are you ordering cable when you haven't even moved your TV's in? Stop being a jackass and finish moving in first!!

12. If you are ordering digital phone, you don’t need a phone there (we have test phones), but don’t expect us to run 3 phone outlets for free

We don't get paid hourly rates. Anything extra you want done better come with a tip, or at least a little gratitude. The more you demand, the less effort we're going to put into your installation.

13. If your installation has to get rescheduled, don’t flip out.

Don't let your little kids dump sand and rocks down your conduits. Don't ask for an installation on a house that is STILL under construction. Don't expect your 5 box job to be done in 15 minutes because you "have to leave" and thought I'd be done by now. Don't grow a giant tree with thorns to cover up the unsightly aerial pole in your backyard.

14. You don’t get a new box every time a new one comes out. That’s not how it works. They are all designed to do the same thing. If there’s a problem we’ll replace it, but don’t waste our time.

Don't demand the "newer, smaller" boxes. I'll give you what I have and what I choose. If you're chill, I might accommodate. If you're going to leave comments with the sales agent asking only for "newer, smaller" boxes, I'll give you 20 guesses what I'm going to leave you with. I have to get rid of these somehow.

15. YOUR INTERNET IS NOT SLOW, YOUR COMPUTER IS!!!

Oh, you say your wifi isn't top-notch speed in every corner of your house? I don't care. They have limitations and you're going to have to deal with it. Any other issues you have..I don't care. You have internet connection. My job is done and over.



(continued..)

16. Dogs – A lot of us love animals but put those b******* up if they bite. It’s not funny. That’s why so many of my teammates hate dogs!! I love them, and most other animals but some of you idiots don’t train your animals. Put the mean ones away somewhere (preferably somewhere that is not important to the cable installation).

I don't care how much you love and adore your dogs. They clearly don't love and adore me. If you have to hold your dog back from attacking me, you're not getting cable unless you put it away. Don't tell me how sweet and awesome your dog is while it's humping my leg and I'm trying to work.

Don't ask me to put my boot covers on if you're just going to let your dog track in mud and nip at my feet every step I take.

17. Put some damn clothes on. It was your choice for you to have us there at 8am, not ours. I’d rather be sleeping still.

You complain if I’m late, you complain if I’m early. You complain if I’m right on time. Don’t act like I’m intruding on your day. You chose the appointment time.

And next time you leave me a note on your door that says “I’ll be back in 10 minutes,” I’m not even going to wait 10 seconds.

Don’t call me and tell me you’re on your way and “should be there soon.”
If you’re not ready for your appointment at the appointed time, I’m cancelling your job. You’re costing me money.

18. don’t try to do it yourself, because you probably don’t know what youre doing.

Don’t tell me what to do and how to do it. You’re wrong about 95% of the time. That line you wanted your modem on?—it goes straight up to your satellite dish. Let me do my job. Don’t try to help out or chit-chat all the while.

Though the intention is appreciated, you are slowing me down!

19. If your house is over 450 feet from the tap (or pole) don’t expect premium services (digital cable, internet, or digital phone) to work well, if they work at all. You probably shouldnt even have cable.

Not every house was meant to have your 5 boxes and modem. Get real. It was your choice to live in the middle of nowhere because you wanted to feel ‘rustic.’

20. If you are ordering digital cable, make sure you have a working TV there for us to test it on when we arrive.

I mentioned this already but it is totally aggravating. Move in first. You’re setting me up for a guaranteed complaint call for which I lose money.

21. Contractors are hard workers, but there are bad eggs everywhere (contractors & in-house alike). Some of us were contractors before we worked directly for the company! Don’t hate!

Don’t complain if you get a contractor instead of an in-house technician. Don’t demand only in-house techs arrive to the job. Contractors are held to the same standards (and then some!) An in-house tech likely showed up to your address and passed off the job to a contractor because it sucked.

Yeah, now you know why you got a contractor.

22. Don’t get an attitude, when speaking to the tech, unless the tech has one first.

Your snarky and irritated attitude gets you nowhere fast. If you’re going to get hostile, I don’t have to remain there. Do you want your cable or do you want a punching bag? You’ll get neither unless you treat us as you would any other guest in your home.

23. We physically CANNOT give you free HBO. your set-top box is provisioned from the office, not from your house.

You can get a router, sure. Anything you want extra, I’ll get it for you—right after I phone in your upgrade. I’m not doing you any favors. I’m doing my wallet a favor.

24. THERE IS NO CABLE SWITCH. YOUR CABLE IS NOT TURNED ON WITH ANY TYPE OF SWITCH OR SIMILAR DEVICE.

Don’t tell me you can just do it all yourself if I leave you the equipment. You can’t just plug anything in and go. There is no signal going through your house. Your house is probably not properly grounded, and there’s a lot of maintenance I need to do as I go through the installation.

