What kind of a world is it when....

....it costs more to repair your washing machine than to buy a new one.  When the serviceman tells you that the machine is 9 years old and that you have got your money's worth out of it, thus making you feel like a prize idiot.  My last machine lasted 25 years!!!!!!

I told him.  He shrugged.

What happened to quality workmanship and a serviceman not charging you a day's worth of your own wages for the first 15 minutes of his time? And in this day and age when every appliance has an energy rating and allegedgly uses less water have we all noticed that a basic wash cycle takes nearly 2 hours.  How is that energy efficient?  

Can you imagine my consternation when the guy started to fiddle with the program buttons trying to put the machine in a spin cycle so he could hear the grinding noise it makes when it spins.  He kept starting a WASH cycle and cancelling.  Now, knowing full well it would take at least 5 minutes for the spin cycle to even hit its full stride (because to save wear and tear they do some slow, short, alternate spins to "balance" the load -'scuse me while I choke on a guffaw), I offered to assist but he said he was fine.  NOT!

He finally gets it right and we stand there awkwardly waiting.  Meanwhile he did have the presence of mind to pick up a towel and shove it in to add weight.  When I offered to get more he said he was fine!  Oi Vey!  I did try to explain that you needed more weight but.......

THEN, just to add to my OCD panic he accidently shuts off the power and has to re-initiate it.  There goes another 5 minutes of my 15 - tick tick tick!  

When the machine does actually start its fast spin it does NOT make the grinding noise as it is too light.  So he takes off the top panel of my Westinghouse Front Loader and says - and I kid you not - oh yes I can hear it! !!!!!   I strain and move closer and can hear abso - fucking - lutely NOTHING!  I tell him so.

He promptly concludes that the bearings are worn and so are the  motor brushes.  $500 to replace them thank you very much.  By now my 'shot' clock is sitting at 14 minutes and I need to make a snap decision.  I say 'no thank you'.  He looks relieved and proceeds to tell me I had a good run for 9 years.  I want to hit him.

He then takes another 10 minutes putting the machine back together and writing up the service docket on his little hand held unit.  The machine is still spinning.  I ask if he needs it anymore and he tells me to let it run its cycle.  I pause only a moment and then reach over and turn it off.  I look at him and smile my sweetest smile and say ' unless you are paying for the electricity mate it goes off'.  He shrugs and leaves the laundry, heading for the front door.  I am a little confused and ask where he is going.  He tells me he is going to the van to print off my invoice.

He is back within 2 minutes and I am now sitting at 16 minutes on the clock.  When he hands me my invoice I look down to see the amount due - $95.  He has the temerity to tell me he is just charging the base rate.  I smile weakly fighting the urge to rip his heart out with my teeth.  I already know my husband is going to say 'I told you so' - he having accurately assessed the bearing problem without pulling the machine apart.

I now look at this dried up prune of a man - did I not mention that?- and ask him what I should do.  His sage advice comes - 'run it till it dies then get a new one'.  My hero!

Now I sit here typing, as my sheets hit their spin cycle and with the shrill grinding of metal on metal like a buzz saw slicing through my psyche, and I wonder why my Bachelor's degree and my Master's degree and my 24 years in Public service doesn't pay ME $95 for a mere 15 minutes of my time.  That's $380 an hour.  I don't know anyone who makes that kind of money.  Did I waste my life?

 

Give me back my good old Hoover Top Loader with it's energy rating of ZERO but which did a load in 30 minutes.  I recycle the water onto the garden anyway!

  

We interrupt this post, ladies and gentlemen, to take a call from another service centre about our dishwasher...... that is another story!!!!  I will tell it on Friday IF they turn up with the right part this time....

Till then, I need another cup of coffee as I stress about my son, sitting at this very moment in the exam room at school for the first of his final Year 12 exams.  Today is the English exam - all the kids do this one.  I hope to God he is not as stressed as his mother.......

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Thank you ClipArt...