utility companies are the devil

CAUTION!! LONG RANT AHEAD!!

So Vectron, the only gas company that supplies to the good people who live in this god-forsaken town, came and shut my gas off Thursday.

Now, this would be completely understandable if, say, I owed them money or was terribly late in paying my bill, but that is not the case. In fact, I just turned the gas on in my name the Friday before. And the Monday after, I hauled my ass down to Ulbrecht's IGA to pay an outrageous $120 security deposit. So, not only do I not owe them money -- they have an extra hundred dollars of mine. Still, I have no gas.

The story goes that a guy pulls up in a Vectron truck about ten minutes before I have to leave for work. After he finishes his cigarette he gets out, comes to the door and hands me a bill/disconnect notice for a Mr. Patrick Blosser. (Pat, if you're out there - go pay you're fucking bill!) As soon as I discovered that the bill was not mine, I came out and tried to explain to the nice fella that there was some sort of mistake - that Patrick Blosser doesn't live here and that I had recently started the account for this residence in my name. He seemed nice enough about, explaining that he would have to call his supervisor to get things cleared out.

I figured that he would be on the telephone for more than 10 seconds, so I turned around to throw my T-shirt on (I had been sitting around in my wife-beater) and as I headed back out the door, he was turning off my gas. I tried to stop him, but he muttered something about orders and having to turn off the gas regardless. Then he hopped in his truck and took the fuck off. I guess I was probably pretty scary looking at the moment.

For the next hour and a half I alternated between talking to complete morons who work at the customer service call center and listening to intolerable music. Ok, I lie -- I started out talking and pretty much ended up cussing out whoever was unfortunate enough to be on the other end of the line, and the music was terrible, only aggravating me more and more each time they put me back on hold.

Honestly I must have went through the entire chain of customer service reps, supervisors, and managers. They all assured me that it was a mistake and that my gas would be turned on the next day. They assured me that no one was available to come back and turn it on right away, and were regrettable in informing me that they could not give me any kind of time table on when a worker would be available the following day. I finally relented and assured them that if the problem was not fixed tomorrow, as early as possible, that they would be receiving another call, and that the next time I wouldn't be so genial.

So, when I get home from work on Thursday (which wasn't that bad because I ended up taking a half day so that I could scream at the gas company and then calm myself down) there's a note from Vectron saying that a technician had stopped by to install an automatic meter reader and didn't catch me home. They wondered if I might call in the next day to set up a time that the work could be done, whatever was convenient for me. HA!

And now, the rage returns.

So, I drink a few beers and go to bed, thinking that it'll all be Ok in the morning when this guy gets here and turns my gas back on so that I can take a nice hot shower and have a decent Friday at work. Besides, I wasn't really missing any money, seeing as I have to work Saturday anway.

So I wake up at eleven and the guy still hasn't come. I go ahead and make coffee and eat an apple and smoke three or four cigarettes thinking that they must have a busy day. The hour passes and I figure they've taken a break for lunch and that if I want to go to work, I had better just clean up in the sink with cold water and make ready.

And then I make lunch and have a few more cigarettes and a couple cups of coffee and the guy still hasn't come. I asked my sis to stick around the apartment so that when the guys from the gas company come they can get in to turn the gas back on. See -- they say that they can shut the gas off from the outside, but that they can't get it back on without having access to the cellar.
Anyway, I go to work and try not to think about my situation and do my job, but I'm still kind of fuming that the guy couldn't get around to doing my place before I left for work.

So I finally get off and make towards the house, looking forward (again) to having a nice Hot shower before I go out and have a couple of drinks with my friends. But when I make my way in and try the kitchen faucet, there's no hot water. I go the basement and make sure the water heater is turned on and working, but the pilot won't light -- because there's no gas. That's right, the fuckers still didn't come and turn my gas on.

But, I decided not to get mad -- cause I don't like to stress myself out, plus I figured I would save it for a more convenient time, namely when someone from Vectron was on the other line of a telephone. I can tell you the people are lucky they decided to do away with their local offices, cause I sure would have liked to smack the stupid out of some of those people today.