Sweet, now make a video about a Lexus salesman falling asleep.

Glad that they got it taken care of. Nice post. Thank you.

Good idea, Max.

I forgot to mention, Comcast called me yesterday during the day to find out if I had had any problems with my service. Apparently they call all their new customers to check in and they just happened to call at the funniest possible time. I started laughing. I explained that I had made a video detailing my negative experience and that it had been on TV and seen by 150,000 people online. He asked if I wanted him to send over a technician. I laughed again.

dude u r LAME!!!!!!!!!

Great News, and your problem is not far from being any different than others that have had multiple trouble calls. Usually the regional president or any heads would not call the customer, but when the problem does not get resolved and they realize that multiple trouble calls have been placed you will see a team of employees out to handle a problem… video not needed.

Nick

I’m the lamest lame that ever lamed.

Sorry there Nick, but you’re on crack. I’m a Comcast business level (premium level) customer (actually former customer as of this week) and they can’t keep my connection turned on for even a single day in the last six months.

I’ve demanded tech support out here at least 5 times and I don’t even bother calling anymore because they always send some “bubba” out here that knows less about the problem than I do.

Besides - calling tech support is/was uselss because all they do is tell you to reboot your modem. After 10 calls with no resolution I don’t bother anymore when I see the modem sync light go out.

I’ve yet to see a “team” of anything descend anywhere in the vicinity of my office despite my best efforts. My conclusion is they just can’t get it together and I find this video just an awesome example of the level of folks they’ve had at my house.

I have had a string of Comcast guys come to my house and they are always some odd “characters”. One guy came in and had a really thick accent. I had trouble understanding him but I didn’t care as long as he could fix the thing. Of course he couldn’t so he had to call some Comcast tech support line that used a voice recognition system. His accent was so thick that he couldn’t get the computer to understand him and he was reduced to yelling into the phone over and over, “Tek Suppod! Tek Suppod!” Until finally he got connected to the right place. Needless to say I was not impressed.
Oh, and I also pay almost 70 dollars a month for internet access because Comcast has a monopoly in my neighborhood and there is no competition.
Thanks Comcast! for screwing me just because you can!

Dude. I hate working. Now someone needs to put up a link to the MSNBC video on YouTube.com

Sir, (ViewAskew reference)

You are indeed my hero.

Interestingly, I had a similar response from Comcast a few years back in Arlington, VA. I had no internet service for a month, and they refused to send a tech to help me out.

So, I wrote to my county council rep (who chartered Comcast’s license), and I had a phone call from a someone senior at Comcast within days. They sent someone to my house and fixed the problem. Turned out to be a problem with the exterior cable ines.

Amazing that it took the threat of a government official to get any service out of them.

and to make things worse they wanna hijack the internet…

(hopefully this blog accepts html tags, otherwise this post looks ridiculous)

that video you have with comcast is just HALARIOUS! WOW! AWESOME JOB! you should be given a trophy or some shit for this man, seriously…

You do realize that your shenanigans have gotten that dude fired, don’t you? Are you proud of yourself now? Big, important Snakes on a Blog, riding the back of the common man to YouTube fame and glory … and a free month of internet service.

But what does one expect from some rich, spoiled brat law student? That tech is trying to support a family on a salary that wouldn’t pay for one semester at law school. How about instead of mommy and daddy paying for your school, they pay the guy’s rent and food for a year?

You’re nothing but a damned attention whore … you got your 15 minutes of fame at the expense of some guy’s job. Way. To. Go.

Asshole.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/14886979.htm

A video of a Comcast Corp. employee in Washington sleeping on a customer’s couch became a minor sensation on the popular Web site this week and shamed the Philadelphia cable giant into apologizing for poor service. The employee, whom Comcast would not identify, has been fired.

The Comcast customer who posted the video, told this story on YouTube.com, a site that lets users share videos:

His Comcast Internet connection had worked only intermittently since he moved to a new apartment June 1. A Comcast technician who came to his home June 14 to replace the modem called the company for help. He was put on hold for more than an hour. So he caught some shut-eye while he waited.

A Georgetown University law student, picked up his video camera, added music with the lyrics “I need some sleep. I can’t go on like this,” and sent it to YouTube.

Damn, you suck, dude

I think you last couple of guys got something a bit backwards.

Comcast is in business to make money. It’s supposed to do that by serving its customers–rich and poor, Georgetown students and non-Georgetown students.

