Nothing is Easy

Fortunately we had only one small casualty as a result of Tropical Storm (and briefly Hurricane) Isaac. The security light installed by FPL, which sits outside my front gate, stopped working, apparently when a tree limb hit it. I emailed FPL the day after, and within a day, had an email response that the light would be fixed within 5 to 7 days. FPL installed the light, and we pay about $10 per month for its electricity. It's nice to have, as it illuminates the entrance to our house, and lets me fetch my morning Herald without tripping over something, or worse, stepping into the omnipresent dog crap that comes with having a dog infested house. Wifey, who's the Chair of Crime Watch in our neighborhood, is a strong proponent of these things. She copied and pasted the FPL web site about them, and emailed it to all our neighbors, since the Village doesn't provide any other lighting, and everyone says light at night means decreased crime. Since we have no crime, I guess the lights would create a crime vacuum -- but you can never be too safe. Anyway, after a week or so, I noticed the light wasn't fixed, so I called again. The nice phone person promised they would really fix it this time, and call me. Another week -- still no light. I called again. The nice person said this time they would REALLY REALLY fix it, and then call me when it was done. That was about a week ago. Well, this am, I went to fetch my Herald at 6 am, and still no light! Now I was angry. I called and asked for a supervisor. Mrs. Lopez came on the phone, and investigated. She figured out the problem: I had reported a malfunctioning STREET light, but in fact my problem was a malfunctioning OUTDOOR light. Oh, of course! A schmuck like me should realize the difference -- one is installed and pointed to the street, the other on my dog poop soiled property. I felt the sarcasm and irony welling inside, but I could tell that Mrs. Lopez would not appreciate it, nor would she wish to debate the logic involved -- aren't all streetlights by definition outdoor? Whatever. She showed on her records that it WAS fixed. No, Mrs. Lopez, I assured her the contractor had lied like a rug -- as of this am, no light. To spice things up, I also told her a sweet, elderly neighbor had greeted me this am by the front of my house, and tripped and fell because of the lack of lighting. That seemed to get more attention -- did she break anything -- was she taken to the hospital??? No -- I assured FPL -- no catastrophe here -- just a poignant reminder that little ommissions can have big consequences. One little heat tile can bring down the Space Shuttle, as I reminded Mrs. Lopez. She tells me I'll have my out door light up and lighting the way to dog crap free mornings within 5 days. We'll see...