So Is This the End of the Line?

Yesterday after a nice afternoon shower, I glanced out my front window and noticed a wire lying across my front driveway and lawn.

Assuming it to be an electrical line, I called Florida Power & Light Company. I told them that I had no way of knowing if it was a power line, cable line or phone line. They were out in minutes and told me it was a phone line.

I called Comcast since they supply my phone service. The disinterest couldn't be greater. I was told that they could send someone out to check it on Monday. Yesterday was Friday.

I told the gal that I needed to mow my lawn (today) and I was not about to touch a downed line to move it from one place to another to mow. She couldn't care less. I hung up.

This morning I decided to call Verizon, arguably the most popular telephone company. I got another runaround. "We can't send a repair person to check unless it's a Verizon line that is down," the gal told me. Then she asked what color the line was. "Black," I replied, adding "I didn't know they came in colors."

She chuckled. "Do you know for certain that it's a Verizon line?" she asked.

"No, how does one go about identifying a Verizon line from any other line?" I asked.

"I have no idea," was her reply.

"Then why did you ask?" I questioned. If you don't know how to identify a Verizon line and you work for the company. You expect me, a person who doesn't work for Verizon, to identify it?"

No reply.

I told her of the major disinterest I encountered in my issue. Anyone who enters my front driveway is sure to pull the line down from the poles with their car. Again, "I'm sorry, but without knowing that it's a Verizon line, I'm not authorized to send a repairman to your home." That was her reply.

My final reply before hanging up (rather rudely): "Tell you what, when I go out to mow the lawn and shred the line to pieces with my tractor mower, I guess someone will complain that they have no phone service, and that'll get a repair person out here, won't it?"

"Yes, I suppose that will," she said.

"Thanks for nothing," I replied and kinda slammed down my phone.

Here in Florida we have numerous suppliers of phone service: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc., to name a few. I have no idea how many companies supply landlines and would have overhead lines. I simply don't have the time to spend on the phone (20 minutes with Verizon, 15 with Comcast, 15 with Florida Power & Light) to find out whose line is TRESPASSING on my property.

End of story, sorry. I have a lawn to mow and a phone line to shred.