If the kitchen is the heart of the home, then the refrigerator is an artery. A rascally main artery. When such artery is clogged, the heart malfunctions. Let’s just say, my fridge is currently clogging up the heart.
During a recent heat wave, our three year-old refrigerator decided to take a sudden vacation. Perishable items be damned! Committed carnivores take a hike! We had too much frozen organic ground beef anyway.
Fortunately, Husband had invested in an extended warranty on repairs for the recalcitrant refrigerator. The Sears salesman had said,
“All you do is pick up the phone and call a technician. He’ll come to your home and fix the problem at no charge. Not that you’ll need to, of course.”
Husband called the Sears Repair Center. The first twenty-five minutes were spent explaining by Husband. We’d moved in the past two years and all hell broke loose at the Repair Center when they heard. Confusion, cries of frustration and a complete lack of direction ensued. Husband was transferred from person to person. They tried to switch our address. They really did. And finally, in the end, they were successful, but during their overzealous rejoicing, they cut Husband off. Husband then steadfastly refused to call them back and handed the phone to me.
With full knowledge that a calm, collected, cool mind accomplishes far more than an angry, embittered, vindictive one, I called Sears again. I decided to use the victimized-by-the-uncooperative refrigerator approach, which was the truth.
I spoke to Nexis, (his real name or so he said), a helpful fellow, who continuously apologized and attempted to walk me through do-it-yourself repairs. I know, we’d paid for a live technician, not an over the telephone, across the continent and the Pacific Ocean, then across another continent, pseudo repair person, but I felt it was worth a shot, if it cured my problem promptly.
It did not.
I then requested an appointment for a technician to come to our home. Nexis transferred me to Jay who stated,
“The soonest possible time will be in two weeks.”
This would be the part where I unleashed a slew of expletives, both the widely known kind along with a few rarely heard, particularly grueling on most human ears variety, just to give my speech added emphasis. But I did not. Instead, I inquired,
“How can Sears possibly expect me to go without a fridge for two weeks? I have a family to feed, pizzas to freeze, not to mention the frozen, custom-made dog food my mother-in-law generously hand makes for my canines.”
“I understand and I’m truly sorry,” Jay said. “Sears will give you up to $250 reimbursement towards spoiled items.”
“And who’s going to pay for all the restaurants we’ll have to frequent?”
Jay apologized yet again and transferred me to Carma who transferred me to Leo.
I asked why Sears didn’t hire more workers if demand was so great.
“Sears has plenty, but they are all so busy. It’s that time of year…”
And herein lies the utter stupidity, incompetence and greed of Sears. Do they honestly believe their customers are such idiots as to be blind to the fact that all that mattered was the $? More repair people would mean more pay-out by Sears.
I asked Leo where he was located.
“In the Sears Repair Center.”
“Where exactly is this Center?”
“We are not allowed to give out that information.”
Was I talking to the CIA? Or the Pentagon? Or the Kremlin? I spoke to four different people. All with the same accent. Yet another way for Sears to cut costs and deprive domestic workers of jobs. Sears fell headlong into the monumentally stupid category.
I’m one of the fortunate Sears’ customers; our fridge started working once I hung up the phone. I used Nexis’ tech tip – unplugging the fridge for a few minutes, then re-plugging – and it worked.
I hope you’ll notice, dear readers, that I wanted to get angry several times. I really did. But I realized that I would not maintain the proper presence of mind to best manage my problem, and I’d not nearly have as much fun. I tried the unplugging trick twice with Nexis; it didn’t work either time. Perhaps my anger would have prevented me from trying it again and having my issue ultimately resolved.
The person we fight with when angered is ourselves. We can be our own worst enemies. Your mind can be your best friend or your worst foe. It’s up to you.
Just think.
Keli
Keli@counterfeithuman.com
I feel 
Some of my favorite people are of the enthusiastic variety, including Husband, Arnold Schwarznegger (in a nonpolitical way) and Ferd. If you haven’t had a chance to visit Ferd’s blog, please do, as his enthusiasm is quite catchy. It’s hard not to leave without a smile, whether you’re reading about his Craigslist experience or his reliving his formative years with Earth, Wind and Fire (the band, not the elements).
