Not So Bright

I appreciate that there is no good time for NStar to do its routine maintenance, but do they always have to do it in Brookline overnight on weekdays? I mean, how many people have alarm clocks that are plugged into the wall? Doesn't NStar realize that if they shut off the power overnight, however briefly, that all those alarm clocks are going to need to be reset, and hundreds of people may oversleep for work the next day?

Sure, NStar usually gives a couple days' notice, but that doesn't really help. And the most recent time they did this — overnight on Tuesday night last week — they only called at 5 p.m. that night to give a heads up. I needed to get up early to catch a flight at Logan the next morning and barely slept because I wanted to be awake so I could get up to fix my clock when the power went back on.

My personal reason last week aside, I've got a real problem with NStar. I wish they'd do this maintenance at a better hour — like, say, when we're all at work, or on a weekend when we're less dependent on our clocks. Again, I know there's likely no time to do this stuff that everyone will agree on, but considering so many people need to get up for work in the morning, you'd think NStar would be a little smarter about their scheduling.