BellSouth, Please send me a decent repair person

Is it just me, or does it seem a bit odd to assume that shoes alone
would carry allergens?

Did you ever think that maybe he has really gross foot t fungus
issues, that not only make his feet smell horrible, but can spread to
you through socks but not through shoes? Maybe he was doing you a
favor...

For whatever reason, he could or would not accomodate your request.
That is a separate issue from being indecent. Repairmen make money
by servicing broken things. By cancelling your repair because he was
unable to accomadate your request, he was losing money. To be
indecent, (which is what you imply by demanding a decent repairman) he
would have had to "offend against recognized standards of propriety
or good taste; vulgar", or "not decent; unbecoming or unseemly in
conduct". Therefore, he was being abnormally considerate of your
request by not crossing your threshold wearing shoes.

I did not take the time to read any of the replies to your post, so I
apologize if I am repeating what anyone else has said.

First of all, you did not warn the company of your special
circumstances before they scheduled this man to your home.
Therefore,you cannot fault him for not being prepared for your special
needs. If he had known about your allergies, maybe he could have
brought rubber or cloth overshoes that would have prevented his
spreading allergens throught your home.

Second of all, I highly doubt that he is bringing any more allergens
into your home on his shoes than on any other article of clothing.
Unless you have all your guests wear surgery scrubs or have a haz-mat
team ready and waiting at the door for the full decontamination
treatment.

Thirdly, telephones run on electricity. I sincerely doubt that any
repairman working on an electrical line would be allowed to (by his
union, company, etc.)remove his shoes purely for the fact that
rubber-soled shoes would ground him and prevent him from being
electrocuted and suing your pants off.

On another note, shoes provide traction. Telephone wires are usually
in basements, so he would have to go down stairs with no traction.
This is non-compliant to safety standards because stairs are usually
slippery and shoes are required to prevent him falling down your
stairs and suing your pants off.

On another note, the air being drawn in to your apartment through
doorways, windows, just your house "breathing", and through furnaces
and air-conditioners has much more allergens in it than the soles of
his shoes.

On another note, people with "severe" allergies
really shouldn't have carpet in their homes. Talk about a breeding
ground for bacteria, dust, dirt and allergens. Nor should they live
in apartment buildings,where you share air with many other human
beings and their dirt.


On another note, shouldn't you have benadryl around to take in this
sort of situation to prevent these allergens entering your body? Or
surgeons masks, so you won't be breathing in his allergens, and you
don't risk spreading your "severe sinus infection" to him.


I also don't get why you say, "I have severe allergies at this time"
Allergies are something that never go away. They are not temporary,
nor are they curable. In fact, they only get worse the more you have
irritants around. Your immune system is already busy fighting off the
sinus infection, and therefore hasn't the time to fight off allergens,
but if you are allergic to something,you are always allergic to
something. You should say; because of my sinus infection, I am
particularly sensitive to allergic reactions at this time. Describing
your medical condition properly lends credibility to your situation.

I hate to act like the grammar-police, but I have to do this because
it is nagging me. Firstly, New Orleans was devastated by hurricane
Katrina. Therefore it is redudant to say you live in post-Katrina New
Orleans. Hurricane Katrina happened in the past, and in New Orleans,
so if you live in New Orleans we can all safely assume it is
post-Katrina. I think you put in the post-Katrina bit as a sympathy
ploy. Secondly, you say you have been "n the phone literally all day
with" This means you were on the phone for 24 hours. I think we all
know this is not true. Yes, I agree it is frustrating to be left
waiting a long time on hold, but over-exaggerating does not help your
case. You were figuratively on hold all day, not literally.

"I have had a problem with my phone and noise it's producing" This is
either repetitive or it is two separate issues. You should instead
say, "I have been experiencing problems with noise my phone line is
producing."

"he technician came to my home and discovered outside my front gate,
that there is a problem with my inside line" I had to reread this
sentence twice to be sure I understood your meaning. A much better
way to communicate what (I believe) you were trying to say is, "Upon
arrival atmyfront gate, the technician discovered the problem was my
inside line."


"asked him to remove his shoes if he needed to come into my apartment
as I am at home sick with a severe sinus infection and have serious
allergies at this time."
there should be a comma after "shoes"and "apartment"

"I think you need to get a grip"

C'mon, thems just fightin' words. Can't we all just get along?


