My washing machine broke.

How can I be “From the Laundry Room” with a broken washing machine? It is a little over a year old and it is one of those High Efficiency Machines. I love it, when it works. It uses 65% less water which is great for me because I live in the desert. Every little bit helps, but not right now because the damn thing broke.

It is run by a computer and when we first moved into our house it broke after only a month. It just stopped. Almost like I unplugged it. The Sears Guy came out and did all sorts of tests and sure enough the entire computer needed to be replaced. It took one “We will be out there between the hours of 8AM and 5PM (incredibly convenient)” for this man to do an assessment the first time. He then ordered the parts which came a week later and were followed by another “We will be out between the hours of 8AM and 5PM” for him to actually put the parts in and get the machine working.

Almost a year has passed since that first repair and it has been a string of blissful laundry loads until yesterday when I walked by my machine mid-wash and it just stopped. Lights out. No power. So, I knew it was the same thing. I called Sears and explained to the woman that this is the same problem that happened before and could the tech call in the parts first before scheduling the repair. That would save me a day. Her response was “Madam, we do not do that. The technician has to come out and look at your machine first.” “Fine”, I said. “Now we can have someone out there on Thursday between the hours of 8AM and 5PM.” “Just Perfect”, I said like a trained monkey.

The door bell rings today and it is the same technician that fixed it the first time. He arrived at 3PM by the way. He walked into my laundry room, pushed a few buttons and
said, “Yep, same as last time.” Ahhhhhhh!! I took off work all day for this? He ordered the parts and will be back next week “Between the hours….”, yeah you know the rest.

It seems like our society treats people like we are morons. We are unable to assess anything without help. We need to be told how it is. That is the message. I understand there are a few exceptions, like the lady that sued McDonald’s because her coffee was hot and now we all pay more so they can print “The contents of this cup are very hot.”, but for the most part people are pretty smart. We can figure things out if given the opportunity, but there is always this condescending tone of “You do not know what you are talking about, let me send out an expert.” No wonder people sit around and watch television. They are looking for the next set of instructions.

Some things just do not make sense, like Sears, and no matter how hard I try to talk to people I always get, “That is not how we do it.” Why not? How long have you been doing it this way? Did you ever think of trying a different way? So, I am without a washer for a week and once again I feel discouraged that life is just not simpler. Some things are easy and why companies need to make them complicated I will never understand. That is all from the broken laundry room for tonight.

Sleep with One Eye Open!

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