I’ve been doing cable television work for some time. Nearly two decades have passed since I started. To say things have changed would be an understatement. The amount of channels available to the average customer has probably quadrupled. Services that would have been unheard of are now commonplace. More bandwidth, more services, more, more and a little bit more than that. Somewhere along the line we went from an entertainment medium to a utility. With that came a much larger change. The change of reliability of all services at all times period.

So how do things stay running all the time? Quite simply they don’t, they just seem to. For me, tonight is one of those nights …

Back in the good old days, when internet access using your tv cable was more dream than reality, service on the system was done during the day for the most part. Oh, there were times that we would work at night but only when we were talking about thousands of customers, not tens of customers. These days, shutting off an entire hybrid fiber node would most likely only effect a few hundred customers. That’s way too many. If we are going to effect a few dozen people the work gets done at an off peak time. Usually between the hours of 12am to 7am. Why would we do this? It is quite simple actually.

There is a quickly growing demographic that uses cable these days like we used to use phone service. In fact, there are more and more people that use cable AS their phone service. Telecommuters are becoming more and more accepted. People can live off the beaten path and still appear to be sitting at a workstation in a cubicle. People run businesses from home and depend on that “always on” connection. It isn’t just entertainment anymore. It’s serious business.

Which brings me to the reason for this entry. Tonight is one of those nights for me. All week long I’ve been saving these little jobs. A piece of new cable here to replace the one your neighbor hit with a post hole digger while putting in a new fence. Some design changes to feed that new house up the street from you that just went in. You know, the things that just keep on happening no matter what. New homes, things getting old and needing replacement or any number of minor (and not so minor) changes to keep things running.

No one, and I really mean no one, likes to turn on their television and see the dreaded blue screen of emptiness. How do you feel when you open a browser window only to get that not connected to the network message. One glance at the modem and you know that not nearly enough lights are flashing. Suddenly the nicest person becomes what we lovingly refer to as, “an irate”. And that is what we try to avoid at all costs. Because once you pick up the phone to complain, or yell, or just to vent you become a statistic that needs to be tracked. A statistic that will need to be addressed.

So tonight, when most people are snug in their beds I will be out and about with a light strapped to my head. For anyone that has never had to do a job in the dark that is usually done by the light of day it’s hard to describe the difference. For one, its a bit more dangerous. Dogs that roam in the evening can become sneaking terrors. Even a cat that usually has the run of the place can scare the beejeezus out of you if they get close enough. Usually they wait crouched until you get right next to them then take off like an unseen terror. Little things like keeping an eye out for black widows take a little bit more time. Then there is the work itself. A lot of the equipment we use wasn’t really designed with working by flashlight in mind. There are little tiny pieces and little tiny adjustment pots that need to be dealt with. There is system power that has to be kept at bay. Last but not least there are freaked out people that want to know what in the heck you are doing in the bushes next to their driveway at 0230. I’ve had the police show up more than once over the years. I’ve been yelled at, cursed out, and pretty much berated by the very people that I’m trying to help.

Go figure. You just can’t make some people happy.

Now the good side. I’ve learned that lots off good lighting can go a long way. Keeping the interior lights in the truck on and the signs on the side in plain view can go a long way. Flashing beacons can help, but in a quiet neighborhood at 3 in the morning they can actually cause more trouble than they are worth. My advice, keep your ID badge in plain view and answer any questions a homeowner in their bathrobe asks politely and simply. No smart answers, no attitude. Unless you like having to answer to the local police instead of getting the work done.

If you are lucky, you will run across that person that brings you back out a cup of coffee and a thank you. That can make it all worth while.