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Viral Video: A Comcast Technician Sleeping on My Couch

Jul 3, 2006  •  Post A Comment

TelevisionWeek is trawling video-sharing Web sites to find the hottest clips spreading on the Internet.



The setup: There used to be a time when we were all encouraged to take naps. But that ended, around, say, first grade. For better or worse, napping-especially on the job-is frowned upon. So much so that it can get you fired, particularly if your nap on the clock turns up on YouTube.com. A Comcast technician in the Washington area took a nap on a customer’s couch, and the customer caught the bit of shut-eye on video. Shortly after the video was posted on YouTube, Comcast fired the technician and issued the following statement: “Comcast has reached out to the customer to apologize for his unsatisfactory customer experience. We have been in direct contact with the customer and all of his services are working properly and to his satisfaction.”



The source: The customer who caught the technician napping submitted the video, set to the Eels’ song “I Need Some Sleep,” to YouTube. The creator posted this note next to his video: “A Comcast technician came to replace a faulty modem. After spending an hour on hold with Comcast’s central office, he fell asleep on my couch.” He added a few days later that service had been restored.



The hits: The video was submitted to YouTube on June 20. By June 29, it had been viewed more than 540,000 times.



Video: A Comcast Technician Sleeping on My Couch