July 2nd 2011

My first text comes today at 10:30. It says, "wake up sleepy heads, reps are knocking early today!" I disregard this and go back to sleep. Last Saturday, I didn't get my first job til 10:30 at night. -- I get up an hour and a half later. I pour myself some cereal and sit down at my computer to check Facebook, Email, AMPview, etc. I get another text. It has an address. This means this is the house I have to go to for my job. Crap! Corbin wasn't kidding! They were really trying today! -- It's time to multi-task. I hop in the shower and set my bowl of cereal right there on the tabletop so I can take bites of it periodically while I'm showering. I throw on my work shirt and pants, comb my hair, and i'm outta there. No time for shaving or brushing teeth.

I showed up to my job in record time! Only 20 minutes! The office told the rep it would take me 45 minutes. This customer looked like the guy from Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Same facial structure, same nerdy stance, and best of all, same glasses. He was cool because he's been in several bicycling marathons. -- The install goes well. It is super easy. Brand new Lynx 5000 touchscreen, three doors and a motion sensor. As I've said before, 5Ks are super easy because I don't have to deal with phone lines. It's all cellular. I install everything, send signals, do a 2-way test and teach the customer how to use it all in about 45 minutes. Him and his family are pretty happy with it by the time I leave.

I decide to help out Brent with his job. Brent's a first year, like me, only eight years older. He's funny because he's always negative and mopey about everything; complaining about no jobs, things being too expensive, installs that have been too hard, etc.-- All of us techs have decided to treat his complaining much like jokes, and they are always funny, much like Charlie Brown or Eeyore are funny. Since his face looks more like Eeyore's, that's what we call him. He doesn't tell us many 'jokes' anymore.

I show up to his job about 20 minutes before he does, so I just go ahead and get started. It is one of Angela's jobs. None of the techs like Angela. She's one of those reps that always has a smile on her face even though she's pissed off at you. -- and not a sweet smile, it's a smile with pure evil behind it. She's like Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter, mixed with Flo, the sales rep from all the Progressive commercials.
 -- The customers make me chuckle a little. They are older and from India and have a funny accent. The house smells of curry and other spices, and it is pretty cramped. They make me take off my shoes so I don't dirty up their hardwood floor- It's not like the floor was anything special either. It had scratches everywhere and looked like it was at least 15 years old. Brent showed up. If the house wasn't crowded before, it certainly was now. The hallway was only meant for one person. Now we had the four of us sidling past each other every 10 seconds. It doesn't help at all that Brent in heavier set either. I don't know why these customers felt the need to go back and forth to their room from the kitchen, through the hallway we were working in, but it was driving me crazy! They asked us funny questions in their accent like; "I tat Angla said de smoke detaactor woood go furthair down de hall..?" I wonder what would've happened if I answered their questions in that same accent. Brent certainly didn't lighten the mood with his 'cheerful' attitude, but if these customers cancel their account, I don't care cause it's not my install! :) Over all, we get their existing hardwire ADT system to work with our system by rerouting their power over to our panel. We have to use an outlet in their adjacent laundry room to power up our hardwire to wireless converter. It was funny to see this old guy so curious and almost climb on top of the washer to see this mysterious thing called an 'outlet'. -- Nah, I kid, he knew what an outlet was, but he didn't know there was one in that spot. I made casual chat with the wife and asked them where they were from. She pointed to a picture of some guy on her wall and said, "de same place he's from." I blinked, frowned and confessed I had no idea who that was. She looked at me and said "Ju don know who jaieoh Jeehig is?" ha ha-- I don't remember what the dudes name was, it didn't matter, cause I still didn't know who he was lol. She walks off saying something in her native tongue. Probably something like "ignorant, spoiled Americans" lol I grab my equipment back from Brent's car and leave.

I don't know Durham very well, and I don't know where the closest Walmart is. Actually, all I want right now is McDonalds. It took me awhile to find one. I am just about to order food when I get a text from Brent; "Dude, do you have my keys?" I check my pocket and sure enough! Knowing Brent, this is probably stressing him out to the max and he's probably pacing back and forth at this customers house checking all the places he's been four or five times for his keys. I tell him I haven't seen his keys. (he he he) After 10 minutes, I tell him I have them and head back over to his job. He was in the middle of teaching the customers how to use the system, so he just took the keys real quick from me without yelling at me ha ha.

 I decided to help out Adam. He's cool. He's 29 and has a family. He's been installing for years. His job is a half hour away. When I finally get out there, he is nearly done. All he has me do is take out the resisters from the existing door contacts. Easy stuff. I wanted to stay for the whole thing and see his teaching method, but I got another job, so I had to head over to that one. I forward this job/text to Brent so he can help me with it.

By the time I get there, Brent has been working for about 15 minutes. The customer is an older lady probably in her late 50's, early 60's. She's really skinny, mousy, and wearing safari clothes. Her hair is unkept and it looks like she hasn't worn makeup in years. When I show up, she's not exactly thrilled-- says under her breath 'you guys must be killin' for work.' Normally, people don't care if there is more than one tech working on the system. Most of the time, they are thrilled because it gets put in faster. I'll try and lighten her mood. I ask her questions about herself. She is a science teacher, grades k-5. This explains her appearance and all the different... things... in her house. It's loaded with crap! But not like garbage crap; its more like animal cages, bags of soil, various yard tools, and other things you might expect to see in Bill Nye the Science Guy's house. She started liking me after I told her I wanted to be a science teacher too. Brent really doesn't say a word the whole time. He is working on the door sensors the whole time. By the time I test out her system though, she is getting a little annoyed that we are still working- "After all, it's a holiday and it's nearly 7:30! Do ya'all usually work this late?" I tell her my latest job has been at 11:45 at night and she is quite surprised. Her house is nestled pretty far out in the sticks so I don't get reception there. I have to use my four foot flex-bit as an antenna for my cell phone to make calls.

After that job, I stop at a Kangaroo Gas Station parking lot and read for two hours. I got a text to come home so I started for home. There are fireworks going on in a nearby city, so I pull over to watch them. I am super homesick now.

When I get home, the guys are ready to eat. We go to the Lynnwood Grill. It's more of a bar than anything. This place is packed! The first floor is too noisy with the live band, and the rooftop is deprived of food. There is only alcohol. We want food, so we head over to the cheesecake factory instead. It is fun to hang out with all the guys after a long stressful week of work. Brian W., Matt and Bunnel get wasted. Brian ends up stealing the menu, some forks and spoons. By the time we leave, it's 1:00 and we are hyped up and ready to do something crazy. We race back to the apartment. I have to drive Matt's car because he is three sheets to the wind. Brian M. is a crazy fast driver. He's always going at least 20 over the speed limit. Since I'm in a crazy mood, I race him. Bad idea, a cop pulls both of us over. At least he isn't a total A-hole. He even laughs at Matt's crazy drunk talk. He gives me a ticket for going 15 over, and gives Brian M. a ticket for reckless driving and going 15 over. He's got a court date. I'm just down 200 bucks. The cop went easy on me because I was loosing the race and didn't have to do a quick maneuver to dodge a car that just pulled out. The whole time we were waiting for the cop to run info, Matt almost peed his pants because he drank so much alcohol and couldn't hold it in. -- Naturally, he made this very vocal in his impaired state. When we get home, instead of going straight to the bathroom, he said various things to the rest of the guys for 15 minutes. Guess he went already...?