Occupational Therapy

I wrote recently of the bimbo in my laundry room--my pretty red washing machine that couldn't seem to figure out how to spin. (BTW I sent that story to the Oregonian and it was published last week--yeah, that was kind of fun!) So anyway, things went from bad to worse with my pretty washer. She kept stopping randomly and would just sit there with the 'start/pause' button blinking stupidly.

Me: "Now what?"

She: "Oh, I'm just not feeling well"

Me: "Do you see the laundry piling up around here?"

She: "Wow--that's A LOT of stuff!"

Me: "If you will just finish a load, I won't complain about the whole NOT SPINNING thing."

She: "I'm sorry, I'm feeling a little faint."

So, I called the Customer Service number on the washer instruction manuel.

After the usual labrynth of "press 1 for this" and "press 15 for that" I got a real, live person on the line. I explained the problem and then he said,

"It is my privilege to help you and get this resolved for you."

It brought a tear to my eye. His privilege? To help ME?

He made the arrangements for a GE repairman to come to my house and see what was wrong. He would be here "Thursday, between 8:00 and 5:00". Really, sometime between 8:00am and 5:00 pm a repairman would grace me with his presence. But I must be there, waiting, and watching for this knight in shining armor to take care of my laundry problem. Well, I had a lot of dirty clothes piling up--I agreed to those ridiculous terms and hung up.

Thursday rolled around and the GE repairman came to my rescue, not on a white horse, but in a white van. I explained her symptoms to him and he went to work with computer and codes to find out what was wrong. It was her inverter. She would need a transplant. Luckily, he happened to have one in the van. It only took a few minutes and she made a quick recovery--she was back to work immediately. I loaded the clothes and put in the soap. Pushed the button and hoped for the best. I came back later and she had finished the whole cycle.

The clothes were clean!

And they were spun!

The GE repairman was a miracle worker!

Waiting from 8:00 am until 3:14 pm: WORTH IT.

And now my washer is not just another pretty face.