Imagine being a homeowner and taking pride in the way your yard looks. What would you do if there were a cable utility box in your yard, and the cable guy left a mess behind? Would you clean it up, wait for him to come back, or find a way to make this work in your favor?

In this story, one man is in this situation, and he’s pretty upset about it until he talks to some friends at a pool party. After a few drinks, they came up with an idea that not only benefited him but also benefited most of his neighbors.

Keep reading for the whole story.

Forget to clean up, fine, EVERYBODY gets free cable

Pre-children (PC) , my wife and I purchase our first house. We were very excited to be homeowners.

We were particularly proud to show off all of our gardening and yard skills we have developed over the years of childhood chores.

Don’t tell mom, but who knew that seemingly punishment of yard work would actual translate to adulthood.

We are off to a great start with a meticulous yard spending way too much time, and money.

He noticed something interesting.

On my small suburban lot is the Utility Box for one of the 2 cable choices in the neighborhood. Along the EE Cable Corp, you know the one who Forbes always lists as one of the worst companies in the country.

I come home from work one day and notice the utility box is open and the cables are fileted all over. I did not think too much of it at the time and made a mental note assuming they are on a break.

The next day, I come home from work and the utility box is still a mess.

This is so annoying!

I called the Evil Empire Cable Company to kindly let them know that they left a mess in my yard after a repair.

They told be nicely that they will be out in the neighborhood the following day to finish the work.

Many weeks come and go without them fixing their mess.

Define “eventually.”

It was coming up on our first pool party and we wanted the house to be perfect.

I call the EE Cable Corp again. Not to bore you with the details of the conversation, but ended with a rude ending that they will be out there “eventually.”

Now I am I seeing why nobody likes this Evil Empire Cable Company.

Drinking led to a realization.

At our first PC pool party, maybe after a margarita, or 4, we start aimlessly discussing the Evil Empire Cable Corp.

Now we are a bunch of engineers, and a truck driver (important later) drinking margaritas, the discussion turned from complaining to scheming.

While poking around the utility box and the box on the side of my house, we notice that this EE Cable Corp does not use multiple line blocks on the cable. They merely hook up the cable from the house to the utility box, easy peasy nice and easy.

I am guessing the lack of security is a genuine artifact of “midwest nice.” Why protect something that nobody steals.

They decided to take advantage of the situation.

We also notice that there is only one house of the 8 that is serviced with cable.

So we proceed to hook up free cable to the 7 remaining houses.

We neatly stuff all the wires and close the utility box.

They weren’t done yet.

As I mentioned the only non-engineer in the group was a truck driver.

An earlier pointless discussion was about different padlocks and why truck drivers use a specific round kind. Basically so that it is impossible to break with small bolt cutters.

He grabs a large round padlock out of his truck and we try to place the it on the utility box.

It won’t fit, hole is too small.

They didn’t let that stop them.

So a few seconds of drilling, we now placed our own padlock on the EE Cable Corps.

Utility box along with 7 houses with free cable protected by an industrial padlock designed to prevent trucker theft.

After meeting the other neighbors and making sure they are trustworthy I let them know about our party.

Each one smiled and began enjoying free cable.

Eventually, the cable guys did come back.

A number of months later, enjoying free cable, the EE Cable Corp is in the backyard staring at our handiwork. They bend over regularly really studying the padlock.

I can only imagine their discussion on what they are seeing.

They bring out the bolt cutters from the truck, I assume they carry them if they lost a key or padlock is rusted.

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Now looking at the bolt cutters, I can tell this will be a futile exercise. After only about 3 minutes, they both shrug their shoulders, get back in their truck and leave.

They enjoyed free cable for quite a while.

That was the last time we ever saw the EE Cable Company. Since all but one of us was enjoying free cable, there was no reason for them to be out there.

Our gig was up when the one who did pay for cable, who we never really met, moved.

The next technician was very dedicated, after 3 trips each with a larger bolt cutter, resulting in using one more than 4 feet long, put everything back to the way it was before.

And thus concludes the story of 7 houses enjoying free cable for more than 4 years because the laziness of a single technician and a rude customer service rep.

At least they enjoyed the free cable. This is a great example of making lemons out of lemonade; although, technically they were stealing.

Let’s see how Reddit responded.

Here’s another story about someone who got free cable.

This person expected a different story.

Another person did some math.

Here’s another story about a cable company.

On the one hand, what they did was stealing. On the other hand, if the cable company employees hadn’t been so lazy, this never would’ve happened, and like the guy at the end, they could’ve broken the lock if they’d tried hard enough.

Brainstorming at the pool party worked out really well.