The gas company guys can't help people anymore

because some jerk ruined it for everyone else.

The other night a couple of us caught a little whiff of gas and Nurse Connie called the gas company to report it. They sent a field investigator out at once. He was there in about fifteen minutes which is a damned sight better than police response time in a lot of places. (Not here. Police response time is excellent in this township)

Anyway, he did his thing and tested and it looks like there is a small leak in the main somewhere and they will send a crew out sometime soon to tear the line up and repair/replace it. It's going to be a pretty big suck pill for someone as the main is off the road and it means lawn digging up and things of that nature.

I got to talking with the guy and I told him that just after we moved in they had to replace the line from the street to my house. He glanced at the on-board computer in his truck and told me that it had been noted. My gas line had been sleeved with a piece of plastic tubing.

I remember it well. I came out with a bunch of cold drinks for the guys that were digging the valve up so they could shut the gas to my place off. They had earlier explained to me that I would have to get a plumber or someone to have the pipe from the street to my house replaced.

That's when I looked at the entire crew and asked, "OK, which one of you guys does side jobs?"

They looked at one another and one of the guys mentioned that there was a guy on the crew working a block or two away that had a kid that had a medical condition and that he was always looking for a few extra bucks. The foreman called him up and the two of us made a deal right then and there.

The guy agreed to show up after work and square me away if I picked up the needed components. He gave me a list and about an hour or so later I returned home. I swung by to where the guy was working and he glanced at my purchases and agreed to show up after work.

He was there at the appointed time and we ran the sleeve of plastic tubing from the street to the meter next to the house and in a few minutes the end emerged by the meter where we attached it using the hardware I had just purchased. I was then good to go and the following morning the gas was turned on.

It was a good deal and a win/win situation. The gas guy had made a few extra bucks and I had saved well over a thousand bucks.

I mentioned this to the gas inspector and he gave me a wistful smile and told me that people working for the gas company could not take on side jobs anymore. I asked why.

I was given the usual reason. Some dumbass had ruined it for everyone else.

Some woman found out that her neighbor had gotten a gas company employee to come in after work and take care of his problem. The woman wanted her service taken care of and the gas employee explained to her that he couldn't fix her service with a sleeve because there was a sharp bend in her hard piping and that a sleeve couldn't make the turn. She would have to have her piping dug up and replaced.

She promptly called the gas company and complained and was the first step tooward upsetting the apple cart.

Part two, and the big upset was when someone called the gas company and whined about how much the guy charged him for a couple of hours worth of work.

While I'm sure the off-duty gas company employee charged a fair price for after-hours work, I doubt he was being all that greedy. This is another case where a complainer isn't thinking for even a second. The employee probably saved the complaining customer a fortune and this is yet another case of the old saw "No good deed goes unpunished".

The gas company then sent out a directive prohibiting employees from doing after hours jobs and that ended that.

The first woman, however learned a belated lesson about ruining things for others, though. Before the gas can be turned on the job has to be inspected and you can just bet that the inspector made sure every i was dotted and t was crossed. It cost her a fortune. I don't know what happened to the second clown.

Still, they ruined something for everyone else and that to me is a major crime.

I have posted several times in this blog that the trash guys take very good care of me.

The twit down the street has noticed that and said something to Neighbor Bob about how I seem to get preferrential treatment, which in fact I do. Then again, you have to remember that I take pretty good care of them. One hand washes the other.

Bob handled this well. He told her that if she did ruin things for me that he would make damned good and sure that I found out who was responsible. He then pointed out that I was either a best friend or worst enemy and that she didn't want to wind up on my short list of worst enemies. She's been set up once before and decided that maybe keeping her mouth shut is in her best interests.




my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/