Cable installer in my alley had a standoff with a raccoon

I was walking my dog last evening and saw a cable truck parked in the alley behind my street. The installer was halfway up a pole, but he kept looking down and shouting. Turns out, a raccoon had climbed into his open tool bag and was rummaging through it. He had to climb down slowly, trying not to startle the animal, while his coworker filmed the whole thing. They eventually lured it out with some snack bars from their lunch. It was a reminder that our job can have some wild moments you never expect. Made me think about all the strange things cable guys must deal with on a regular basis.

3 comments

3 Comments

ivan3924d ago

I saw a story like that once where a squirrel chewed through a fiber line and took out service for a whole block. I mean, animals cause way more problems than you'd think.

alicesingh13h ago

But don't human mistakes cause way more outages? I've read about backhoes cutting lines all the time. Or software updates that go wrong and crash systems for hours. Animal damage is pretty rare compared to that. We just hear about the squirrel stories because they're funny, not because they're common. Honestly, our own tech fails more often than wildlife messes it up!

lauraking4d ago

Squirrel chewed through, right? Birds nesting in cell towers do it too.

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