Customer Service: We're Here For You!

A few days ago, I found this automated message from our electricity provider on our answering machine:

"Hello, this is Ameren UE customer service. We are calling to inform you that we are performing scheduled maintenance in your area tomorrow. To facilitate the tree trimming, we are scheduling a power outage in your area starting tomorrow at 8:00 am and lasting until. Thank you for your cooperation."

Yes, you read that right. The scheduled power outage was to last until . . . . Well, they didn't say. I was at home the next morning at 8:00 am, and sure enough, they cut the power. So I went to work. When I came home, the power was on. However, I have come home a couple of times to find the microwave and alarm clocks flashing 12:00 over and over, so I'm not really sure how much longer we're going to have scheduled power outages. Can you really call them "scheduled" if you don't expect them?

I am glad we're getting tree trimming done, though. Our neighborhood could really use it, and I'd rather have the "scheduled" power outages than an "unscheduled" ice storm and unavoidable, on-going power outages in the dead of winter.