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karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 10:08 am
by JR.
I have a running source of irritation from the kids the town hires to read the water meters. They leave the heavy covers off the water meter boxes to make their job easier, while not protecting the meters. I shared the anecdote about me getting multiple fire ant bites on both hands when they laid a cover upside down on a fire ant mound. :twisted: I since replaced my heavy iron water meter box with a light weight plastic box, and they still leave the damn cover off. :x

FF to now, they left the cover off the post office water meter for several months now, letting it fill up with water every time it rains... when trying to read the now surely dirty meter I saw the kid down on his hands and knees for several extra minutes clearly having trouble reading the meter. :lol: :lol:

Too bad there wasn't fire ants too.... :roll:
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A couple months ago my water bill was something like 5,000 gallons high... I just took a photo of the meter face showing the actual normal reading and paid the correct (lower) amount. arghhhh I don't think these kids are smart enough to do this on purpose... just flaky.

Sad to speculate about their future, from this auspicious start.

JR

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:32 am
by Gold
Some strategically placed tree sap may lower your bill and make their life more difficult.

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:54 am
by JR.
I have tried to make it easier for them to do their job properly with plastic meter box.

My neighbor is talking about welding the cover on, but they'll just stop reading it.

JR

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:00 pm
by terkio
At my place, they quickly bill on estimated readings, with a chunky over estimation.
Once I had the meter kid coming while I was deep at digging and moving stones and soil.
Because of my back, hurting at that time, I asked him kindly to lift the quite heavy concrete cover for me.
He "smartly" lifted another part that was not supposed to be moved to access the meter, then put it back like shit.
Well, I had more work to fix it, more pain in my back. A true PITA.

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:17 pm
by JR.
The good news is I truly believe Karma will get them all in the end... I have actually seen it happen to people who wronged me (in business).

I have held minimum wage menial jobs as a youth and even then I did the best job I could.

They are setting themselves on a bad trajectory for life.

JR

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 4:26 pm
by Audio1Man
I don’t have a meter reading problem anymore, where the gate is left open. Gas, Water & Edison are all Smart Meters. Most problems I see are if it is heavier than I phone it’s too much work, even if they have an APP.

One of my grandson’s was on that road until he understood and he got into a trade school. He now understands what the tool is for.
Duke

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 6:05 pm
by mediatechnology
I found my cover left off last summer.
Looking into the meter vault I discovered why: A snake had taken up residence.

After that read I got a very small bill.
Crazy small considering I'm watering about half an acre in Texas summer.
I blamed the snake and timidity of the reader. (It was a grass snake.)

The next month a got a zero bill.
I loved that.
Figuring it was too good to be true I discovered that the meter had gotten stuck.
Since it was a holiday weekend I decided to water like crazy before "discovering" it and put in a service request.

The meter still didn't advance after my watering blitz so I got some "low cost" water.
The following month Dallas billed an estimated usage of about two weeks use which in the end was probably fair.

That same month my neighbor got a $3000 bill.
I'm not sure how that resolved.

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 6:23 pm
by JR.
I didn't get a bill that high when my water main was leaking... :lol:

Another reminder of why I can't leave small town MS...

JR

Re: karma

Posted: Sat Apr 06, 2019 9:16 pm
by mediatechnology
The amount of water he was alleged to have used would have filled a very large pool.
It would have caused some serious flooding.