The change-over was not 100 percent smooth. Company officials were and are the first to point that out. Company bosses, owners, marketers, technicians, clerks, desk workers and line workers went out house to house to try to fix the problems as quickly as they could. Theirs was not an irresponsible response.
Listening to the responses of people waiting in line for assistance outside the cable and phone company offices, one might have thought otherwise.
Listening to the abuse heaped on the frontline employees and those who answered phones, one might have thought the end of the world was upon us.
Sure, it was frustrating and confusing for people when they could not turn their televisions on, but it was only television. It was not life threatening. No one died. No one was injured. Interesting from a socio-anthropological perspective to look at what happens when people's relationship with their television is disrupted.
The cable people were doing as much as they humanly could to right the situation as fast as possible. Taking those frustrations out on the frontline people was uncalled for, unneighborly and just plain bad manners.
Singer/songwriter Christine Kane, in a song entitled "The One Thing I Know," concludes a verse with these lines:
"Are you gentle? Are you kind when you're stuck in traffic?"
How we treat our fellow community members when we're frustrated over cable television, road plowing, traffic, cell phone service, movies, taxes, school boards, select boards, bridge detours, etc. may say a lot about us as a community, as a society and a culture.
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