Cross Cultural Encounters

This morning began just like every other morning this week. The air was thick. The sky was hazy, almost cloudy. The slowly emerging sun only served to 'brew the stew.' Today was one of those days when the most uncomfortable part of the day comes around 10 AM as the combination of heat and humidity has the air almost saturated. My least favorite time of the year here. It can be brutal.

My first job this morning was scheduled between 9AM and 1PM. I pulled into the driveway after making a phone call to them at 8:55 AM. I was there to connect them to the internet. Today's route saw me working in my least favorite area to work of those served by our office. In today's area there is still a lot of the 'PA Dutch' influence.

The people in this area do not want to be bothered on any level other then you doing your job. There is no warmth, no conversation; just get in, get it done and tell me what you need to. This goes against my natural-grain as I try to be warm and converse with the people so they are comfortable with me being in their homes. I could tell before I arrived at their home this morning that these were people whose roots were very deep in Lancaster County. Not only was the name on the account a classic local name but the phone call I was required to make before my arrival was to the husband. After talking to me he then called his wife at the house to tell her I was on my way. Given this fore-knowledge my personal expectation of the job were very low.

I parked in the driveway near the side door of the house. The woman was on the porch shaking out a floor mop; two young girls played outside nearby. She said good morning to me as I called the office to take care of administrative things I needed to do for the job. After my call I went to the door and didn't need to ring the bell as a large dog began barking. A woman's voice said, 'You can come in.' I smiled as the dog barked again. I noticed a large German Shepherd in a loft area above the kitchen. I smiled and said something 'reassuring' to the agitated dog. The woman said, 'Don't worry, we'll keep him upstairs. The computer is in there around the corner in the office. If there's anything you need to know, please ask.' I thought 'wow, right down to business.'

I surveyed the office area as she stood nearby. I asked, 'May I see in the basement.' She said, 'The door is right around the corner underneath the staircase.' It really was all I needed to know. I found it. I found the light switch, too. I went about the job quietly; as efficiently as I could. The wiring part took little more than half-an-hour. During that time the air became more intolerable. I walked right through the open kitchen every time I entered or left the home. By the end of that part of the job I was soaked with sweat.

I went into the house for the last time and connected the modem to the new line I had put in. I couldn't find the mouse on a very neatly organized wooden desktop. I noticed the one little girl was watching me nearby. I asked her if she knew where the mouse was. She smiled and told me she wasn't sure. Just about that time I found it 'tucked away' in an organizer compartment. I changed the settings on the PC and connected to the internet through their browser.

The little girl was right next to me and smiled when she saw the 'Google' page come up. I typed in 'Cable Guy in Amishland' and connected to this blog. I scrolled down to my picture and said, 'That's me.' I clicked on it to enlarge and she said, 'Wow, where were you?' So I told her where the picture was taken. I looked at her and asked, 'You want to see some pictures I took in NYC?' She smiled and said, 'Let me go get my sister....' She bolted into another room then returned with her sister.

I scrolled through the pages of the blog and showed them pictures from my travels. The Great Lakes, Niagara Falls, and NYC. The girls were 'ooohing and aahhhing' as I got to the re-posted picture above. It was then I realized that Grandma had come around the staircase to see what was going on. In a somewhat condescending voice she said, 'Well aren't you just proud of yourself?' I was taken aback; unsure how to respond. I thought what a strange thing to say. Heaven forbid I show the children there is a universe beyond their little world. Needless to say, it was soon after that I headed for the door.

It's encounters like that which remind me; I am from a different culture. Last week there was another.

I had been running 'trouble tickets;' correcting people's TV or internet problems. One of the tickets was a complaint about 'snowy lower channels' on their TV. I arrived at the house on-time and the woman allowed me inside. She directed me to the TV in the living room; said the trouble was only on that TV. I immediately noticed she had a DVR from us. I asked her to please remove the stuff from on top of the DVR after which I measured the signal on the line attached to the box. There was nothing. Nada. Zero. I pulled the DVR out away from the entertainment center and realized the DVR was not connected to the TV. I looked at the woman and asked why the DVR was not connected to the TV. She looked at me and said, 'They turned it off a few days ago.'

'They' was us; the Cable Co. I looked at her and asked, 'You mean we turned off the cable box because your account is delinquent?' She answered, 'Yes.' I began laughing; she asked, 'What's so funny?'

We don't turn off the boxes until the account is three months delinquent. I smiled and said, 'It's just kind of funny to me that you haven't paid your bill for months but still called to complain about the service.' I thought I wouldn't have the nerve to call and complain about service I hadn't paid for. I mentioned it back at the office later in the day and everyone there seemed to agree; takes a lot of 'nerve' to call and complain about something you haven't paid for.

Unbelievable.

I did have fun with a couple in a hilltop log home at the end-of-the-day yesterday. The home was reminiscent of a log home in the Tennessee hills. It was very nice. It was very nice to meet them, too, and I do hope I corrected their problems. I hope they liked some of the other tips I gave them, too. Very nice people, indeed.

Hope everyone's doing well.