Everyone has their fair share of problems with internet providers. Unhelpful customer service, laggy upload speeds, and buggy networks just to name a few.
However ,very rarely is people’s beef not with the internet itself, but with the people who actually install it’s infrastructure!
Check it out!
Sort the parking out? Ok, let me know if this works for you company with V in their name.
Back in the heyday of a fiber optic company with the letter V in their name, they were jamming fiber into the ground as fast as they could, they came to our townhouse village.
We got notice that they would be starting the next Monday and that they would be going along the inside edge of the sidewalks to set primary fibers.
If we wanted it to come to the house to paste this orange sign on our front doors. Ok, I was happy with the current provider, so no orange for me.
But OP’s disinterest in their internet didn’t stop them from taking all three of his parking spaces!
Parking is tight, with spaces for residents (marked) and some for visitors (marked).
I was surprised to come home on Friday to see a DitchWitch (cable digging / insertion machine) across the three spaces my family normally used.
I said to the workman that they were in my spaces, and they were across them.
Why not move to the visitor spot next spot over and rather than being across them, just put the machine in the spot like it was a car.
That way it would take one spot not three.
Unfortunately, the digger man wasn’t as enthusiastic about his solution as he would have hoped….
Digger guy goes “I already set it there, I have other work, you can sort out the parking” and drove off.
Ok fine.
So I park my car as close as I can get to the machine (using the visitors spot). When next car arrives, we place it as close to the machine in the space on the other side.
Next car goes across the three spaces parallel to the machine. This blocks it in on three sides, can’t get out the 4th since there are the concrete bumpers. Plus lack of wiggle room.
Others make alternate plans to get to work, I stay home to watch the action.
And despite telling him to work it out on his own, the dig man wasn’t thrilled with the fix they came up with!
Digger guy shows up. Sees that he’s blocked in and is very sad. Stomps around the digger, around the cars, around the digger, another pass around the cars.
They go to the first town house. No answer. Second, third, fourth all at work. Gets to me.
“Those your cars?”
“Yep, parked in my spot”
“You need to move them.”
“Nope, busy with other work” and I close the door.
Bang, bang, bang. “You can’t block me in, you can’t park there.”
“I can park there and look at them I already did. You said for me to sort my parking out on Friday and I did”.
“I’m going to call the police.”
“Go for it” and I closed the door.
But when the man’s boss showed up, he was already sitting there ready for him!
About an hour passed, knock at the door.
“I’m the site engineer for a company with V in their name, are those cars yours?”
“Yep”
“You need to move them”.
“No, when your work drone dropped the machine off, I suggested rather than take up three spaces, they take up one. They said I should sort my own parking out.
I did and I have other work to do.” Closed the door.
More knocking that I ignored. By now there is a crowd of workpeople milling around.
Cue that guy’s boss knocking on the door, only to get the same result!
Another hour passes, new knocking. “I’m the Senior project engineer for a company with V in their name, are those cars yours?”
“Yep”
“You need to move them”.
“No, when your work drone dropped the machine off, I suggested rather than take up three spaces, they take up one.
They said I should sort my own parking out. I did and I have other work to do.”
“We’ll call the police”
“You do that” close the door.
Not even the police could get him to move his family’s cars from the spot!
Another knock at the door. “This is the police”.
Open up, and ask how I can help. Get told by Office Obie to move my cars or they would be towed.
I pointed to the “Private Property” sign:
“This is a private parking lot, you don’t have jurisdiction, in fact when we have complained about issues, your Chief has said you don’t have jurisdiction.
So you can’t call the tow, you need to deal with the homeowners association.” S
ome splutter by Officer Obie but acknowledged they don’t have jurisdiction to call a tow and left.
And when the HOA get involved, he realized he could play their involvement to his advantage.
Late afternoon knock at the door. “Hey Kilted, this is member of the HOA.”
I open up, we go out, I explain the situation to them.
HOA yells at people from Company that has V in their name. Company people looks sad. HOA member asks how can we solve this?
“Well illegal parking is a $100 fine, they are across three spaces, so that would be $300 fine, they pay that we can call it a day (winking at HOA member.)
“That works, I fine you $300 per day company with V in their name” Senior engineer with a company with V in their name goes
“Ok, we will pay it, move the cars. “
But there wasn’t a chance that he was moving his cars without seeing that money first!
I go “They look like they will pull a runner on you, I’d get payment first.”
“Good idea, you can pay me the fine since I’m the HOA.”
“I can’t get you a check today.”
“When you get the check, you can start. Otherwise, there is a bank down the street, cash will work.” Senior engineer slinks away.
HOA member and I chat outside while worker drones mill around. Senior engineer returns, hands cash to the HOA member and goes
“OK, now move your cars”.
But by the time the worker finally paid, it was ironically too late to start working for the day. Bummer!
I comply putting cars in other slots.
When I come back from moving the last car, I see the digger parked in the visitor spot, correctly like a car.
“What’s with that HOA member?”
“Well they decided that they had wasted the entire day and would start again tomorrow.”
They came and did the wires the next three days, each day the digger was returned to its spot.
Oddly, I never saw the guy that wanted me to “sort my own parking out” again.
You never know when one offhanded comment is gonna come back to bite you, and your entire construction team, in the butt!
Reddit loved seeing this mysterious “V” company have to pay for their rudeness, and said whatever they lost by halting construction far outweighed the $300!
And the “V” company hate only continued, with this user saying he put up with their competitor just out of spite.
Apparently, “V” didn’t even finish their fiber installation in most cities, and left the roads an absolute mess.
Finally, this user wished the HOA had continued with the malicious compliance.
Hope the 15 minutes it would have took to move the machine was worth an entire day’s worth of construction!
I’m betting it wasn’t, though.
If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.