Island Lesson: Keeping the Cable Guy Happy

by | Feb 3, 2015

I am a fairly easy going person and have a difficult time staying mad at anyone for very long. It becomes toxic to my system and I have to let it go. However, I don’t have to deal with folks in a business circumstances like my husband as a project manager does on a daily basis. He grumbles at workers when they aren’t pulling their weight, he has differences of opinions with contractors and architects and gets into dramatic situations fairly regularly. He works in high stress situations and does his best each day to maintain his composure. 
 
Unfortunately, some days are more difficult than others to maintain a cool head, which was the result of a slight falling out with the local cable guy. And when you have guff with the cable guy, good luck getting internet service.
 
Our resident cable guy, Larry (his name isn’t really Larry, but we call him that) is the only cable technician to service a community of a few thousand residents. He’s a busy guy. He sets up and services every house, hotel and condo on the island. Larry was contracted to set up the entire cable and internet system at one of the largest hotels on the island which my husband was overseeing. Due to a few slow-downs on an already time-crunched job, my husband got a bit grumbly with Larry. And because I am guilty by association (or marriage in this instance) that is exactly why I sat at the house for 3 weeks without internet after we moved into our new place. 
 
I do quite a bit of online work from home. I maintain our website, focus on strengthening business marketing and help my husband with loose ends with the construction projects. Sitting at the house with no internet connection for several weeks wore on me fairly quickly. There was only so much I could do on my iPhone and I eventually burned up all of my data for the month. 
 
I begged and pleaded with Larry, I called my landlord to see if she could convince Larry to service, but to no avail. I finally took it to the next level and began pestering the cable company’s customer service representatives in Nassau over the phone. Trying to get a house call is not so easy here. We don’t have addresses, and sometimes not even street names. Queen’s Highway runs the entire 3 mile length of the island. Someone could appropriately say their address is “Queen’s Highway, Harbour Island, Bahamas” and it would be completely acceptable for any government document, identification information or delivery person. There’s a little box that every business has in their computer system if they need to insert a home address. This box’s purpose is to write out all the additional detailed information to pinpoint exactly where this house is located. GPS coordinates would be too easy. No, we have to describe house color, if there’s any unique vegetation, trees or fences, if it’s near a restaurant, past a bend in the road, if there are any street signs in the general vicinity, etc. 
 
After I spelled out exactly where out house was located, the cable company advised me that if I wait around the house all day on Monday, the cable person might show up. I was stoic about holding my ground at the house and spent the entire day waiting. I didn’t want to pop out for 5 minutes and miss the cable guy. Finally at around 4:30pm the cable guy arrived. Hurrah! However it wasn’t Larry. It was two technicians that I’d never met that came all the way up from Governor’s Harbour on Eleuthera. That’s about a 50 mile drive and then a water taxi ride to get here. I was extremely thankful that the technicians showed up and they were able to set up my service in record time. Since it was their last house call for the day, I gave them a couple cold Kalik’s to show my appreciation. I hoped that they would remember how hospitable and nice I was so that if I ever had a cable & internet issue, I could call my buddies in Governor’s Harbour and not have to bother Larry. 

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