Does anyone else feel a cold chill of dread run down their spine and curl up in their stomach in a ghastly blob when they press Start on an appliance and nothing happens? I mean a really, really cold, fat thread of impending doom. And a little bit of taking it personally?
If you rent, now you have to contact the landlady/lord and hope s/he is a decent type and will repair it for you in a timely manner.
If you own, you have to find a repair person you hope knows their ass from their elbow and will come soon and give you a window of less than 8 hours. And you have to fret about what they’ll charge. And whether they’ll give you that sad shake of the head that means you really ought to replace the whatever.
I just hate it. Really really hate it out of all proportion. Car repairs don’t bother me nearly as much, although the bill is usually much higher.
Confession: we have a 6-year old combo washer-dryer (both functions in one box) whose drying function bit the dust. It’s been like that for months, but I still haven’t called the repair guy. He’s already been twice, and I’m just fed up with the whole show. The washer part works fine, so I’ve been putting the laundry on the line, that’s how much I detest calling for a repair. Nose, face, spite, I know.
I used to have really good appliance mojo. All the appliances lasted forever and never needed repair. Well, except for the furnace that -20oC February night at 3am, but furnaces are different, they’re like Cthulhu sitting in your basement and you respectfully ignore it, in the hopes of thus never offending it. Except for replacing the filter regularly, which feels like a placatory offering to a touchy god.
Irons in my house seldom get used, trust me on this one. And yet, I’m on my 3rd or 4th one in ten years. I’ve even taken to buying big heavy jugs of distilled water, to appease the damn thing.
Chugchugchug ooooo. Chugchugchug ooooo. That’s the sound of a 3-year old brand-name fridge saying, “I broken. New compressor, please.” Cost: 60% of what the fridge itself cost in the first place.
Very good brand-name dishwasher: inadequate grinder-upper means it wants a plumber to come and clean out its drain once every two years, or the dishes are going to come out dirtier than they went in, no matter how faithfully you rinse them off first. Ugh.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who has gnashed their teeth amidst floods of frustrated tears over some wretched appliance that won’t apply itself. Tell us your own appliance-related horror stories. Maybe pass on some recommendations/cautions about ones you’ve used.
Image. From Wikimedia Commons. Photographer: Matthew Paul Argall. (The photo is of a combo washer-dryer, similar to my own. Very common in Europe. Pro tip: never EVER buy a ventless one. Mine is vented and is bad enough. Ventless ones use a condenser to deal with the moisture removed from the clothes, and are roundly cursed by their owners.)
