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Being Thankful

This business never ceases to amaze me, including the people that work in it everyday to deliver that sacred thing we call dial tone or successful call completion. It's bedrock to our everyday lives and businesses--and without it, we all get pretty cranky until our services are restored. There are numerous facets to this business we often ignore, overlook and sometimes just take for granted. It's imperfect in many ways because we cannot control all elements of transmission and reception. No matter how hard we try, there are snafus along the way, be it the weather, power, backhoe operators, hardware, software and people. Something always seems to give way that puts us into the reactive mode.

I vividly remember about 17 years or so ago heading out to western Maryland to replace a PBX at a historic Inn. Free room and boarding, home cooked food--stay as long as you like and eat as often as you want. (Paradise). The owner's husband knew my grandfather from many years prior. Driving there was challenging because a winter storm was well underway when I reached Sideling Hill. A few miles later my truck did a couple of 360’s coming down a pass and I was pretty thankful for ending up in the median. Alone in a remote spot and where cell phones didn't work back then. The next hour would prove to be stressful as I dug out and then played rock and roll with the truck to get momentum and finally loosening the trap that I lay in. The next two hours was lightning during an unending snowstorm while visibility was nil. My truck crawled to that Inn. The install normally would have taken 3 days and I was there for 7 working night and day. The next four days the storm continued while few travelers made it to the Inn for refuge. The Inn rests in a campus environment setting with Motel, Inn and other buildings including a school converted to an antiques business across the road.

A lady with kids just made it in because Interstate-68 was shut down between West Virginia and Maryland. All the rooms had new phones and only Intercom dial tone. Central Office dial tone was shorted and I was nearing completion of installing a new tie cable and protectors between the MPOP and extended demarc. The lady with the kids really wanted to call her husband to let him know they were safe. I was the only one preventing that phone call happening. All went well and within that hour I had unrestricted dial tone programmed to her extension and called the customer's room to let her know she could now make her phone call. A few hours later in the Inn dining room, I saw her and she immediately thanked me. I've never forgotten her heartfelt thankfulness and because we are in a service business, it was really great to hear.

By all means my experience pales in comparison to my buddy who is set to retire at the end of the month. He's already home with his rig on call, but really in transition handing over details and advice to his replacement. He's been working the fiber and transmission lines in the northwest ever since we both left active duty in the Navy. His monster truck and rig traveled places I wouldn't dream of going. Think of a modern day cowboy just with a truck and rig going an ongoing endless drive to test and restore services along the right-of-way in places unfrequented by most. He's home and thankful for the time he gets to begin a new stage in his life. Most of his years spent, is work unseen by the many customers his company serves.

Recently, another buddy in distribution sent me a video link with an email subject of "Job Opening." He’s sent me prank emails in the past and I was leery at first. He’s dealt with Lyme disease for years and you’d never know it because he never complains. So I finally got around to watching the video expecting something to either trick me or scare me. Instead I got reminded of how thankful I am that I don’t have to climb those 120 foot shipboard antenna masts from our old Navy days and that I never pursued taking up lineman’s work. Last year’s Road Trip to the Big Apple reminded me too. I've confessed before to throwing out a couple of cell phones out the truck window because lack of service once too often created a boiling point. Since I've been on strict warning from the CFO (My wife) to not dispose of cell phones in this manner, I can say I've lost most temptation to do the former, namely because the iPhones are just too expensive and I'd still suffer consequences by wife. As many times as I've griped and mulled over the radio service that we know as "cell service," I’ve driven by plenty of antenna sites and know well that they just don’t work all the time without attention. As you watch the video and I hope you do, I think it's safe to say that you too will be thankful.