One by one in rapid succession the gadgets and mechanical items in my home are staging a revolt. Is it something I did…something I said? Honestly, I’m not abusive towards them. I treat them with a gentle hand and hardly ever over-tax them.
Just a few weeks ago our DSL modem decided to quit functioning properly after roughly 8 months of uninterrupted service. After my husband had several lively “discussions” with the AT&T automated service representative…who we’re pretty sure didn’t like the tone he took…we ended up switching back to cable internet service. Maybe their automated service reps will be more accommodating. Because nothing says “personal service” like automated service reps who keep telling you restart the computer to cure every ill. That and getting an Indian service rep named “Darrell” is enough to send you into a emotional state that will result in you getting court ordered to anger management classes.
Well, that drama was resolved, and just when we thought that all was right in the mechanical realm late last week my radio alarm clock awoke me to the strains of “Welcome to the Jungle” at volume level 10. I thought hubby had played a joke on me, but because we do share a bedroom and he gets to sleep 30 minutes later than me that would be like paying the drive through cashier for your combo meal, driving off without getting the food and thinking the joke was on them.
Upon further inspection I quickly found out that the volume control on my alarm clock would not go below…say a level 5 out of 10. So when I dialed it all the way down the result was still pretty ear splitting. This is really odd, because it is a mechanical dial, and I may have changed the volume on the radio a handful of times since I bought it last year. I keep the volume very low since just the audio pop of the radio coming on will wake me up. That’s how lightly I sleep.
That brings up another gripe…I had to buy a new alarm clock last year because the governmental change of Daylight Savings Time made my relatively new automatic-time-change alarm clock obsolete. Government finds a way to screw up everything!! Grrrr…I better not get started.
So, I guess I’m going to have buy another alarm clock. I may revolt on technology and buy an old-timey wind-up deal, but I’d probably just forget to wind it and routinely run late for work.
Well, this morning the low in Charlotte was around 15 degrees, and while I was as snug as a bug in bed when my extra-loud alarm clock went off this morning I got up and thought the temperature seemed a little too cool. Granted, we keep the heat pretty low at night because both of us tend to be prone to night sweats (yep, I know, TMI), but it was just a little more brisk than it should have been. When I checked the digital thermometer in our room it said 61.3 degrees. I knew something was definitely wrong. When I got downstairs and checked the thermostat it said 56 degrees. Greaaaaat…..
The conclusion was that the furnace was running, but the fan was not distributing the heat through the vents. So, I got to spend the morning at home with a service technician who diagnosed it as being a circuit board problem. Okay, I was thinking maybe two or three hundred dollars max to fix a circuit board, but no…he quoted me a price of $641.00! Five hundred-something for the part, and another hundred for labor. Well, when I called my husband and told him the damage he popped his cork. He talked to the service technician to no avail and finally called the main office who finally relented to a total repair cost of $474.38.
Still…what do they make heating and air circuit boards out of anyway….gold?
I think I’m in the wrong business. I need to start manufacturing circuit boards.
And why does seem that everyone is gouging for everything these days, and you have to threaten hari kari to get a semi- honest price? Thank God I have a husband who is as stubborn and belligerent as an old mule, because if it was just me I would routinely get rooked, as I don’t know how to negotiate a.k.a. threatening to take my business elsewhere.
Anyway…what mechanical item will go on strike next at the Sprouse house? The Lord only knows!
2 Comments
March 4, 2009 at 5:29 AM
You did not just say “Sprouse house.”
They make one of these new trendy wind-up alarm clocks with bells the size of an ostrich egg… might be overkill, though.
March 4, 2009 at 7:52 AM
Yep, I said it. That’s about the extent of my rhyming capabilities.
Concerning alarm clocks they also have the annoying ones that vibrate around the room. I actually thought of buying one of those for Eddie for when I’m not at home to wake him up. He could sleep through a nuclear blast!