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I was a cable guy in San Francisco. The stories in this article are very plausible and even tame compared to the shit that I've seen.

My first day on my own I went to a "hotel" run by an Indian that barely spoke English in the Tenderloin. He pounded on a door for ten minutes shouting something unintelligible and finally unlocked the door to reveal a tiny room with shit smeared on the walls and a naked transvestite covered in blood from a heroin needle writhing on blood-stained sheets.

"Shouldn't we help?" I asked. "No. Is OK. Fix TV." All the little metal fittings on the cables throughout the whole hotel had been cut off by guests for use as makeshift pipes. The hotel charged by the hour and didn't ask any questions.

I have many anecdotes if anyone is interested in hearing them.