9 ms·

I Was a Cable Guy. I Saw the Worst of America

192 points by aaronbrethorst 8y ago

Waterluvian 8y ago
"But I didn’t ask him that. I just stood and glared at him until he looked away. I needed the job. I assumed his kid would grow up to hate him." Or hope that things work out and his father finds ways to love him more. This author seems a little angry. The more I read, the more I wondered if this was a normal account, or the account of someone who always seems to find themselves in strife. But I can't say no to a peek under the sheets of people's lives. It fascinates me. I don't think I could do her job but I've always wanted just an afternoon where time freezes and I can lightly snoop on how a random assortment of people live (though realistically impossible without hurting others). Being a cable technician seems like a fair, legal alternative.
- thebooktocome 8y ago
  This is what being gay is like in America. It's a constant struggle deciding whether the conservatives in our lives are just deep in their cognitive dissonance or actively trying to sabotage us. It makes one angry after a while. In the words of Anthony Oliveira, "the queers who were nice/patient/gentle all got shot or bullied to death all that's left r me & the other pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers". https://twitter.com/meakoopa/status/742238554093281280?s=20 https://twitter.com/meakoopa/status/742238554093281280?s=20
  - Waterluvian 8y ago
    Fair point. Does seem like a recipe for a feedback loop / self fulfilling prophecy.
    - thebooktocome 8y ago
      You'll probably need to wait a generation or two, assuming the states don't fall into theocracy. The millennial queers I know are a lot more well-adjusted than us Gen X'ers.
      - zanny 8y ago
        The silent majority of bigots isn't abating though. I just thought of a new conspiracy theory! The housing crisis is largely political and structural to zoning laws. A large part of the reason why forces to conspire to keep it going (because in practice its bad for everyone - rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it) is to abate the migration of youth into urban environments. In perfect economics the cheapest place to live should be in the city - your per capita infrastructure costs are the lowest when density is the highest, and larger scale condo buildings are cheaper per tenant than single family housing by an order of magnitude. But because of draconian zoning law and NIMBYism cities are rapidly, way beyond the average, costing preposterous amounts of money to live in, and its a self perpetuating cycle - unmet demand for inward migration drives up prices and nothing is relieving that pressure. So by keeping kids out of cities and stuck in their parents hometowns you can keep them isolated, bigoted, conservative. At least that seems to be what the hope is, and while some escape the ideology trap of small towns the majority of people who grow up there adhere strictly to their culture without deviation. So its probably working to slow the liberalization of the millennial generation. Thats my tin foil hat moment for the year!
        mr_toad 8y ago
        > rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it Sellers are disadvantaged by zoning. But it’s their neighbours who are the NIMBYs.
- cup 8y ago
  Or maybe its a chance for you to wonder why a gay woman might find themselves constantly frustrated and angry when living in a patriarchal homophobic society?
  - dsajames 8y ago
    Ever hear the saying "when the whole world stinks, you have shit on your nose"? The world is unlikely to be how any one person likes it. Learning to live with it is a good skill.
    - berbec 8y ago
      Would the same comment be applicable to other classes/races/sexes who have been and/or still are discriminated against? Would you say "learning to live with it is a good skill" to a straight white woman? An African-American man? A Jewish person? If the answer is no, investigate more closely the location of the fecal matter.
    - vertex-four 8y ago
      Living with abuse in its many wonderful forms is a skill that queer people learn early on. The ones who don't, wind up with obituaries that politely avoid stating how or where they died, and a closed-casket funeral.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- gumby 8y ago
  > This author seems a little angry. She had this job for quite a while and so it seems like a very tiny assortment of unpleasant calls. Every friend I know who has worked facing the "general public" has similar grim stories.
- fzeroracer 8y ago
  Turns out if you have to do a shitty job for a long time, you might walk away a bit jaded.
bradknowles 8y ago
So, does anyone know what bar here in Austin can I go to, just to say “Thank you for your service”?
- SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
  There are really only four or five official gay bars here, most of which are in pretty close proximity to each other. So I guess this person wouldn’t be too hard to find if you barhopped over a few days based on the description in the article.
jstewartmobile 8y ago
For some reason, this article has my bullshit meter on red-alert. Starting with cable "guy" when it's actually a lesbian, and it only gets worse from there. Then about a quarter-way in, I get to this paragraph that just broke the needle: Blue-collar customers were always my favorite. They don’t treat you like a servant. They don’t tell you, “We like the help to use the side door.” They don’t assume you’re an idiot just because you wear a name tag to work and your hands are calloused. The books on their shelves aren’t bound in leather. But the spines are cracked. Most of them, when you turn on the TV, it’s not set to Fox. They’re the only customers who tip. It's just ideology! ideology! ideology! in the context of a service job where that rarely ever comes up. With any luck, HuffPo will meet its own Peter Thiel sooner rather than later.