Anyone working for Comcast is supposed to earn their paycheck by serving the customers.

If Comcast chose to fire this guy who fell asleep while waiting for Comcast to give him assistance in fixing Brian’s problem, is he to blame? Sounds to me like they just found themselves a convenient scapegoat for a problem that (rightly) proved to be highly embarrassing to them. What they should have done is fired whoever was responsible for the guy not being able to get any phone assistance before he fell asleep.

And unless he has some physiological problem we’re not aware of, he really shouldn’t have fallen asleep on the job. Maybe it’s not a firing offense, but he really shouldn’t have fallen asleep.

Anyway, the firing is not Brian’s fault, so don’t blame him. As a Comcast customer he’s not being a big old meanie by asking for service and having a little revenge when he doesn’t get it. For so long consumers who couldn’t get satisfaction had NO satisfying recourse other than suing or filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I really can’t blame him for taking his frustration and having a little fun with it. It is hard for me to work up a good head of pity for Comcast or anyone who works there if this is their idea of customer service.

Sorry, this is not a class issue. You don’t even know whether Mommy and Daddy are paying for Brian’s law school. I went to grad school myself and I was on full scholarship, despite having been poor my entire life. So please, stop assuming that all college students are pampered assholes with trust funds who don’t have any sympathy for the working class. Some of them ARE working class. I know I was, and I still am–just on a “higher” level. But if I didn’t do a good job for those I work for, I’d be out on my keister too. Just as, if Brian becomes a lawyer and can’t win cases for his clients, he will be out on his keister.

This is not about “rich snob law students vs. poor techs trying to support a family.” It’s about big corporations learning that they have to either give their customers good service or be embarrassed into it.

Dear Pita–

I think I speak for most, if not all, of the regular posters to this blog when I say to you–and I mean this from the bottom of my heart–

STFU.

Thank you

Amazing work. I love seeing the Internet transform customer relations.

As they say, “the squeaky wheel gets the grease”. With that story coming on the heels of Vincent Ferrari’s AOL recording, I’m starting to hope that such public shamings will become more common. Audio or video evidence speaks louder than any amount of semi-anonymous ranting about bad service.

Too bad it doesn’t mean those companies will actually clean their act up. It would cost them far more money than the occasional PR clean up operation.

Will Ballard,
Nice personal attack there buddy, I hope you don’t run your business in that manner, or treat your customers or employees in the same manner as you treat people with positive opinions.
Nick

Hey Brian! Congratulations! You’ve made it to today’s issue of “The New York Times”! And for anyone who thinks this is NON-”Soap” related, this site gets mentioned every time the media mentions Brian–so THERE! :-p

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/26/technology/26comcast.html?th&emc=th

This is why I call Comcast “Comcrap” in polite company, and “Cumcrap” at all other times.

This is why I call Comcast “Comcrap” in polite company, and “Cumcrap” at all other times.

Sorry for the second post; but technology added one to many http://’s to the web site address.

Brian:

Your timing was amazing. Your video was a hot topic at the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers meeting in Denver last week.

While there’s no excuse for someone falling asleep on the job, it does point to the importance of telecom providers providing quality, rapid customer service, even when the ‘customer’ is an employee.

I note that the exact same thing could have occured had the vendor been the local telephone company provider. I’ve spent many hours on hold with telco higher level tech support, too, but I haven’t fallen asleep…yet.

Amazing video…

Jonathan Kramer, JD, FSCTE
http://www.CableTV.com/forum.php

This is exactly the reason why I now use DSL.

I took a day off from work for the technician to come and fix my Comcast cable. He did not show up. I called the support line again and asked if someone could come out after 5:00PM. He told me that they did not work after 5:00PM. I pointed out to him that they did not seem to be working before 5:00 either.

I have used DSL for about three years and it was down once.

Thanks for doing this. Unfortunately, in a time that is not too long in the future, you will likely have this problem again.

On my way home from work, the NJ station 101.5 was all abuzz about the video! Carton & Rossi “The Jersey Guys” were having a field day plugging YouTube.com and your video. They and most of the callers who saw it thought it was great!

Yeah, I had a similar situation with DirecTV when trying to install a HD satellite dish. Long story short, took day off for a tech to say it can’t be done, then another day for a different tech to not show up, and finally another day when the first tech showed up late to do the work he said could not be done. Accounting for time off, it cost me $1800 to get DirecTV.

