I'm Wired

We have our new Dish Network receivers. Did you know that channels change when you push buttons on the remote control? Really!

Our old remotes were on their last legs. They didn't like being pushed. Or maybe it's just me. Because I seem to have the same problem with the garage door opener and the ice maker. I have to push numerous times, on opposites sides, top and bottom, all hours on a clock face before these controlling controllers deign to make my wish their command.

My phone is like that, too. It does not want to respond to my touch. I have to try three or four times to slide that thingy before it unlocks. When I punch in phone numbers, I get nothing or I get two of the same digit. Let's not even talk about trying to play WordPops. But if you insist...I am a wizard at WordPops, until it gets down near the bottom of the screen. Then no matter how I stroke that misbegotten hunk of circuitry, my phone ignores my clever game play.

At least I have four new TV remotes to practice on. The installer guy was here about three hours. He had to take off our old dish and put on a new one, and change out three receivers. The fourth connection had a wire in place, but we'd never used it. So...Installer Dude had a pretty easy go of it. No climbing onto the roof for the dish, because it is on the porch rail at the side of the house. No crawling under the porch or in a crawlspace because Hick did that under-porch thing when we got our first dish. Back when they let you buy it at Radio Shack and hook it up yourself. No so these days. They want that service fee for installation.

Installer Dude asked if we wanted the boxes. Or he could take them. They just get thrown in a dumpster, according to him. Then he asked some question about the HD or the DVR or something that made me feel like a dog being quizzed on how to fly a 747. Genius spoke right up and said yes, that he wanted to do that. And Installer Dude reached into one of the throw-away boxes and pulled out some cable with red and yellow and white thingies on the ends. According to Genius, we might need those one of these days. So I said to get all three sets. And some other cable was in there that we took, but we left the phone wires because we don't need them. According to Genius.

So I'm wondering if Installer Dude was scamming us. If he was going to take those cables and make a little side money. Because he, himself, said they were about $30 at Walmart. That's AFTER we said we wanted them. Genius said he bought some online for $6, which was really cheap. What if he bought them from Installer Dude? I'm not accusing. It just seems odd that he told us three times that the boxes just go in a dumpster. You'd think he would have laid all the accessories out on the table with the remotes and the paperwork. Rather than leaving them in boxes that were just going to be thrown in a dumpster.

Other than that, Installer Dude was a really nice guy. But I'm a suspicious sort. Nobody's ripping ME off for $90 worth of cables that I may or may not use.