I try to keep Pretty Opinionated as positive an atmosphere as possible. Whenever there is a negative, I try to point out the positive. But I have to tell you, my awesome readers, that I am at my wits end here. I have been without power since 9:30PM on October 29th, the night Hurricane Sandy ripped through the upper east coast. Every single day since then, I have driven past the same tree laying over the same power lines, with the same said power lines dangling all over the place. Every day, that tree droops a little lower. I am starting to feel that Met-Ed, my power company, has completely forgotten us and is never coming to fix our power.
Right now in my county, those who were fortunate enough to live in an area serviced by PPL have their power back, with the exception of 135 people. Right now, there are 617 people without power just in my township alone. In my county, that number still climbs well over 1,000. I’ve heard so many rumors that I’m fearing are true, and fear Met-Ed won’t be getting to us any time soon.
I’m one of the lucky people who has a generator, thanks to a good friend. I’m running out of money to keep it going, though. Don’t worry, this isn’t a plea for donations, there are people much worse off than me that need them. My house is being heated by a small wood stove that won’t stay lit for some reason. I’m so cold. Everything is made worse by the fact that I had surgery last Friday (the 26th), and I haven’t even had a chance to recover because of all the stress. Then, to top it off, I almost fainted at the Red Cross shelter last night. A wonderful volunteer who happened to be an RN called the ambulance. Turns out I have a UTI from the surgery. I can’t flush my toilet, so hey, maybe it’s a good thing I can’t pee right! Sorry, that was way too much TMI.
Met-Ed is horrible at giving out info. I’ve been stalking them on Twitter, trying to find out something about when I may get power. They give canned responses, if they respond at all. To really add insult to injury, they called my house and said I have power! It must be some type of newfangled imaginary power, because I’m still freezing and hungry. I’m sure it was an honest error, but to someone who is “this close” to a mental breakdown, it was nothing short of mental cruelty.
Yes, I know, there are people who suffered much worse than I did. People lost their homes, their businesses, and even their lives. I am not trying to divert the attention from them, and believe me, I do feel guilty complaining about what amounts to little more than a very cold, dark house. But I’m seriously going insane here. I’m cold, tired, hungry, and in pain. Please, Met-Ed, if anyone from your company actually reads this, please, please, please get the power back on in Lake Valhalla and the rest of the area. We pay just as much as any of your other customers, and we deserve to be warm too.
Oh, and on a side note: if you are without power, don’t yell at the people answering the phones or the crew out and about. They’re only following orders from higher up. It’s like yelling at a waitress because the food is horrible. It doesn’t accomplish anything, and those people are the ones who are actually out there trying to do something, or at least console those of us losing our minds.