And as much as I’d like to see you get up on a pole and remove the terminator to your drop, you’re not going to accomplish much without me.

Don’t tell me where your underground cable is coming from—I can see in about 2 seconds you have no clue what you’re talking about.

25. If we are not assigned your installation, we do NOT want to pick it up early.

Actually, I try to attend jobs earlier so I can squeeze in extra work before I go home.

BUT, I will vent one of my final frustrations…

If I show up 30-45 minutes early, and you ask me to come back because you’re a paranoid freak who thinks no cable guy would ever show up early, I’m going to be pissed!!

There are many things still to gripe about, but if I didn’t stick with just the article, my OP would be 25 pages long.

And finally. If you feel like we did a good job AT LEAST let us know, and gratuity is nice too. You tip the Pizza man and wait staff at a restaurant right? Well they are just doing their job, and if they are nice and give you the service you want, you tip them. We work harder for our money, and we are way underpaid too, so don’t be shy!!

I don’t expect tips. I have even graciously refused tips if I feel they weren’t warranted. But it’s nice to be acknowledged for how much crappy work we did just so you can have services.

The extra cash helps too as we sometimes need to replace tools or invest in other out-of-pocket costs to complete your installation.

And yeah, when we spend 3 hours on your job, we’re losing serious money but remain focused and work hard to make you a happy customer. We're also making sure your devices aren't going to fail after we leave. It takes a lot of patience and many get burned out from it. A little acknowledgment and appreciation goes a long way.

It’s possible some poor Buddha had to chop down a tree just to get to your pole and run a new line to your crawlspace infested with black widows so you can have what everyone takes for granted.

Anyway, I love the job, even if it is filled with frustration. It is often rewarding and it keeps me entertained.

But there are definitely more than 25 reasons we hate doing an install for you

(article: consumerist.com... )

Wow, just wow.

1) after i get customer service and tech support to understand my problem...after 7 hours of calling over a week, I get an appointment.

2) I am told to stay home from 8am to 12 noon. At 12 noon, no one has yet come. I call and am told someone will arrive by 4.

3) someone comes at 3 and they have no idea why they are there- is completely different from what I have expressed to no less than 10 customer service reps and 5 tech support reps ovwr the course of the week in calls that last longer than an hour with many transfers.

4) The cable guy acts like i am asking for something unusual when I have already confirmed what is to be installed over the phone, over the course of the week. At some points wanting to scream and wondering if I will spend my entire life on the phone. Wondering if my cell phone will live as the battery gets hot after 3 straight hours on some calls.

5) Now a cable guy complains? You at least get paid to come out. I get zero for the hours upon hours I spend to get someone to undestand what is needed and then wait for people who do not show up in the scheduled time.




6) Blame who you work for. They did not tell you exactly what they promised and did not make sure you were there at the given time.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

25 reasons why I hate COX cable provider/service.


Oh nevermind....it ain't on you.

25 reasons to get a different job.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Some of those things I totally agree with and some I think are your duty to resolve.

That being said I really don't know how contracting or cable works in the US.

The placement of the router/modem, should be at the discretion of the customer, absolutely no reason why you shouldn't place it where asked. If you ain't got enough cable it is your fault. They are paying after all.

The last router I got placed was £80 to fit, I wanted it upstairs as the location of the hole is in the corner of the house. He didn't seem happy but hey I payed for full installation. If I served a medium rare steak to a customer who asked for well done and when the customer complained I mentioned "well it's nearly how you wanted it" uproar would ensue.

Cable guys get a good wage in the UK, again not sure about the US.

originally posted by: reldra
You at least get paid to come out.

First, this is in the rant section, but maybe bad choice as it's mostly meant to be some acidic humor. But I'm glad you opened up the discussion to the other side of the equation.

At least for me, I don't get paid until you sign on the dotted line.

a reply to: RAY1990

They are paid fine in the US. And I am normally paying for any relocations of modems or installations of 1 additional modem (my house is huge) or more wire to be run. They are never happy with that. Even ks it is set and confirmed with customer service in advance.

I don;t expect the to move furniture and have always offered bottled water to any worker in my home. But cable guys seem to be the most picky. One was a female in 6 inch heels and 3 inch nails that needed to get to the battery backup box in the basement, she complained about COBWEBS. These people do go in basements often, no?

