ON THE SPOT ... AT 7TH AND MONTANA!

It was a Traffic Snarl of monumental proportions this morning at 7th and Montana as a Time Warner Cable Repairman inexplicably prevented customers from entering Starbucks by blocking the entryway to Our Favorite Parking Lot with his truck. "Howdy," he said, oblivious to the traffic backing-up onto 7th Street, "This is my dog, Spot!" Granted, cable service has been Spotty throughout the neighborhood ever since Time Warner bought its way into Santa Monica in 2006, but I never imagined they would have hired such an Appropriate Mascot. Spot, a happy-go-lucky Boxer mix (pictured above), apparently makes housecalls. I hope he also protects cable repairmen from angry customers. Time Warner Cable has been in the Doghouse since June, when the City of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit against them for "fraudulent business acts" and "shoddy service."