Washing Machine Woes-The Final Chapter

Ah, the washing machine. Such a handy tool. Such a relied upon piece of equipment. Well, I can finally say that the adventure that me and mine went on has finally come to an end. It’s a story that involved many characters and while most washing machines and their owners take only short adventures, lasting a few days, maybe a week, me and mine got to travel together for over 3 weeks!

It started back in the first days of Sept. with my machine telling me it needed a vacation by humming loudly at me and refusing to move (at all!). I waited a day or two and tried to coax it back into the daily grind by rearranging the load that was sitting in it. I even removed the heaviest piece and put it aside, thinking I could convince the machine to finish running and get back to work if the load were only lighter. No luck! The old girl (actually pretty darn young at only 1 1/2) was having none of my coaxing. So, I shut the lid and emailed Clay to see how to find/use our warranty. After 2 days of digging through paperwork (and that load sitting silently in the full tub of water) and sitting patiently on hold for over 1/2 an hour, I had an apt. for a repairman to show up the following day. Oh joy! I rearranged my full day of running kids here and there, to accommodate the guy who would surely knock on my door by noon the next day. I went in and patted the machine and let her know that help was on the way.

After waiting the morning out and receiving no phone call from the shop, I made my call. It took me 3 times to actually speak with a live person. When I did, I was told that there was no possible way that I had an apt. and I was prompted to write this. I went into the laundry room, that had become nearly floorless at this point, looked at and smelled all the laundry and explained the situation to my machine. I turned her on, thinking she might have something to say or that maybe, just maybe, she’d give up on the idea of an extended vacation but she merely hummed loudly at me, letting me know that she, like her owner, was feeling the call of the Gypsy Wind and wanted a change of scenery and a little time to herself. “Alright Girly, I get it. I’ll leave you be until next week when your Knight With Glimmering Tools shows up”.

And show up, he did! After complaining to my warranty company about the service, or lack there of, from the first repair company I asked to be scheduled with a different company. The following Tuesday a very nice repairman showed up at my door and went in to see if he could sooth the girl and get her back in the game. She wasn’t playing! She didn’t just want a kind touch and some soft words, she was seriously demanding some time off and wasn’t going to perform again until she had some new and shiny parts. ~Sigh~ What was there to do?! So, he said he’d order the parts and that he’d call when they came in which would likely be the following Monday. I gave my machine a dirty look because she’d already been on vacation for 6 days and the laundry was out-of-control. I tried to imagine what it would be like after a full 2 weeks of no machine. Luckily, I didn’t have to find out because my girls shared our tale of woe with the housing director and a loaner machine was brought in and set up. This meant that my machine had to be unloaded (remember, there was a load in her when we started this whole adventure) and the horrible smelling water, scooped out. Hm, she may have declared herself “on vacation” but I was working harder than ever. She actually got loaded onto a dolly and moved to our back patio. I suppose that’s what she had been demanding all along…some time in the sunshine, with the fresh breezes blowing over her and a change of scenery. “Well Girly, there you go! Enjoy your time off. The burden has been unloaded and you can enjoy your days in the sun”.

Little did we know that she would be out there for 2 1/2 weeks! Even she grew weary of the outdoors!

I received no phone calls from the repair company over the following week. I did, however get a call from the warranty company wanting to know how the repairs went. ~Chuckling~ “You really want to know?”. So, poor ol’ Rex who was sitting on a phone somewhere in the deep South, got an ear full. With many a “Ma’am” he assured me that I would be hearing from “that, there” repair company and “God bless all those children”.

So, finally, after over 3 weeks of vacationing, my washer got her new and shiny parts, lovingly installed by a happy repairman (thank goodness he was chatty and happy because after all of that, a grumpy, fat guy with too much crack would have sent me over!). The housing director sent someone over to work with Repairman and together they removed the loaner machine and put mine back into place.

She’s back in the game. She knows what I need from her and she seems to be willing to put our adventures behind her and live in the memory of her time in the sun.

What more could this Mommy of Many ask for?

Have a great day~

This entry was posted on September 29, 2008 at 8:35 am and is filed under children, family life, frustrating, kids, mom, sharing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.