- axaxs 8y ago
  I'm inclined to agree. This sounds like a mostly fabricated Republican hit piece. I clicked because I genuinely wanted to hear the tales to be told, but it seemed to focus more on Fox News than whatever point was being made.
  - jstewartmobile 8y ago
    Yep. Could have been enlightening.
  - AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
    The article is about having a shit job and what that experience is like. Having to deal with people who's politics have specifically targeted who you are for the past few decades is a part of that, so was being sexually harassed, treated like a servant, and forced to drive in unsafe conditions. Really, there was quite a lot in there that had little to do with politics.
    - zozbot123 8y ago
      > ...people who's politics have specifically targeted who you are for the past few decades Are you assuming that blue-collar Republicans in red states have not been politically targeted based on "who they are"? Because the opposite is very much the case. There's a reason why people liked Bernie Sanders so much in the latest presidential elections - he was the kind of older-generation leftist who did not pull this sort of elitist BS. Who knows, he might have had a chance.
paultopia 8y ago
"Irate," eh? Maybe if the cable companies weren't local monopolists that operate with the business ethics of a purse snatcher their employees wouldn't have to deal with angry people. (Aka why I have slow DSL: because it was either that or sue Mediacom until they actually supplied the service I was paying for. Yeah, there's a grudge here.)
- drewrv 8y ago
  I agree that cable companies suck, but would like to add that taking it out on low level employees also sucks.
  - paultopia 8y ago
    Oh, absolutely. And the author sounds like a great person---no surprise at all that these companies screw over their employees even worse than their customers.
- lsc 8y ago
  Anyone who gets lied to by marketing who then takes it out on the tech who has to then attempt to implement is part of the problem.
- small_mind 8y ago
  Mmmm, but sometimes I've contemplated the hypothetical worst case scenarios for having to support a copper/fiber plant deployment, and what that might actually look like, once you get out into the residential field. I'm not saying I'm casting a sympathetic eye toward conglomerate post-monopoly abominations like Verizon & AT&T. Far from it. What I am saying is that as nerds, we really only want to think it looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas But actually, it's more often closer to waiting tables for no tips, in homes consumed by pet smells, infested by perverts, losers and arm chair quarterbacks, pissed off that they've elected to pay for systems that can still suffer outages, just like any vaguely fault-tolerant network. Sometimes, as a subscriber of such systems, the faults hit you. That's kind of what this article is drawing your eye toward. You wonder: "How the fuck can a business seemingly employ only monsters, operate policies concocted from purest evil, offer zero options, get propped up as a monopoly by the worst parts of government funding and compliance, and still turn a profit where so many other business would instantly implode and vaporize?" Part of the answer is that like airlines, they offer essential services to the general public, such that modern civilization may function, and enjoy utilities nearly as valuable as hot water, and they know it. But, the other part is that in order to interface with the gears of a transmission, contact must transmit the forces of the drive train, and that part that makes contact with the customers is that customer service interface, and like the face of an interleaving set of gears, it must be a reflection of ourselves, on some level. The customer service, in other words, is as abominable as the common customer. Disclaimer: I've had friends that work in cable service call centers, who have suffered through high call volume outages, and the calls they would tell me about were ever bit as psychotic and soul crushing as some of the anecdotes from the author of this article.
wrisoft 8y ago
My best memory working in "cable" (satellite) was when I learned how OTA antennas (the big ones) worked... It was... shocking...
- novia 8y ago
  I think you are being downvoted because of the pun at the end of your comment, but if you don't mind sharing, I would love to learn how OTA antennas work.
badrabbit 8y ago
Had a similar job in a different lifetime. Had more than a few "interesting" jobs at people's houses, on poles,terminals and the like as well. To me,it wasn't the worst of america but just humans being humans. The angry customers,9/10 of them are not all that bad when you realize they're mad at either the problem or the crappy company you work for. Maybe my working in a different state has to do with it. The cat piss,dog poop and nastiness was bad but not as bad as being chased by animals and having turn your back to a growling hungry dog the owner insists "oh,he doesn't bite" The bad ones stand out but I've been in really nice mansions and houses too. Very respectful and kind people too. Most offered water on hot days,some even snacks. Meh,people are people. It's not good to generalize. Most people are just sorry,life is rough on the 99%.