So I, like many others, share his frustrations. However,
One has to wonder if there is any more to this story. When my wife and I saw the story on MSNBC, we both thought that the responsible party was the Comcast personnel on the other end of the phone. I sympathize with someone on hold for over an hour falling asleep. And yes, he shouldn’t have. But hey, is it a firing offense?

I sought this website expecting sympathy for the tech… you know, … the one that SPENT OVER AN HOUR ON HOLD. But found none.

So, is there more???

Was the tech rude?
Did he have an odor about him?
Why didn’t you wake the tech up?

Your frustrations with Comcast aside, is there any reason why you shouldn’t express dissatisfaction with the termination of the tech that fell asleep?

If not. Then why shouldn’t I, and you as well, email Comcast with contempt regarding the termination of an employee for a forgivable offense.

And why shouldn’t I forbear the employ of Snakes on a Blog, with his apparent indifference toward the wellbeing of others?

I’ve come via the NY Times article, and I’m convinced:

Snakes on a Plane. Awesome.

Expensive connection.

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=1097

I feel bad for the tech getting canned, but hey this is your job and you are paid to do it. Not fall asleep. Anyway Comcast and Bright House cable services in my are both suck. Had nothing but issues for quite some time.

After awhile I gave up and went with another service which is far superior to cable internet/TV for the same price.

Thanks for taking a stand, no matter what others may think.

good luck!

I predict brian dead or severely hurt in the next couple of days.

gl dude…

Hey Jason–it’s just Comcast cablevision–it’s not like it’s Scientology or something. ;-)

http://theunfunnytruth.ytmnd.com/

Great post… heard they fired the guy… not fair in my opinion… I can’t believe even the cable company employee couldn’t get through to his own staff! Very laughable :-)

I swear, what is wrong with kids today? The right thing to do would have been to wake the guy up and understand that he WAS trying to help you but the company he works for was screwing up, not him. Instead you get him fired because you can’t think far enough ahead to understand that your actions have consequences. You can fuck up your life all you want like so many idiot 20-somethings who post personal stuff on the internet then can’t understand why it comes back to haunt them, but this time you screwed someone else’s life. Way to go.

Can’t believe the number of dipshits trying to make you out to be the bad guy for the guy getting fired. I haven’t read it but I would imagine falling asleep on a customer’s couch would fall under Grounds for Termination of Employment in the Comcrap Employee Handbook.
Been waiting on SoaP since reading about it in a JoBlo article a couple of months ago now, amazing job your have done.
Heard the story yesterday but just read now. Didn’t realize the connection, you might have the hot new development project in Hollywood.

CGoaC - Cable Guy on a Couch.

“Comcast, get your M’Fing Cable Guy off my M’Fing couch”

When I had comcast put in the guy was here for over 6 hr. He had to call for another tech come and he was not much help and soon left. I ended up finishing the job myself. He put down on the work order that he was only here a few hours. I did not feel like going around and around with him so I did not say anything and sign the order.

Basically Comcast sucks, but they hace most of us by our balls! Ive tries Id like to try Direct Tv or Dish but they also have theire probs…I know I used to work for a consumer electronic company. i find this part hilarious…I have Voip with Vonage Love it, its great, the best thing ive ever done, for 15 bucks a month…for the same services Comcxast wants 40 bucks a month F N ripoff. On another my premium services were turned off, evidently Ive been receiving them for the last 9 years, because of someones error, no more HBO and no more SHO. I asked about it and said ive been paying 110 bucks a month for something I shouldnt have, but should have been [aying 150 bucks, what a F N rip

Comcast may suck but getting a guy fired for falling asleep after being on hold for an hour is not cool at all. They seem to have some pretty big systems level problems and this poor guy is just another person caught in that dysfunction.

[...] Snakes on a Comcast Issue Resolved [Snakes on a Blog via Consumerist] [...]

This is classic–a guy strikes back at a corporation for crappy service and is set upon by people dissecting his life and blaming him for all the ills of society. Comcast fired the tech. They bear full responsibility for that act, right or wrong. Shooting the messenger is never the right answer. If it were, we wouldn’t have Freedom of the Press. The facts were reported, the company was shamed into acting, and the guy finally got what he had been paying for–internet service.