Threatening a company with leaving their service provides them with no
motivation to accomodate you. If they aren't going to get your money
in the future than you are no longer their concern.




"Please send me a technician with no hangups about customer service
and allergies." This one made me laugh. It sounds like you are
requesting a repairman who has allergies.

Are you?

Did you mention your requirements when you called to make an
appointment? That could have allowed a repairperson to be prepared to
make accomodations for you, or they could have explained the reasons
for not being able to accomodate your request. Besides the safety
issues others have mentioned, my husband must wear heavy safety
footwear, and you really don't want someone walking around in sweaty,
smelly socks if you're already having sinus issues - trust me on
this.

Seriously, your troubles could have been avoided with a polite "will
there be any problem with requiring the repairman to remove his
footwear if it is necessary to enter my home?" Something to think
about for next time.

I understand this is a very serious health concern of yours. I know
someone with similar problems and they have disposeable paper shoe
covers ( I have no idea where they can be bought.... maybe a surgical
supply store) and friends usually have no qualms taking off their
shoes, but sometimes people think these things are silly or that it
will take too much time to take them on and off, especially if they
need to go in an out to check connections, get tools and supplies
etc... Maybe they have dirty socks or a hole in them lol... you never
know!!!!
I do hope they respond favorably to your request.

Safety issues aside, I ask: Where are our English experts (ticky for
one?) when we need them?

'I have been on the phone literally all day with Bellsouth.' I think
you may mean 'figuratively,' right? That's one heck of a long time to
be on the phone. Maybe that's why you're having a problem.

In regard to the allergies, do you really think the crud that adheres
to the shoes is only on the ground? How do you breathe when you step
outside, or do you wear a mask?

Quite appropriate that you ask for a technician who doesn't have any
'hangups!' I think they'd like to have customers like that, too.

I won't address the safety concerns, since others have explained those
quite well. Here is what the wonderful "Etiquette Grrls," have to say
in answer to a question on whether it is appropriate to require guests
to remove their shoes:


Oh, Dear Reader, we are sure you won't be Happy to Hear This, but we
Cannot Agree With You on this one. It is Perfectly Normal to wear
shoes indoors. When the EGs go to a party, we wear Nice Shoes-- pretty
Kate Spade Slingbacks, say. We would be Shocked and Appalled if
someone were to request, nay, DEMAND that we remove them and walk
around In Our Stockings all night! The EGs would have spent a Long
Time deciding which shoes would Go With Our Outfit, and it would be
just Silly to Leave them at the Door! And furthermore, would you
really want us to Stub Our Toes or Get Runs in Our Stockings? Dear
Reader, we'd probably walk out the door and Celebrate Somewhere Else
where our Nice Slingbacks were Made Welcome!

Dear Reader, the EGs would like to ask gently if perhaps you are
Over-Reacting, just a Wee, Wee Bit? Of course, we would be Utterly
Horrified too if someone who had apparently been Traipsing Through
Sewers tried to wander into the Etiquette Flat, Tracking Filth
Everywhere. But Dear Reader, honestly, we are sure Your In-Laws do
not, as you have put it, actually live Outside in the Dirt, etc., etc.
It's More than Slightly Insulting to them for you to imply this. The
EGs can only respond to your question from our own Perspective, and we
have offered Our Opinion on the Matter, as you asked. However, we just
want to say that if you find you're Obsessed with this issue-- if you
truly feel in actual Nervous Breakdown Range-- you might want to talk
with A Professional who has experience Helping Folks with Issues Like
This. You shouldn't have to Worry So, Dear Reader!

With best wishes,
The Etiquette Grrls
(http://www.etiquettegrrls.com/pages/qaarch_december01.html)

I agree with other posters that some booties would be a good idea.
Asking strangers to remove an article of clothing before entering your
home is not.

Copper phone lines are electrical lines and it can be dangerous to
work on them without being properly grounded, ie: correct shoes. My
husband is an electrician and would never work on a phone line without
having his work shoes on, it's also one of his union's rules. His
refusal to remove his shoes has nothing at all to do with his skills,
he is following his companies and/or union rules as far as safety. My
husband has sent guys home from his job for not having the proper
shoes on.