- tonyarkles 8y ago
  One of my favourites was quite innocent. I’m in a mobile home, and I had interacted with the family before (they owned a local restaurant). I’m in their home office getting their DSL set up, and slowly it dawns on me that something really smells like shit. Like... it’s permeating the whole house. My eyes are starting to water up a bit. Finally, I’m getting close to finishing up. Through the door I hear their 4-year-old girl yell “grandma!!! I think I stepped in dog poo outside!!!” Followed by: “oh honey you got it all over the carpet!” Sure enough, as I’m leaving I notice an epic trail of tiny dog shit shoe prints spanning from one end of the house to the other. 10/10! When I went to the restaurant for breakfast the following Saturday, the mom apologized and told me all about how many times they had to run the carpet cleaner through the house to get it cleaned up.
  - kuhhk 8y ago
    Poor lady. She must have been super embarrassed .
    - tonyarkles 8y ago
      Yeah, most definitely was. I did my best to communicate “I get that kids do stupid stuff”. We carried on going there every Saturday for breakfast :)
RickJWagner 8y ago
I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm sympathetic to the author, she seems to be struggling. This seems true in her article to the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-religious-cult-former-member-recalls-experiences https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-relig...) : "How have you felt since coming out? Have you had a lot of therapy? Not so much and most of it wasn’t so helpful. I’ve had therapists cry and hug me and it was really strange. They just don’t really know what to do with it. I mean, I still hide things. I still have nightmares, I can’t deal with crowds. I will always feel kind of separate. For a long time, I just didn’t really have friends. In high school, I had no idea how to talk to people. I didn’t understand cultural references. Ninety per cent of conversations are: “Hey, do you remember that episode of Seinfeld?” and shit. And I was weird, I was just awkward. I read everything I could get my hands on. It’s just what I did, I hid in books." I think she's a good writer, but her own comments suggest her perspectives might not match most people's. I hope she keeps writing and finds more peace in things around her.
rak00n 8y ago
I'm surprised at the quality of the article. I didn't realize Huffington Post can publish things like this.
jayalpha 8y ago
"Homosexuality, says Analyst Bergler, is neither a "biologically determined destiny, nor incomprehensible ill luck." In Freudian terms he traces a complicated pattern of the development of homosexuality from infantile frustrations, through "pleasure in displeasure." to unconscious psychic masochism. The full-grown homosexual, as Bergler sees him, wallows in self-pity and continually provokes hostility to ensure himself more opportunities for self pity he "collects" injustices—sometimes real, often fancied; he is full of defensive malice and flippancy, covering his depression and guilt with extreme narcissism and superciliousness. He refuses to acknowledge accepted standards even in nonsexual matters, assuming that homosexuals have a right to cut moral corners as compensation for their "suffering." He is generally unreliable, in an essentially psychopathic way."
jayalpha 8y ago
Wow. I posted a quote from Time Magazine and the quote was flagged within seconds.
- dang 8y ago
  It was off topic and trollish, so correctly flagged. Posting like that will get you banned on HN, so please don't do it again. Instead, if you'd review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of the site to heart, we'd appreciate it.
remir 8y ago
I'm usually not into these long narrative article, but this was an interesting perspective and a good read.
NedIsakoff 8y ago
I don't get why she says she refuses water when offered. I have offered bottled water to all the techs that came by our new home, no one rejected it.
- solatic 8y ago
  I imagine that she, as a woman, could be afraid of customers spiking the water they serve to her.
  - burgerboy 8y ago
    Jesus christ
- qbert 8y ago
  She did mention one of her problems with the job was where to find places to pee. Also, she didn't say anything as to whether the water offered was bottled or not.
jelliclesfarm 8y ago
I am grateful for articles like this. Every time I need a tradesman or repair person to fix something at home, I will remind myself that my home..my personal space.. is a zoo and I am better off learning to fix things myself or go without inviting strangers into my home who may or may not get all judge’y and write about it for public consumption.
plinkplink 8y ago
I was a cable guy in San Francisco. The stories in this article are very plausible and even tame compared to the shit that I've seen. My first day on my own I went to a "hotel" run by an Indian that barely spoke English in the Tenderloin. He pounded on a door for ten minutes shouting something unintelligible and finally unlocked the door to reveal a tiny room with shit smeared on the walls and a naked transvestite covered in blood from a heroin needle writhing on blood-stained sheets. "Shouldn't we help?" I asked. "No. Is OK. Fix TV." All the little metal fittings on the cables throughout the whole hotel had been cut off by guests for use as makeshift pipes. The hotel charged by the hour and didn't ask any questions. I have many anecdotes if anyone is interested in hearing them.

