tree on a phone cord

Tree branch came down in a storm last night; it’s resting on my neighbor’s phone wire. So I called Verizon and they said “It’s not our job to clear trees. We have the safety of our workers to think about. If the dial tone goes out, we’ll come repair things. Call the power company.” Called the power company. They said “If it’s not on a power line, it’s not our job. The phone company has contractors just like we do. Call the phone company.” Called the phone company back, “no, we don’t have contractors. You need to call the power company.” I know the power company will do nothing because I called them once when I saw a tree had shed a large “Y” shaped branch that was now straddling a cord running from one to another. They sent someone out right away. By the next afternoon a note was left on my door saying “Branch not on power cord. Phone?” So there they were, but they wouldn’t take the branch down. This branch from last night is about to take my neighbor’s phone out. It’s Sunday so I can’t call a tree company. But neither the power company nor the phone company seem to care much. Until the tree actually does the damage. So the branch, it’s really larger than a branch – it’s a split in the higher up trunk – is held on by some bark and probably just a bit of wood. If it weren’t resting on the phone wire, it’d definitely come down. And nothing to be done. Ah well. That’s life in the big city.