Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Advice to Various Public Utilities….

....and other government agencies.

It would be a REALLY good idea if people working for government agencies or public utilities would be able to properly identify themselves when questioned by a home-owner.

This is the second time that I’ve had a situation of finding ‘uninvited guests’ trooping around who cannot, on request, properly identify themselves.

Last year it was someone from a county agency. They had no ID on them. They had nothing to offer that would work as some form of recognition that they were a government official on official business. So I sent them away. After a long telephone conversation with the agency that sent them, we finally worked things out. But, it would have been much easier if said agency had furnished them with SOME form of identification.

Today….while I was working in the garage, I heard a strange discussion going on behind my house. I went to the back yard to see what was going on to find some guy talking on a cell phone while wandering around on my property. He had a lime-green vest on. But there was no verbiage on it that I could see.

I asked, “Can I help you?” To which I got no response. He, for all intents and purposes, ignored me, carrying on his cell phone discussion about ‘handicaps’.

I asked, in a more forceful manner, “Can I HELP you?”

At this point he finally recognized my presence and my interest in what he was doing. He stopped talking on the cell phone and stated he was from Aquila, doing the monthly meter reads. In this instance he was targeting the neighbor’s meter. [Note: They’ve got SOME KINDA kuwel equipment for that task, judging by what he was waving around.]

As he turned around, I could read his green ball-cap logo and the name of the company on the vest. However, until he turned around he had no identification at all.

I suggested to him that he pass on to his boss that Aquila should put their logo and name on the back of the vests their people wear. Might avoid some ‘difficulty’. And, in light of the number of home invasions we’ve been reading about of late, avoiding difficulty sounds like ‘good advice’.

Whether he passes on that suggestion or not, I’m here to suggest to Aquila that they not be penny wise and pound foolish regarding their employees and the identification thereof. Indeed, if I were on Aquila’s board of directors, every one of the people working for the company would stand out as a walking-talking billboard of what the company represents, to every citizen and business owner in Pueblo…..POWER!