In The Dark

It’s a wonder that anyone in town has power. I didn’t post about my fight with the electric company when we moved into our house because I wasn’t blogging yet. So I’ll start with that LOVELY story.

We moved 5 houses over last January. Actually, technically, we moved down the street first, because the people who bought our house moved in before the house we bought was ready. Anyway, we were moving into our new house. We scheduled the move out and move in a week apart so that we could have some rooms painted and clean up and blah blah blah. So the night they moved the previous owners out…they cut off our power. This was a Friday. A Friday NIGHT when we discovered it. Luckily the painter didn’t mind painting without power.

No one required a permit 3 years ago when we had moved in to the old house – or maybe they did but someone else took care of it, because I certainly didn’t, but now…MUST HAVE CITY PERMIT. So I got the permit issued, after some finagling of the gate in the back yard. And TXU said – you will have power on Tuesday. And Tuesday came and went and we had no power and I called and they said. “You’ll have power Wednesday.” And Wednesday came and went and we did not have power. So I called and they said “You don’t have a permit.” So I called the city and the city said they issued it.

I called again and I got a lady who said “There’s a permit for your street address, but in another city, same day…but that’s not your permit, you still need a permit.” And I got off the phone and called the city again and they said they issued it, but they would re-issue it. And I got to thinking. Kind of weird that we, in THIS city, would be moving on the EXACT same day as someone in THAT city would be to the EXACT same street address.

So I called again, and the lady was not helpful and I asked her what number she called when she called Centerpoint, because I only got a machine to talk to and I wanted to talk to a person.

Her: They’ll tell you the same thing.

Me: What number do you call, when you call Centerpoint?

Her: They’re going to tell you…

Me: What number do you call?

Her: Well, there’s no permit.

Me: WHAT NUMBER DO YOU CALL?

Her: You don’t have to yell at me.

Me: Well, I didn’t think you could hear me, you weren’t answering my question. What number do you call?

And she gave me the number FI.NA.LLY. At this point, the movers have come, they are unloading furniture, and I had Shane with me, because I didn’t want to be alone when they came…he called Clint and told him I was getting more and more mad every time I got off the phone and I think I may have even scared him a little.

So I called Centerpoint and I spoke with Belinda, who I later fell in love with, and considered switching teams to be with her. And I said “Here’s the deal, our power was turned off on Friday, we didn’t have the city permit, the city permit was issued Monday, They said power on Tuesday or Wednesday, it’s now Friday – I’m now moving furniture into my house without having been able to even so much as vacuum the carpet. Now they tell me that I don’t have a permit with Centerpoint and the city says I do. And this morning I was told about a permit that’s for my exact same address but only in THAT city instead of THIS city…and I find it odd that people are moving in at the exact same time as me to the exact same address in THAT city. I think that’s my permit. I’d like to give you my permit number and see if that is indeed my permit.” I was completely amazed that she let me tell my entire story, and even more so when she said “Ok.” I gave her my permit number and she said “Yes, that is your permit. Oh my, you should not have been without power that long, let me give you my extension and my name, and I will speak to my supervisor and see if we can get your power turned on today – and give me a number where I can call you back…if you don’t hear from me in 1 hour, call back and ask for me.” I felt very good about this call and skipped/danced back into the house (cell reception being what it is at our house, I was making these calls in the backyard.) And she called me back in 15-20 minutes and had my power scheduled to be on by the end of the day.

When the guy walked up to the house, he didn’t even knock, he just drove up and walked to the side of the house where the power stuff is and I leaned out the front door and yelled “YOU ARE MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD RIGHT NOW!!!” I refrained from running out and hugging him, but I seriously considered it, also I didn’t want to cheat on Belinda.

All this to say, guess who doesn’t have power? Clint’s cousin Jay, who has been living in their house for a month now. And they just now cut off the power, and the landlord, just now got the permit issued, and they will be without power until Friday. And when he asked to speak to Belinda? They don’t know who Belinda is. She no longer works for Centerpoint. She must have been too smart or too nice or too good to work for them. It’s sad for us, but for her, I hope she’s found a better job – one where she’s not surrounded by all the other morons I spoke to during that week.

Linda is still watching Landon this week, even without power. She has his milk in a cooler and since the weather is nice, it’s not like they’re dying of heat stroke or freezing to death. She also has a key to our house, just in case she needs something electrical – or gets tired of living in campground style.