The Cable Guy Came

It was a guy, not a gal who came to see about my problem.  I know there must be Cable Gals somewhere, but I haven’t seen any.  I’ll be on the lookout.

Anyway, the problem was not the cable television service or the Internet service. It was the telephone.   All three are covered by my Optimum account. Two out of their three services were doing just fine, I thought.  

The phone seemed to drop the connection during the third ring, didn’t go to message either.  For a month or so, I had suffered the inconvenience – dashing and grabbing to keep the caller from holding a silent phone.  Then folks telephoning while I was away, getting ‘dropped’, began officiously advising me my phone was acting funny.  It was time for me to be a grown up and take care of the problem.

The phone was at least ten years old.  The 'charge battery' warnings which used to never happen were becoming more frequent.  That frustration together with the dropped calls issue were reason enough to make a significant change.  So, on a sweltering Monday afternoon off I went to Radio Shack to replace the worn out 4-set Vtech cordless system with a brand new 4-set Vtech cordless system. I programmed the new phone to ring six times before inviting the caller to leave a message.  No more rushing to the phone for me.  Proudly I texted family and friends and told them, “Don’t call my home phone tonight. My new phone will be charging until morning.”

Several calls came through the next morning.  The modern, sleek telephone felt good and sounded great too.  All was okay.

That is, until the phone rang when I wasn’t nearby.  I didn’t rush; and, on the third ring, there was abrupt silence.  I was devastated. 

It was my daughter.  She suggested it must be the telephone line.  

The Cable Guy came this morning.  He was on time, patient and pleasant.  Standing in the dinette, dialing my number, listening to the malfunction, he asked if I had a fax machine.  I do.

That was the problem.  The last time I used the fax machine I had inadvertently programmed it to override the phone on the third ring.   We disabled that! In less than ten minutes my telephone problem was fixed.  But the Cable Guy wasn’t finished. 

I learned when my Cable Service Company is called for a specific purpose the technician is required to respond to data in their system and handle any issue needing attention. Today I learned a cable line to my non- cable boxed TVs had a problem.  The Cable Guy fixed it.  

After his visit I knew how to re-set the television picture for High Definition resolution.  Pictures on each television are bright and beautiful, and my telephone is wonderful.  Plus there was no service charge.  Such maintenance is covered with my monthly payment for cable service.

The Cable Guy came and I’m better for it.  It was a good day.