About five years ago, it was one of those deals where the cable company gave you a nine hour window in which they would have someone out there to do the installation, and you just sat around and hoped that they showed up at all. I was apparently favored by the cable installer gods that day because the guy showed up within the first hour of the window, AND he was in a really great mood. "Hey, how ya doin, ready to get this all set up for ya..." and so on. "This will be fun," I thought.
"Hey, man, I know this is a strange request, but could I get a glass of water? I just had some really spicy wings for lunch and my mouth is really really dry." Hmm.
I obliged, wanting to keep the person who was about to drill holes through the side of my house happy.
"Thanks, man, gosh those wings were SO spicy, can I get a fill up?"
Sure.
He proceeded to wander around the house, checking out the cable install possibilities, chatting all the way. He started drilling, laughed a bit when he started to use the wrong bit. He didn't mind me looking over his shoulder, and in fact was quite talkative about the inner workings of the cable company installer industry, how they were paid, and so on. He asked me what I did, got all excited about technology consulting and website development, and was just overjoyed beyond belief when I offered him a Summersault t-shirt. "This guy is nice," I thought. "Extra friendly."
When he was done, he implied that he could set me up with some channels I wouldn't necessarily be paying for. He told me about the things that could be tweaked out on the wiring pole in the alley to adjust that channel setup. Lots of useful info for a geek, probably not so great for the cable company.
After another glass of water, we bid a fond farewell as he continued to thank me for the shirt and smile and say if there was anything else I needed just to call.
Super friendly, if a little oddly thirsty.
This second visit from the cable company the next day was a little unexpected. "We just need to go over the work that the installer who was here yesterday performed," he said. I thought it was just an extra bit of quality assurance. How nice.
Until the next part: "yeah, that guy who was here yesterday apparently did his rounds while he was high...before he came to your house he was involved in an altercation at another customer's house. Umm, He actually threw a wrench through a car windshield."
Oh my.
At least now I know about the "spicy wings" code-phrase, as I'm notoriously bad about being aware of it when people around me are in altered states of consciousness. If there are others you've encountered in your service technician experiences, please do share.
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