No, it's not the world we live in. Comcast is fully capable of making adjustments in specific cases, and a loss of a bunch of cable boxes wouldn't bankrupt them. Nobody says Comcast should abandon their rules and just gift their boxes to everybody. But exercising some humanity in exceptional situations is not contrary to business. The cost of those boxes probably won't even register given Comcast volumes.

I understand the OP probably spoke to some low-level grunts who might not be able to bend the rules even if he wanted. And the only way to solve this might be to escalate it to the level in Comcast that is allowed to think. But it definitely not "how the world works" - it's just how the Comcast works, and that's bad for them if it does. Business and profit is not contrary to having basic human decency towards your customers - actually, it is usually goes better if you do.