i've always been curious about how people live. i like hearing stories and learning about cultural differences. that being said, i grew up in a fairly sheltered environment, so as i step out into the real world my eyes are being opened. that and i'm learning to be grateful for my life. for instance. i will never think i'm a dirty person from now on. i may be messy at times, but never a slob.
on my first day as a cable girl i ventured out to see how people really live. granted, i was there to hook up their primo entertainment package via the boob tube, but i can't help scouring the scene and put together pieces of people's story. our first visit was a blank apartment. dirty. but not overly so. it was scarce as i would expect from low-income apartment. the next place wasn't memorable, but the third stop of the day was dingy, at best. imagine a studio apartment. the kitchen is a bank of cabinets across the entrance. the room is dark and covered in wood paneling. that's the palette for the pile of trash filling the space. it reminding me of a dorm room. the kitchen's functionality was expanded with a card table and the tv "entertainment center" was a headboard from an old oak bedroom set. there were empty beer cans, old cigarette butts and stains from god knows what in every empty floor space. under the tv (our workspace) was a litter box filled to the brim with cat waste. two cats were wandering around hissing at each other in disgust. on the floor, occupying the majority of the apartment was the bed. calling it a bed sounds almost too fancy. what it really was was a mattress. it was covered in pillows and misc items as evidence the the girl lives on that "bed." and my favorite. no sheets on this mattress. the place smelled like cats, cigarettes and filth. ick.
our final stop of the day took it up a notch. we drove up to a fairly large house most likely constructed in the 60s or 70s. the yard looked well kept and overall it seemed like it was going to be an average house - normal, i guess. as soon as the lady opened the door and we walked through past the threshold it was obvious there was nothing normal about it. she is a hoarder. i would say she is in mid stage of compiling her "collection." as we moved through the house seeing where she wanted a new tv hooked up and a fax line added, i had to stop myself from letting my jaw hit the floor. every conceivable flat surface was covered with about a foot of stuff. the kitchen, which was freshly remodeled with new cabinets, tile floor, stainless steel appliances (including a fancy hood for the cooktop), granite counter tops and a brand new 36" plasma screen tv, was buried. buried in crap. the office had a desk and boxes piled to the ceiling. things were falling in on themselves while we spent time giving the space a fax line that would no doubt allow for more paperwork to pile up. around each corner was something new. old cans of food, unopened. books piled on more books. new pillows still in their plastic wrapping from the store. craft books and sewing supplies thrown around with disregard to their use. going up the stairs was a balancing act as there was very little stair space left open for feet. at one point i saw a stuffed pound puppy from my childhood. i was baffled. how does a person get to this point? how far will it go? is it a compulsive buying problem? on one entertainment center sat two unplugged lamps. each were wrapped in plastic with a layer of dust from time passing. sale tags still attached. there was so much unopened stuff everywhere. some of it high dollar stuff. the tv's: huge monstrosities. the main one was bigger than my fridge. i've looked online and the biggest one i can find for sale is around 5' in size. i couldn't stop thinking how much the thing must have cost the family. for our final task we hooked up an extra cable box in the son's room. his space wasn't much better then the rest of the house. i took my time looking around (not poking, just looking). he graduated from college in 2005 with an environmental science degree. worked out a lot at 24 hour fitness due to his immense collection of gym specific vitamins. iphone. ipod. computer. huge tv. covered in a layer of crap. i compiled a picture of what this guy must be like. then he came home. he was like the house. normal looking. like your all american frat guy.
the large quantity of stuff baffled me, but what really drove me crazy was the pet of the house. the customer was far from pleasant to us, but she treated her dog with deep hatred. the dog was a young pointer. when we arrived the dog was sooooo happy to see new people and was darting back and forth around the house. the lady of the house put the dog outside and took us around from room to room to see each cable jack. within 5 minutes the dog worked the sliding glass door open. genius. he ran around excited as ever and the woman started screaming, or rather barking orders, at the dog. as we worked around the house the dog kept us company. he was sweet, hyper, but sweet. however, whenever the mood struck her, the lady would pull out a remote linked to a collar on the dogs neck and hit a button. each time he was tazed he would squeal in pain and run away. my heart would break. dirty messes are one thing, but bringing pain to a dog, or worse if a child is being abused, my emotions dive.
so this is a snapshot of what my first day of work with the cable company. after this day, i questioned if i was going to be able to handle the job.
the second day was not quite as bad.
thankfully.