"But I didn’t ask him that. I just stood and glared at him until he looked away. I needed the job. I assumed his kid would grow up to hate him." Or hope that things work out and his father finds ways to love him more. This author seems a little angry. The more I read, the more I wondered if this was a normal account, or the account of someone who always seems to find themselves in strife. But I can't say no to a peek under the sheets of people's lives. It fascinates me. I don't think I could do her job but I've always wanted just an afternoon where time freezes and I can lightly snoop on how a random assortment of people live (though realistically impossible without hurting others). Being a cable technician seems like a fair, legal alternative.

thebooktocome 8y ago
This is what being gay is like in America. It's a constant struggle deciding whether the conservatives in our lives are just deep in their cognitive dissonance or actively trying to sabotage us. It makes one angry after a while. In the words of Anthony Oliveira, "the queers who were nice/patient/gentle all got shot or bullied to death all that's left r me & the other pissed-off cockroach motherfuckers". https://twitter.com/meakoopa/status/742238554093281280?s=20 https://twitter.com/meakoopa/status/742238554093281280?s=20
- Waterluvian 8y ago
  Fair point. Does seem like a recipe for a feedback loop / self fulfilling prophecy.
  - thebooktocome 8y ago
    You'll probably need to wait a generation or two, assuming the states don't fall into theocracy. The millennial queers I know are a lot more well-adjusted than us Gen X'ers.
    - zanny 8y ago
      The silent majority of bigots isn't abating though. I just thought of a new conspiracy theory! The housing crisis is largely political and structural to zoning laws. A large part of the reason why forces to conspire to keep it going (because in practice its bad for everyone - rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it) is to abate the migration of youth into urban environments. In perfect economics the cheapest place to live should be in the city - your per capita infrastructure costs are the lowest when density is the highest, and larger scale condo buildings are cheaper per tenant than single family housing by an order of magnitude. But because of draconian zoning law and NIMBYism cities are rapidly, way beyond the average, costing preposterous amounts of money to live in, and its a self perpetuating cycle - unmet demand for inward migration drives up prices and nothing is relieving that pressure. So by keeping kids out of cities and stuck in their parents hometowns you can keep them isolated, bigoted, conservative. At least that seems to be what the hope is, and while some escape the ideology trap of small towns the majority of people who grow up there adhere strictly to their culture without deviation. So its probably working to slow the liberalization of the millennial generation. Thats my tin foil hat moment for the year!
      - mr_toad 8y ago
        > rezoned higher density areas would sell for way more per unit of space to condo building developers than as single family dwellings, so both home owners and buyers are disadvantaged by it Sellers are disadvantaged by zoning. But it’s their neighbours who are the NIMBYs.
cup 8y ago
Or maybe its a chance for you to wonder why a gay woman might find themselves constantly frustrated and angry when living in a patriarchal homophobic society?
- dsajames 8y ago
  Ever hear the saying "when the whole world stinks, you have shit on your nose"? The world is unlikely to be how any one person likes it. Learning to live with it is a good skill.
  - berbec 8y ago
    Would the same comment be applicable to other classes/races/sexes who have been and/or still are discriminated against? Would you say "learning to live with it is a good skill" to a straight white woman? An African-American man? A Jewish person? If the answer is no, investigate more closely the location of the fecal matter.
  - vertex-four 8y ago
    Living with abuse in its many wonderful forms is a skill that queer people learn early on. The ones who don't, wind up with obituaries that politely avoid stating how or where they died, and a closed-casket funeral.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
gumby 8y ago
> This author seems a little angry. She had this job for quite a while and so it seems like a very tiny assortment of unpleasant calls. Every friend I know who has worked facing the "general public" has similar grim stories.
fzeroracer 8y ago
Turns out if you have to do a shitty job for a long time, you might walk away a bit jaded.