Ha ha. You got that guy fired. Did you ever think that perhaps he had been up all night with a sick kid, or was working two jobs to pay his rent, or in night school? I hope you get fired for falling asleep on the job one day. We’ve all had bad service. Get over yourself.

I’m glad you got your internet service back online. But the way you did it was kind of heartless. Does the end justify the means?

Wow, incredible. You can’t help but feel for the guy that took a little snooze while waiting on the phone. It’s not like he’s guarding the president or something. Even before hearing about the guy getting canned I felt it was a prick thing to do for you to publicly humiliate the guy. Will this change comcasts level of service to the general public? doubt it. Sure worked out for you alright and it probably stroked your ego somewhat too.

You got a guy fired who knows where you live…

Smart move there bowels.

Oh bah at everyone bitching about the guy getting fired. You don’t fall asleep on the job and expect to keep it no matter what the company did!

Just had to throw my 2 cents in here. I guess Comcast’s service is different across the country. I’ve had Comcast Broadband service for 4 years now in the Indianapolis area. When they first started out it was in fact a seperate company called @home and was later taken over buy Comcast themselves. I’ve had very few problems with my service which has had some of the lowest latencies that I or any of my friends have ever seen. Yet, I know many of the other providers in this area pretty shoddy. A friend has Brighthouse’s business class connection and a Wednesday before Thanksgiving at 1 in the afternoon they went down for of all things ‘Updates to the system’. Yea that makes since. I don’t blame you for videoing the guy sleeping after all the problems you had and congradulations on getting your service up and running. Hopefully everything will be smooth sailing now.

[...] http://www.snakesonablog.com/2006/06/23/snakes-on-a-comcast-issue-resolved/#more-1700 [...]

I sense a grassroots movement here. How many (like me) ended up with DSL after Comcast repeatedly screwed us over? Comcast was out for SIX WEEKS - I applied for Qwest DSL after 3 days, and it took another 3 weeks to be hooked up because of the sudden surge in demand in our area - and I telecommute from home. I can’t tell you what a pain in the ass it was.

I’m back with Comcast only because they’ve got a monopoly in my new neighborhood. Our connection drops at least once daily.

About 8 weeks ago I had a similar customer service experience with UPS. However, I failed to bring the offense to the attention of the internet and ultimately the media. Instead, I went through the “proper channels” and brought it to the attention of the driver’s supervisor. He assured me that he would get to the bottom of the incident and get back with me.

What most likely happened was he took the complaint form, with a detailed description of the offense, and threw it away as soon as I left the building. I never heard from him or anyone else at UPS.

In the future, I will go the route Brian went. It’s truly sad, but that’s the only thing that motivates some companies to do their jobs. Jobs, by the way, that we’re paying them to do.

Unfortunately this is endemic of the whole cable industry. I have Patriot Media as my Cable provider in NJ. I called to get 2 digital sets, plus wiring to 2 more rooms. 1st time was a no-show. Second time they brought 1 digital and 1 analog set and said they had no work order for wiring and left. The 3rd time the guy showed up, wired one room, had problems with the second, called a second guy (who showed up an hour later) who couldn’t do it, so those 2 guys called a 3rd guy (who took another hour) and he couldn’t do it, and then they had the nerve to try and charge me for 9 hours of “work” time for installation, even though most of the time was spent by the guys talking on their cell phones to their wives/gf while waiting!

Oh, and in the end, my 65 year-old father and I got that last room wired, doing it ourselves, in under 30 minutes.

I think what you did was absolutly within bounds. But. I dont think the guy should have been fired. If he was in fact on the phone, on hold, for that long with absolutely nothing else to do (he cant really do anything else in a customers home) I can see why he would fall asleep.

I’d rather see them fire the person responsible for him being on hold that long at a customer’s site…there’s the real problem…You think you hate Comcast…think what his job is like out there on the front lines…

[...] Congratulations to the guy who made this video on getting his issue resolved; I can relate to how frustrating it can be to deal with cable companies, especially when the best solution is to reboot your computer fifty times. Unfortunately, the technician was fired, but I mean, the central office did put him on hold for an hour. Why would you put your own field techs on hold for an hour? I’d place more blame on the central office than this guy. I fell asleep while on hold with my cell phone provider for 20 minutes… [...]

I’m with Brian on this one. His target is not the employee asleep on his couch. His video “thanks” Comcast for a raft of customer service problems (two broken routers, four hour appointment windows, missed appointments, etc.) and he takes pains to mention that the employee fell asleep while waiting for over an hour on hold with Comcast.