My neighbors are very fussy about people removing their shoes in their
home. My husband installed a new recepticle for them and had to
explain why he needed to keep his shoes on during the process.

I also want to point out that if the problem is in your house,
Bellsouth is not required to repair it and if they do, it is at a cost
to you. Since you have noise on your line, it sounds like an open or
bad pair. What the tech does is check the line up to Bellsouth's NID
(network interface device) or demarc, which are outside, and if they
don't get any noise on their side, the problem is on your side and is
your responsibility.

As someone else said, if you really have serious problems, you may
want to consider purchasing some of those "operating room booties" to
cover shoes. I think that would be acceptable to the technician. Our
phone techs at the hospital used to wear them when working in a clean
area.

Our cable company has their employees remove their shoes when they
enter a home. My problem is I don't want their stinky feet in my
house. That grosses me out to have somebody I don't know walking in
their sock feet.

If this bothers you so much, make or buy some cloth booties for
repairmen to slip over their shoes.

Haha. I'm sorry but I think this is funny. How can you expect a
repair man to come in your house and remove his shoes? I've never
heard of that before. My mom is a clean freak and when I was a kid
she'd always ask people nicely to wipe their feet at the door if there
was bad weather (causing muddy shoes), but never to take their shoes
off. Requesting a repair man to remove his shoes is just nuts.

Hi Barbara,
There could be a very simple reason why the repair man didn't remove
his shoes as requested. I'm just speculating of course.

A lot of electricians, line men, phone line workers, etc. have to wear
safety shoes. These are generally steel toes and some are also ESD
certified. They will dissipate static electricity charges. Charges
that could cause damage to phones and lines if not protected against.
Plus, the company the man works for probably requires him to wear
these boots/shoes at all times on the job.

I'm not saying this is the reason, just a possibility. It could be
that maybe he's like me and can't wear socks without shoes on.

Anyway, I hope you can get your problems resolved.

I can think of several reasons why the repairman refused to remove his
shoes, ranging from 'I have a whole in my sock' to 'safety issues'.
Maybe he was the one with serious allergies and he did not feel
comfortable risking his health.

I love the last line, btw. Except I would change it to 'send me a
CUSTOMER with no hangups about customer service.'

In the end, however, y'all should have worked it out like adults
instead of children. You should have asked politely, explaining about
your allergies. He should have given a reasonable excuse and arranged
for a different technician.

I'm on the fence with this one. On one hand, lots of people don't
wear shoes in their homes because of white carpet, etc. but I've never
heard of a repairman being asked to remove his or her shoes.

I agree with Bill that it would be valuable to know how the repairman
was asked to remove his shoes. Your comments along the lines of "get
a grip", "ask your repairmen to be more accomodating", "decent repair
person", etc. indicates that perhaps the exchange between the two of
your wasn't the friendliest in the world - - huh?

There is also a chance that his refusal had nothing to do with
"hangups about customer service and allergies" but more to do with his
personal safety as noted by a previous poster.

This is an interesting complaint. I understand your attention to
cleanliness, but if I did that job for a living I believe I would also
refuse that request.

The problem is that your house is not my house. I know where most the
hazards are in my house. However, I have gotten so I won't go
shoeless in my own basement. Having stepped on a few nails in my
life, and having fallen down the stairs in the past year, it isn't
worth the risk. Your house could have Lord knows what on the floor,
visible or perhaps invisible.

I am not saying you have an unkept house, and I am not implying your
floor is dirty. However, there are simply too many ways that a repair
person is taking a risk by removing his/her shoes, in my opinion.
What about falling down due to poor traction?

Barbara,
A decent repairman? He may very well have been one but you did not get
a chance to find out.
IMHO this boils down to how he was asked not to wear his shoes inside.
Which one fits your scenario?
" I would appreciate it if you would remove your shoves as I have
terrible allergies. "
or
"Take off your shoes before you come in here. "
This makes me think of the Seinfeld when Elaine and the phone repair
guy were bantering back and forth about who could kill who and not get
caught.
If it were me and you have good cell coverage and don't need a land
line you might join the growing ranks of those folks who have decided
to unplug.
Take care.
Bill