bradknowles 8y ago

So, does anyone know what bar here in Austin can I go to, just to say “Thank you for your service”?

SOLAR_FIELDS 8y ago
There are really only four or five official gay bars here, most of which are in pretty close proximity to each other. So I guess this person wouldn’t be too hard to find if you barhopped over a few days based on the description in the article.

jstewartmobile 8y ago

For some reason, this article has my bullshit meter on red-alert. Starting with cable "guy" when it's actually a lesbian, and it only gets worse from there. Then about a quarter-way in, I get to this paragraph that just broke the needle: Blue-collar customers were always my favorite. They don’t treat you like a servant. They don’t tell you, “We like the help to use the side door.” They don’t assume you’re an idiot just because you wear a name tag to work and your hands are calloused. The books on their shelves aren’t bound in leather. But the spines are cracked. Most of them, when you turn on the TV, it’s not set to Fox. They’re the only customers who tip. It's just ideology! ideology! ideology! in the context of a service job where that rarely ever comes up. With any luck, HuffPo will meet its own Peter Thiel sooner rather than later.

axaxs 8y ago
I'm inclined to agree. This sounds like a mostly fabricated Republican hit piece. I clicked because I genuinely wanted to hear the tales to be told, but it seemed to focus more on Fox News than whatever point was being made.
- jstewartmobile 8y ago
  Yep. Could have been enlightening.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 8y ago
  The article is about having a shit job and what that experience is like. Having to deal with people who's politics have specifically targeted who you are for the past few decades is a part of that, so was being sexually harassed, treated like a servant, and forced to drive in unsafe conditions. Really, there was quite a lot in there that had little to do with politics.
  - zozbot123 8y ago
    > ...people who's politics have specifically targeted who you are for the past few decades Are you assuming that blue-collar Republicans in red states have not been politically targeted based on "who they are"? Because the opposite is very much the case. There's a reason why people liked Bernie Sanders so much in the latest presidential elections - he was the kind of older-generation leftist who did not pull this sort of elitist BS. Who knows, he might have had a chance.