It isn’t Brian we should be blaming for the termination of this employee, it’s Comcast. If I was in that position, waiting on hold for over an hour, I’d probably fall asleep too. I’m only human.

Instead of terminating the employee, Comcast should have established a priority line for technicians to call to get instant questions answered. Maybe given this guy a slap on the wrist.

The flaws in Comcast’s system that lead to this customer service embarrasment probably still exist, and it’s going to take more vigilant customers with more video cameras to fix it. And unfortunately, this is likely true for most, if not all large service-oriented companies.

Jeez. The poor guy was on hold for an hour with nothing else to do but grab some shut-eye. What did you expect him to do while he waited, shine your shoes?

Whilst your video brought attention to Comcast’s failures, you didn’t have to use the technician like that, you could have simply woken him up, sure he shouldn’t have fallen asleep, but a light nudge wouldn’t have harmed. I don’t wish ill upon people so I’m not going do that to you, but one day you might find yourself in the same situation and you wouldn’t find it so funny then.

Just wondering how the other tech guys will react when they get a call to go back round to your home, I bet they’ll be drawing straws for the unenviable task.

yes, he should have shined his shoes.

and by shoes, i mean his comcast internet system

and by shined, i mean worked on it, even if that required waiting on the phone longer than what one finds comfortable

i’ll be damned if i will let you whiners complain on his behalf because he fell asleep, pay me to sit on the phone for an hour doing nothing, i’ll sit there 8 hours, on hold, all day, nothing but classical music and jazz riffs, and that anoying lady that tells you your call is important

do i understand his falling asleep? sure, but if he gets in trouble its still his fault, he is a responsible adult. if it were my call i would make sure that guy got a talking to though even if i understand it, and the blame is primarily on comcast for making one of their own wait that long, he still has to take care of business, and has to mantain the tangable face of the company out there

K
O
F

i will start at $20 an hour to sit on the phone on hold, if it works out, we will step it up to 25 - 30 plus benifits

[...] When the video received attention, Comcast’s regional VP called me to apologize and to promise they would work on the service. The first statement I made to that VP was a plea not to fire the technician. My issue, as I thought the video made clear, was with my Comcast service in general, not with the technician. Comcast’s regional VP told me that he couldn’t comment on internal disciplinary matters. [...]

Hmmm…. Four days after you cost someone their job you finally show a little public concern for the person you got fired, and then only after a lot of people knock you for it. I’d say your comments on your “concern” for the tech are pretty dang self-serving and as such discount their validity. You should have thought of him before you put his face on the internet.

I spent almost 2 decades as a service tech. Not in the computer industry, but working in people’s homes none-the-less. While I never fell asleep in a customer’s home, I never had to put up with 1-2 hour sessions of routinely being on hold either. I feel for the guy because what happened to him could have happened to anyone in any service industry who was made to sit on hold for the amount of time he was.

All I can say is I hope enough people have read of this that next time you have any type of breakdown for which you need a service tech that your name will be recognized and you will be refused service. I, personally, would never do any business with you whatsoever. You are not honorable, nor are you trustworthy. You’re a tool, and snakesonablog is a fitting domain name for your blog. It fits you to a tee.

hey brian… did you be a man and let the tech know you made a video of him sleeping or did you act like a little spineless georgetown boy and sneak around filming him and not say a word to him about it before he left ? He was there to help you you asshole and your video did go after him not comcast. you could have easily proved your point without a video of him sleeping and a song about need some sleep. what does that have with your internet connection. what a loser you are. sleep good at night knowing you got someone fired for something so stupid. you picked a good career for your character you F’ng jellyfish.

The problem is not unique. You should see the isssues I have had with my local Mercedes dealer Autobahn Motors in Belmont, CA. Thank God my C320 is still under warranty; took it in for a routine 12000 mile tune up and nothing but problems thereafter: poor fuel consumption due to faulty software download; all electronic systems failed (due to the software download I was told); brackets were left unfastened on the exhaust system, sunroof failed to close properly…doesn’t anyone take pride in their work anymore? What was meant to take only a couple of days, has resulted in over two weeks of lost time to car repairs and talksing to service manangers. I hope this is not a portent of things to come…What do you guys recommend I do?

ffreeloader, he only comments now because of this:

http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/diarypage.php?did=1097

I’m glad I don’t have your karma right now, Bri. I am just checking this site to see if anyone has heard anything about the sleeping tech since his firing? I’m hoping one of your local morning radio shows will have him on and maybe he can parlay this into a better job. I think a rival cable company should hire him to do commercials, where he can complain that he sure misses those long afternoon naps now that his new employers don’t leave him languishing on hold. You know, kind of like a modern version of the lonely Maytag man! I wish him all the best — this was totally out of his control and he didn’t deserve to lose his job.

