UPDATE (10:03 AM 10/6): And I'm in the Village Voice! Also, cable went out again last night. Is the super up to more shenanigans?
UPDATE (3:10 PM): The Cable and Internet are back! Either Time Warner broke into the building or caved and gave the super what he wanted. Now I can go back to griping about a faceless cable company instead of griping about some random guy.
I live in the East Village. My Internet and Cable have been out since yesterday. I missed last night's Yankees game. I couldn't watch Monday Night Football. My friend in London who is using a Slingbox connected to my TV to watch American television is stuck watching episodes of bizarre British game shows.
I called Time Warner Cable. I was instantly hit with a recorded message that there's a service outage in my area affecting internet, cable, phone, you name it. The message said the service reps have no additional information. I waited on hold to speak with one anyway. I wanted to know what the hell was going on.
Finally, I connected with a service rep. He sounded young. Stumbled a little bit over the script he was reading. I assume he's new. This will be important in a moment. I asked him what the heck was happening. And he told me this:
The box that controls the cable, internet, pretty much everything else for Time Warner Cable in my area of the East Village is located in the basement of a building. In order to service this box, Time Warner Cable needs to contact the super of the building and be let in.
The super of the building, according to the service rep, REFUSES TO LET TIME WARNER INSIDE.
"Why is he refusing?" I asked.
"He wants free cable," the rep responded.
Apparently, Time Warner has tried to reason with the man, but he refuses to budge. Today, he's refused to answer the door or his phone. He's cut off all communication.
"It's a very unusual situation," the rep said.
This pisses me off to no end. So some super on a power trip is the reason that myself and who knows how many others can't watch TV or go online. We all have to pay, and this super asshole thinks he's entitled to free internet because Time Warner has a box in his building. The super doesn't give a damn that he's screwing all the rest of us.
"Where's the building?" I asked.
Now, an experienced rep, I would imagine, would never tell this information. But I'm guessing the friendly script laid out in front of the reps doesn't cover a scenario where a rogue super holds his community's cable service hostage.
"It's on 2nd Ave. I'm not sure I should tell you the exact address," the rep said.
"I understand," I said. "It's just that its ridiculous that one man should stop everybody else from getting cable."
"Yes sir," the rep agreed. "How close are you to 2nd Ave.?"
"I live between 1st and 2nd, closer to 2nd. I'd love to go over there and try to speak with the super to help resolve this."
"Well," the rep said, "I can't see any reason I can't give you the address."
I can see a few reasons. And for those reasons, I won't post the address here. Yet.
Should I call the guy and try to end this standoff? Visit the address and knock on the door? Release the address? Or just the Super's name, so I can publicly shame the guy?
Or should I do nothing, hope Time Warner Cable gives the guy free cable before I get home from work?
Help me decide, America.