Another one didn;t want to run wire upstairs I already paid for and he did some odd fix with cable wire leftover from a previous company and a 'neteork extender' I had service from. Had to go through the heinous process of getting someone else out to do it right when that failed.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

The placement of the router/modem, should be at the discretion of the customer

Yep, this is usually what I do. If I can't convince them to choose a location nearer their port, then unfortunately out comes the drill and cable clips...which they complain about.

I would just like to address #7

7. Offer us a drink, it’s hot, we’re probably going out of our way to make sure your s*** works!"

Whenever I have servicemen here, I am at a loss how to act, what to do, what to say, if I should offer anything, was I remiss in not offering anything, sigh.

When I last moved houses, I bought a truck load of new furniture from a furniture store a few hours away and arranged for it to be delivered. It was a hot day! Middle of Summer! The delivery-men arrived and hauled it all off the truck and into the house. I offered them a drink..... they looked at eachother, slightly smirked to one another, said no thanks, and got the hell out of there as though I were a ghastly fugly young lady and was hitting on them. ... ... It was HOT. I thought I was being thoughtful?

Anyway, thanks to that, I have never offered any service-person a drink ever since.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha
Cable guys get a good wage in the UK, again not sure about the US.

Like all jobs, it fluctuates from "I can't believe I get paid to do this," to "You couldn't pay someone enough to do this."

if your installation gets rescheduled, don't flip out

I took off work. Yes, I will flip out. You, were apparently on the job that day and didn't lose a day's wages.

a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

Been doing it about 5 months now and am loving it!

Sounds like you hate it, actually. Or love to hate it.

Love hate relationships, what better venue to hate than a customer service job.

My mom had a stroke, thought the cable was going out, it was her TV. They gave her a new box anyway with a new remote. They kept having to come back to teach her how to use the remote menu selections. It isn't obvious for people in her condition. She just watches two channels, but keeps hitting the eng / Spanish button by mistake and not knowing why her shows turn to Spanish. Took her a long time to get used to the upgraded remote. I bet they change it again in a month.

Not everyone is as capable as us to clean house, move their stuff or figure out how modern devices work.

Thats why they call service "technicians".

a reply to: kaelci

Keep in mind I didn't write the article, just added my own commentary to it.
I always carry plenty of drinks and snacks with me. I can't imagine any field tech who doesn't. Still, something from the fridge is nice sometimes.

If I feel you're going to offer me some janky stuff...yeah, I'll refuse. Last thing I need on the job is a stomach/ bladder rumbling.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha

originally posted by: reldra
You at least get paid to come out.

First, this is in the rant section, but maybe bad choice as it's mostly meant to be some acidic humor. But I'm glad you opened up the discussion to the other side of the equation.

At least for me, I don't get paid until you sign on the dotted line.

You work a regular schedule, I imagine. I don;t get paid for 7 hours on the phone or 3 hours waiting beyond what I was told. You, indeed, will be paid in the end.

originally posted by: NarcolepticBuddha

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: NarcolepticBuddha

The placement of the router/modem, should be at the discretion of the customer

Yep, this is usually what I do. If I can't convince them to choose a location nearer their port, then unfortunately out comes the drill and cable clips...which they complain about.

I don;t complain about that. Usually cable guys do not feel like doing that. That, at least, shows you are willing to to what it takes for the job.

a reply to: reldra

When the router I mentioned was first installed a family member was the one to recieve them as I couldn't get the time off.

They did a very similar thing with extending the cable. The next chap to come couldn't believe the shoddy job done and threw in a lot of freebies including a broadband upgrade and a superfast router. The upgrade was at no extra for a year so they are not all bad. It's a company that values customers too so I know that was to be considered.

I know I got lucky on the day though.

a reply to: kaelci

They were just weird. If it is early morning I offer coffee to workers. If it is later, I offer bottled water or soda. Some say yes some say no.

a reply to: reldra

I am sorry you have had some terrible experiences.

To be honest, I have been that tech at one point or another that aggravates you. It's something I try my best to learn from and improve on so each experience is better for the customer.

I can't speak for everyone out there, but I do everything I possibly can to satisfy my customers. I know many don't. I have seen some sloppy work. And that sloppy work from previous techs is something that makes my job annoying and stressful too.

originally posted by: RAY1990
a reply to: reldra

When the router I mentioned was first installed a family member was the one to recieve them as I couldn't get the time off.

They did a very similar thing with extending the cable. The next chap to come couldn't believe the shoddy job done and threw in a lot of freebies including a broadband upgrade and a superfast router. The upgrade was at no extra for a year so they are not all bad. It's a company that values customers too so I know that was to be considered.

I know I got lucky on the day though.

Yes, the second time was at no charge to me. The first guy was being lazy and I had paid for a much bigger job. Though it took a couple hours on the phone to describe why I should not be charged the scond time....sigh