All I can say is Snakes on a Blog is a sick immature kid ( Law student eh?) who acted childish b’coz he couldn’t leech off some p0rn using BT *sigh*

2 words for you GROW UP!

*hint* proxy used

Just a note to all the folks saying Brian is lame or whatever.

I worked for Comcast cable modem support and heard numerous complaints as a phone tech of the onsite techs crap.

Once had a woman call in and say that the tech onsite drilled a hole in her wall and hit a sewer line of some sort and had feces running down the wall and left saying they would have to have someone come out and repair the damage only a week later no call nothing…. she was waiting on a call back or tech and that suprise suprise never came.

Another woman was home waiting for the tech to arrive in the friendly 3 hour window and heard something at the door. Not a knock but something. She goes to see what it was and the tech was leaving a “Oh we missed you” notice on her front door without knocking and she busted him.

There were also certain areas that we knew would call in almost everyday or so with outages and the same people calling in over and over. It got to the point you saw the certain area code on the caller id and knew there would be lots more from the area calling and we would give our form answer. We are aware and working to resolve the issue.

As far as feeling bad for the dude falling alseep? Please, if you got caught sleeping at your job would you be fired?

Big companies like Comcast,Direct TV etc feel no love for you so don’t feel bad for them. Bitch,complain and ask to speak with managers and get credits on your bill bout the only thing you can do when they are the only ones in the area that offer the service. Just dont brow beat the phone techs they have no control over anything.

I think we need to fight back as the little guy and videos like this are priceless. Think about for every documented screw up they make how many go undocumented cause people get tired of going through the phone trees, resetting modems or waiting for call backs that never come.

So Chris,

What you are saying is screw the technicians that call at customers homes? The technician did not deserve to be filmed without his consent and then plastered all over the internet. Brain should have handled this a lot better than he did.

Make all the excuses you want for what Brian did, doesn’t make any difference to me.

Not screw the techs but the companies.

The tech fell asleep and that was his fault. Why not hang up and call back? Call a supervisor? Hell why not leave and drive to the local office it might have been faster. He already said he didnt want the tech fired.

It sucks he got fired, might be better for him in the end to get a job someplace else but that is not the point.

These companies give us less than average service and we are supposed to pay them month after month and not complain? And when you do call its the same thing. Press this option so we dont have to speak with you for another 5mins.

Like the AOL call, Yes the rep on the line was out of hand but you think he was just a over zealous AOL employee that was so hurt AOL was going to lose $20 a month he wasnt going to cancel the account or maybe someone coached him to be that way? Ya think AOL would let you listen to any of his other calls?

I guess my point is the practices of these businesses that we keep running dont treat us like they value our service.

The examples I gave for the onsite techs are just to show ya what people go through that drives them to the point of making a video. My hate is much larger than just comcast.

I signed up for comcast at like $1/month as a promotion and asked and asked again that once this promotion was up what was the most basic package I could get to make the bill cheap as possible. The sales woman told me $13. I said to her that sounds kinda low for even the barest bones service are you sure. Course she said yes. Bill comes after the promo was up $57.

I am so tired of paying Direct TV $12 a month extra to get the local sports channel in my area that doesnt come as part of basic package so I pay for 20 extra sports channels and use 1.

Why is it they can control whats in a block of channels but I can’t just choose the ones I would actually watch and pay for those alone? You know why. Money and they will do anything they can to get it.

Seems to me most folks agree that these companies need to be taught a little humilty but are upset the dude lost his job?

For the record having work tech support and customer service has changed the way I deal with folks when I call in for help.

I am very nice and let them put me on hold to “check something” all they need to and when a tech comes to the house I offer them drinks and help them run cable, install cables boxes whatever I can do to help the dude out hell I got a new drill for Christmas and the Direct TV tech wound up using it before I did after his crapped out. But don’t sleep on my couch thats just dumb. Throw some water on your face, stand up, walk around, something.

damn! a little lengthy on the posts I apologize

Hello,

Just wanted to let you know I linked to your blog in my column on CBSNews.com today. Thanks!

