Quoted: I used to answer calls for the utility company second and third shift. That's when the weirdos call.
(Not that everyone who calls then is a weirdo, but we had a much higher percentage of them.)
I got one call from a guy who was in a fury because we had turned off his premium channels at his wife's request (the account was in her name). He actually told me he was going to kill himself if I didn't turn his HBO back on. Then he slammed the phone down, but it didn't hang up. I listened wide-eyed as they screamed at each other, expecting to hear gunshots any second. I had to call the Sheriff on that one.
We'd get calls from the 911 office telling us that people had called them to report their cable was out.
We got a call from a man who disputed his electric bill saying it was too high. One of our meter readers went out to check his meter, and he saw that the guy had put tape over all his electrical outlets because he thought power was "leaking out".
One guy who was stoned out of his mind called when his power blinked. He was convinced the problem was that his fusebox was dirty, and he was going to wash it with soap and water. We had to talk him out of it.
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I too worked in a utility answering public calls for a while.
After this storm, a guy calls in to say that a power line fell in his yard and caugt the grass on fire. So he picks it up and moves it! Damn he is one dumb but lucky guy.
Another time, this old lady calls in to say that all the little "ready killowatts" are running down the pole support cable into her back yard. I told her that could not be because the little "ready killowatts" only run uphill! She bought it!
The only one that tops that was the guy who complained about his bill being too high. I asked him if he had all the spare outlets plugged. He said no. So I told him to just put plugs into the spare outlets and the eletricity would stop leak out and his bill would go down. Some people are really STUPID.