paultopia 8y ago

"Irate," eh? Maybe if the cable companies weren't local monopolists that operate with the business ethics of a purse snatcher their employees wouldn't have to deal with angry people. (Aka why I have slow DSL: because it was either that or sue Mediacom until they actually supplied the service I was paying for. Yeah, there's a grudge here.)

drewrv 8y ago
I agree that cable companies suck, but would like to add that taking it out on low level employees also sucks.
- paultopia 8y ago
  Oh, absolutely. And the author sounds like a great person---no surprise at all that these companies screw over their employees even worse than their customers.
lsc 8y ago
Anyone who gets lied to by marketing who then takes it out on the tech who has to then attempt to implement is part of the problem.
small_mind 8y ago
Mmmm, but sometimes I've contemplated the hypothetical worst case scenarios for having to support a copper/fiber plant deployment, and what that might actually look like, once you get out into the residential field. I'm not saying I'm casting a sympathetic eye toward conglomerate post-monopoly abominations like Verizon & AT&T. Far from it. What I am saying is that as nerds, we really only want to think it looks like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPNK7bc2qvM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOZV7ugBas But actually, it's more often closer to waiting tables for no tips, in homes consumed by pet smells, infested by perverts, losers and arm chair quarterbacks, pissed off that they've elected to pay for systems that can still suffer outages, just like any vaguely fault-tolerant network. Sometimes, as a subscriber of such systems, the faults hit you. That's kind of what this article is drawing your eye toward. You wonder: "How the fuck can a business seemingly employ only monsters, operate policies concocted from purest evil, offer zero options, get propped up as a monopoly by the worst parts of government funding and compliance, and still turn a profit where so many other business would instantly implode and vaporize?" Part of the answer is that like airlines, they offer essential services to the general public, such that modern civilization may function, and enjoy utilities nearly as valuable as hot water, and they know it. But, the other part is that in order to interface with the gears of a transmission, contact must transmit the forces of the drive train, and that part that makes contact with the customers is that customer service interface, and like the face of an interleaving set of gears, it must be a reflection of ourselves, on some level. The customer service, in other words, is as abominable as the common customer. Disclaimer: I've had friends that work in cable service call centers, who have suffered through high call volume outages, and the calls they would tell me about were ever bit as psychotic and soul crushing as some of the anecdotes from the author of this article.

wrisoft 8y ago

My best memory working in "cable" (satellite) was when I learned how OTA antennas (the big ones) worked... It was... shocking...

novia 8y ago
I think you are being downvoted because of the pun at the end of your comment, but if you don't mind sharing, I would love to learn how OTA antennas work.

badrabbit 8y ago

Had a similar job in a different lifetime. Had more than a few "interesting" jobs at people's houses, on poles,terminals and the like as well. To me,it wasn't the worst of america but just humans being humans. The angry customers,9/10 of them are not all that bad when you realize they're mad at either the problem or the crappy company you work for. Maybe my working in a different state has to do with it. The cat piss,dog poop and nastiness was bad but not as bad as being chased by animals and having turn your back to a growling hungry dog the owner insists "oh,he doesn't bite" The bad ones stand out but I've been in really nice mansions and houses too. Very respectful and kind people too. Most offered water on hot days,some even snacks. Meh,people are people. It's not good to generalize. Most people are just sorry,life is rough on the 99%.

tonyarkles 8y ago
One of my favourites was quite innocent. I’m in a mobile home, and I had interacted with the family before (they owned a local restaurant). I’m in their home office getting their DSL set up, and slowly it dawns on me that something really smells like shit. Like... it’s permeating the whole house. My eyes are starting to water up a bit. Finally, I’m getting close to finishing up. Through the door I hear their 4-year-old girl yell “grandma!!! I think I stepped in dog poo outside!!!” Followed by: “oh honey you got it all over the carpet!” Sure enough, as I’m leaving I notice an epic trail of tiny dog shit shoe prints spanning from one end of the house to the other. 10/10! When I went to the restaurant for breakfast the following Saturday, the mom apologized and told me all about how many times they had to run the carpet cleaner through the house to get it cleaned up.
- kuhhk 8y ago
  Poor lady. She must have been super embarrassed .
  - tonyarkles 8y ago
    Yeah, most definitely was. I did my best to communicate “I get that kids do stupid stuff”. We carried on going there every Saturday for breakfast :)