If you want to take a look, here’s the link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/blogophile/main1754241.shtml

Thanks,

Melissa

[...] By now, many of you may have heard about the incident involving a Comcast repairman who lost his job after sleeping on it. Here is a recent post from the Comcast customer who created and distributed a video of the sleeping repairman. [6/28/06 update: The post above may have been removed. Here is a link to a related post. [...]

hello, im a former comcast tech, just hearing about this incident. i must say, i remember many customers offering food, money, sex, “do you want a hit or drink?” “lay down and take a nap, make yourself at home” “ill sign the paper work, no problem” i cant help but think maybe he was setup. tech support has its own dedicated line, after working there for over two years, the longest i remember waited on hold was less than 6 minutes.. but an hour .. thats a lie. thanks for your time.

All these comments against Snakes on a Blog make me realize how FUBAR the American work ethich is nowadays. There seems to be a universal expection that a person is entitled to employment, that professionalism is a completely optional behavior on-the-job and any attempt to call attention to poor customer service is to be lambasted.

I expect at least some of this hostilty is a general anti-semitism, narrow-minded creeps pigenholing Brian based on his perceived race and/or stereotype. Pretty sad, really.

This same complete disconnect with reality is why so many bloggers have been shocked, appalled and amazed to discover that when they write about confidential business at their workplace in what amounts to a public forum, the same bloggers may actually be disciplined or fired. There’s a lot of foolish children out there.

I’m not going to make any judgements of the participants. I know nothing of the Comcast field tech. Maybe he was an incompetent, inexperienced worker still under a 90-day probation. Or maybe he was a 10 year veteran with multiple commendations to his name. Who knows?
Nor am I going to label him as a Saint or a Sinner for his actions.

I WILL say that there’s not really any jobs where falling asleep on the job is excusable, unless you have narcolepsy. And I’ll point out that even if he hadn’t made the whole incident public, he probably still would have complained to management about the poor service. Whether that would have resulted in a firing or not I can’t say.

I had the cable guy come to my house a few years ago to hook me up for their new digital cable / satellite service. He complained that my 5 year old house at the time didn’t have phone jacks by all the cable outlets. No one thought to do that even a few years previously.

I could tell he just did not want to deal with it, so in true Comcast fashion gave me some advice in a whisper: “What you want man is that Direct TV. Their stuff is way better.”

No problem, and thanks for your time, and this way to the door was all I could come up with. 4 hours off work waiting at home for some solid advice from this go-getter. I figured if he was a representative of this outfit then the best I could do for myself was agree with him.

I took his advice, got Directv and their service has been flawless with zero problems. Figure that little piece of “take the afternoon off” advice has cost Comcast about 6 grand since then, but hey works for me!

the missing element of the “dude, you got some guy fired” argument is that Brian did not fire this guy. Comcast did. They were embarassed by their shitty customer service (even for their techs) and they took the most convenient scapegoat available - the tech.

this should be a lesson to all of us - in most cases, the company you work for considers you to be a highly replacable widget - no matter your function, your knowledge, your corporate value. You. Are. Replacable.

I am, Brian is, this tech certainly was. That’s the way it is now - accept it or do something about it. Don’t blame someone trying to get the service that he is paying for.

What did you expect from a law student, compassion? Please…. if your not paying him, there’s no way he’ll even feign interest in your problem, or pretend to care about you. What a dick for getting the guy fired, and the rest of you siding with little rich prick law student are just as bad; sure this Comcast guy may not have been the best employee, but come on… you all act like you’re perfect and never did anything wrong, by accident or on purpose. I hope each and every one of you that supports the actions and video of this dickhead get canned from a job you love for no apparently good reason. Have a nice life pricks.

Hi everyone,

I worked for a call-centre at Convergys Customer Management in Canada - trust me people, the problems with most phone support come from technicians.

The programs they use to help you are outdated and slow and in many cases, useless. Comcast policies prevent representative from truly helping you. You’re overworked, somewhat well paid, but not paid enough.

Their policies restrict you so bad that you have no choice but to get mad on the phone.

Feel bad for the employees when you speak to them over the phone - they have it rougher than you can ever imagine.