Can I assume you won't mind if I don't accept the Facebook friends request? (I'm almost never there, keep thinking I should trim the damned list back, and don't want to give my friends the impression that I will read their FB posts.)
Some cold winters ago, my old furnace would turn on, but the fan would quit running. So no heat throughout house. Call and brace for very expensive weekend visit: person on the line says, "Wait. Have you tried just turning the fan to 'constant'?"
Um. Yeah. That worked. So then I could just make an appointment for a normal visit to fix the fan switch. No emergency.
Thank god for friendly service people who sincerely want to help you out.
The thing I keep noticing over and over (and over again) is that living in a small town means that services such as plowing and lawn-mowing, painting, and repairs all cost considerably less than they do "in the City." That, and the the people providing the service aren't in a rush to sell you new stuff before you truly need it. Even when I all but say, "here, take my money!" they respond with, "oh, no, what you have is working fine; these thing last forever." This has happened with my car, my garage door openers, the boiler, and many other things over the last 11 years.
Or maybe it's New England. My car place isn't all the way in the city, but it's a lot more populated than here. I got an extra 3 or more years out of my brakes thanks to them.
Sears technicians do this. Every time we have the dryer repaired, I ask if it's time to get a new one (it dates from 1983). The technician always says cheerfully, "Oh, no, these old ones are much more reliable; you should put off getting a new one as long as you can."
There is a Shirley Jackson anecdote in her Life Among the Savages that your story reminds me of. In this case, she has been shown the reset button but is unsure which one it is and doesn't want to push the wrong one. She is not depicting herself as a Girl Homeowner, but the basics still resonated.
I wish there were a reset button for everything in the house. Whenever things seem weird, you push that. If things are still weird, then you call someone.
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Some cold winters ago, my old furnace would turn on, but the fan would quit running. So no heat throughout house. Call and brace for very expensive weekend visit: person on the line says, "Wait. Have you tried just turning the fan to 'constant'?"
Um. Yeah. That worked. So then I could just make an appointment for a normal visit to fix the fan switch. No emergency.
Thank god for friendly service people who sincerely want to help you out.
Reply
The thing I keep noticing over and over (and over again) is that living in a small town means that services such as plowing and lawn-mowing, painting, and repairs all cost considerably less than they do "in the City." That, and the the people providing the service aren't in a rush to sell you new stuff before you truly need it. Even when I all but say, "here, take my money!" they respond with, "oh, no, what you have is working fine; these thing last forever." This has happened with my car, my garage door openers, the boiler, and many other things over the last 11 years.
Or maybe it's New England. My car place isn't all the way in the city, but it's a lot more populated than here. I got an extra 3 or more years out of my brakes thanks to them.
Reply
There is a Shirley Jackson anecdote in her Life Among the Savages that your story reminds me of. In this case, she has been shown the reset button but is unsure which one it is and doesn't want to push the wrong one. She is not depicting herself as a Girl Homeowner, but the basics still resonated.
P.
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Web pages do just fine, and suck less of my life history.
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