I worked at a hospital and gave out free TV service

In the early 90’s I worked at a prestigious hospital in New York setting up TV service for the patients. It was a job I had to pay my bills while I was in college. The job was simple enough: customer calls for TV, you set it up. The hard part was collecting from the patients. My boss was always on my ass to sell packages and collect. Getting yelled at by patients who had no money and were in different stages of illness took its toll on me.

The last straw was when i was asked to collect from a male patient that I had gotten to know well. He was diagnosed with AIDS and was considered a resident because he’d been there so long. He loved colognes and my mom always told me to put on cologne so I had a lot at home. So this, and being Puerto Rican, brought us together. One day, I go to his room and notice they’re cleaning his bed. I asked the nurse when would “Edwin” return from therapy. She told me he had passed away overnight from complications resulting from pneumonia. I cried and went back to the rental office, told my boss. He told me to go back “look for family to pay for it.” What the fuck? On his deathbed you want me to ask grieving family for $4? I decided to pay it myself without telling the boss. Then, I went all Robin Hood and started giving out free service to everyone!

There was a kid who had leukemia, his dad worked in the day and came to see him at night. I made friends with the kid, then gave him his own key to turn on the TV. His dad called out of work just to make sure I wasn’t trying to cheat the boy. When he realized I was not playing, he thanked me profusely! Then, he told me he worked at a hospital in the Bronx. My aunt happened to be hospitalized at that hospital. He watched over her for me because of what I was doing for his kid.

I did this for 6 months, people! Of course I would bill the assholes and those willing (even insisting) to pay. But, the kids, the frail, the breastfeeding moms, and even an Islander player got free service. After the six months, I got a better job and left immediately. Not sure how much they lost because of me. But, the company no longer exists. I doubt I was the cause. 😏