RickJWagner 8y ago

I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm sympathetic to the author, she seems to be struggling. This seems true in her article to the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-religious-cult-former-member-recalls-experiences https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/27/family-relig...) : "How have you felt since coming out? Have you had a lot of therapy? Not so much and most of it wasn’t so helpful. I’ve had therapists cry and hug me and it was really strange. They just don’t really know what to do with it. I mean, I still hide things. I still have nightmares, I can’t deal with crowds. I will always feel kind of separate. For a long time, I just didn’t really have friends. In high school, I had no idea how to talk to people. I didn’t understand cultural references. Ninety per cent of conversations are: “Hey, do you remember that episode of Seinfeld?” and shit. And I was weird, I was just awkward. I read everything I could get my hands on. It’s just what I did, I hid in books." I think she's a good writer, but her own comments suggest her perspectives might not match most people's. I hope she keeps writing and finds more peace in things around her.

rak00n 8y ago

I'm surprised at the quality of the article. I didn't realize Huffington Post can publish things like this.

jayalpha 8y ago

"Homosexuality, says Analyst Bergler, is neither a "biologically determined destiny, nor incomprehensible ill luck." In Freudian terms he traces a complicated pattern of the development of homosexuality from infantile frustrations, through "pleasure in displeasure." to unconscious psychic masochism. The full-grown homosexual, as Bergler sees him, wallows in self-pity and continually provokes hostility to ensure himself more opportunities for self pity he "collects" injustices—sometimes real, often fancied; he is full of defensive malice and flippancy, covering his depression and guilt with extreme narcissism and superciliousness. He refuses to acknowledge accepted standards even in nonsexual matters, assuming that homosexuals have a right to cut moral corners as compensation for their "suffering." He is generally unreliable, in an essentially psychopathic way."

jayalpha 8y ago

Wow. I posted a quote from Time Magazine and the quote was flagged within seconds.

dang 8y ago
It was off topic and trollish, so correctly flagged. Posting like that will get you banned on HN, so please don't do it again. Instead, if you'd review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and take the spirit of the site to heart, we'd appreciate it.

remir 8y ago

I'm usually not into these long narrative article, but this was an interesting perspective and a good read.

NedIsakoff 8y ago

I don't get why she says she refuses water when offered. I have offered bottled water to all the techs that came by our new home, no one rejected it.

solatic 8y ago
I imagine that she, as a woman, could be afraid of customers spiking the water they serve to her.
- burgerboy 8y ago
  Jesus christ
qbert 8y ago
She did mention one of her problems with the job was where to find places to pee. Also, she didn't say anything as to whether the water offered was bottled or not.

jelliclesfarm 8y ago

I am grateful for articles like this. Every time I need a tradesman or repair person to fix something at home, I will remind myself that my home..my personal space.. is a zoo and I am better off learning to fix things myself or go without inviting strangers into my home who may or may not get all judge’y and write about it for public consumption.

plinkplink 8y ago

I was a cable guy in San Francisco. The stories in this article are very plausible and even tame compared to the shit that I've seen. My first day on my own I went to a "hotel" run by an Indian that barely spoke English in the Tenderloin. He pounded on a door for ten minutes shouting something unintelligible and finally unlocked the door to reveal a tiny room with shit smeared on the walls and a naked transvestite covered in blood from a heroin needle writhing on blood-stained sheets. "Shouldn't we help?" I asked. "No. Is OK. Fix TV." All the little metal fittings on the cables throughout the whole hotel had been cut off by guests for use as makeshift pipes. The hotel charged by the hour and didn't ask any questions. I have many anecdotes if anyone is interested in hearing them.