Your honor student is way smarter than my lab.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Gas Check
I see a slight, twitchy young man in his 20s coming up the driveway. I meet him at the door before he has a chance to ring the bell.
"Oh, hi. I'm here to do a safety check on your gas line."
I look up and down the street. Usually there's a National Grid van nearby for something like this. He sees me hesitating and holds up his ID.
I check him out again and decide I definitely could take him in a fight. I puff out my shoulders, try to look menacing and let him in. "Yeah, come on in. Gas connection is in the basement."
Little Man stops chewing his waffle and gives me a nervous look.
"It's OK, Buddy. I'll be right back."
The guy is holding some kind of gas testing device that looks exactly the thing Dr. Venkman used in Ms. Barrett's apartment. I bring him down the basement and walk around the maze of boxes and old clothes.
"The gas comes in to the house there. Can you get back there OK, or do you need me to move a few things?"
"No, I can reach it OK."
And after about 10 seconds, he was done.
We head back up stairs. He's sees Daisy hopping up and down in the kitchen and comes out with "There sure are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood."
*** sound of needle scratching off record player ***
Wait, what?
I watch him leave the driveway and head to the next house.
And in about 12 seconds, I find the most recent gas bill and call the gas company. After navigating the phone menu, I get a live person.
"Are you guys doing some kind of ... safety checks in my area? There's a shifty looking kid knocking on everyone's door on my street."
"Yes, that's us."
"OK, you guys might want to do a little bit more customer relations training with your new employees. When the kid mentions how many dogs there are in the neighborhood, it sounds like he's casing the place."
"I'll make a note of it."
I see a slight, twitchy young man in his 20s coming up the driveway. I meet him at the door before he has a chance to ring the bell.
"Oh, hi. I'm here to do a safety check on your gas line."
I look up and down the street. Usually there's a National Grid van nearby for something like this. He sees me hesitating and holds up his ID.
I check him out again and decide I definitely could take him in a fight. I puff out my shoulders, try to look menacing and let him in. "Yeah, come on in. Gas connection is in the basement."
Little Man stops chewing his waffle and gives me a nervous look.
"It's OK, Buddy. I'll be right back."
The guy is holding some kind of gas testing device that looks exactly the thing Dr. Venkman used in Ms. Barrett's apartment. I bring him down the basement and walk around the maze of boxes and old clothes.
"The gas comes in to the house there. Can you get back there OK, or do you need me to move a few things?"
"No, I can reach it OK."
And after about 10 seconds, he was done.
We head back up stairs. He's sees Daisy hopping up and down in the kitchen and comes out with "There sure are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood."
*** sound of needle scratching off record player ***
Wait, what?
I watch him leave the driveway and head to the next house.
And in about 12 seconds, I find the most recent gas bill and call the gas company. After navigating the phone menu, I get a live person.
"Are you guys doing some kind of ... safety checks in my area? There's a shifty looking kid knocking on everyone's door on my street."
"Yes, that's us."
"OK, you guys might want to do a little bit more customer relations training with your new employees. When the kid mentions how many dogs there are in the neighborhood, it sounds like he's casing the place."
"I'll make a note of it."
Friday, May 14, 2010
Thursday, May 06, 2010
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