Looking at the Kenmore

So much is happening that I am just now getting around to this topic. It is part of the continuing woes that are befalling me and mine. Bear with me – these are definitely first world problems and I really shouldn’t complain.
The vacation started on a wrong note. A text at 5:00 AM from son#1 saying only, “tree fell on house”. Yes I freaked out. They have several massive maple trees in their yard. I imagined one of them blew over in the storm and their little house was flattened. I called immediately. No obvious holes in the roof and they were waiting until it was light out to survey the damage. We drove by on our way to the airport. It was the neighbor’s tree and it was a large branch which took off the gutter and possibly did some damage to the roof – at the same corner that the car hit in January (which is still not repaired)…
The airlines gave us seat assignments row 23 seats A & B. We boarded the plane. There were only 17 rows. Pandemonium ensued as they wanted all of us without seats to deplane and wait on the jet bridge as they sorted it out. I left and Sparky planted himself in a seat. They called names. Finally it was me and one guy left. I told him I was going to stand IN THE PLANE so that if need be I’d sit on a flight attendant’s lap. Because I was leaving on that plane. After they sorted out that I really did have a ticket even if my name wasn’t on their list, they found us a seat. If Sparky hadn’t insisted that I sit with him I’d have flown 1st class in the wide comfy seat…
Then there were the bug bites from the flea infested rental car (see the Looking Itchy post)…
The latest in a long line of annoyances and frustrations is the demise of my 28 year old Kenmore Gas Dryer. It made it through the “debugging” laundry post-vacation and then expired (possibly a direct lightening strike that melted the electrical ignition panel). It lasted 5 years longer than its mate, the Kenmore Heavy Duty Washing Machine. We were forced to go purchase a new one. There were lots of Memorial Day sales and we ended up at Lowe’s (I bought scrip and Sparky has an employee discount). That made the rather expensive dryer reasonably priced. Not cheap but not too bad – $512.70 for a 7.2 cu. ft. most of the bells and whistles machine. The catch was that they wouldn’t be able to deliver until Friday the 7th. That’s an inconvenience but we decided we’d be able to manage it and have Sparky’s parents come over while they delivered the new dryer. But nothing is easy anymore. (I think I’m cursed) The delivery team failed to call Sparky. His father had to make an emergency visit to his doctor. So we scrambled and son#2 had the day off and came over to let them in to deliver the new and haul away the old. I came home and dashed to the basement to admire my new dryer. The first thing I saw was this.

I was on the phone immediately. Then my phone glitched and turned itself off. So when Sparky came home I used his phone. Long story short they delivered the “rejected” dryer but found “our dryer” in the warehouse. They were supposed to deliver it on Monday. They called in the morning to let Sparky know to expect them between 1:00 – 2:00 PM. He waited. No dryer, no call. At 3:30 he called them. “Oh, one of the delivery guys called off so we can’t deliver it.” Sparky was hot. He called the store. He talked to the service desk. They transferred him to transportation and no one answered the phone. He called back to the service desk and asked to talk to the manager. The manager transferred him to the assistant manager, Tom. Sparky cussed at Tom. Tom hung up on Sparky. Sparky called me. I called the store. I expressed my frustration. Tom assured me the dryer would be delivered Tuesday the 11th. True to their word, the dryer was delivered Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM. It too was dented (albeit a small dent compared to the first one but a dent none the less.). They loaded it back onto the truck.

I still have the first dented dryer in my basement. Sparky is out 2 days of work. I’m going on 3 weeks of no dryer and the laundry is piling up. So he called corporate. They called me. I need to pick out a new, different dryer, whatever I want, and they’ll deliver it – without a dent and I won’t have to pay a penny more! I hope. We’ll see as I am not holding my breath!
So there you have it – my run of bad luck. I’m thinking things will start looking up. I’m counting on it!