Dearest Rachel –
So, since I already told you about the problem that arose while we were over in Akita, I figured that I ought to tell you about how things got resolved, now that it more or less has been. No sense in letting these things hang over one’s head, after all. Sure, you may well have forgotten about it (as well you might have about pretty much any bad or good thing going on down here), but there’s something to be said for explaining a story once it’s reached its conclusion.
The folks had managed to get a hold of Abt, and they promised to be over on an emergency call on Saturday. They actually managed to beat that, arriving on Friday instead. They determined that the compressor had malfunctioned, adding that this was distressingly common among this particular model year for this brand of refrigerators.
According to them, they would have a replacement compressor to install within the week. This would theoretically have meant that the refrigerator would be up and running by the time we got home; apart from the lack of the stuff that spoiled and Logan was forced to throw out, we would hardly be aware anything had even happened when we got home. Obviously, this didn’t happen, and I only realized why this morning.
Up until now, I had assumed that the delay in obtaining the replacement compressor was just another supply chain issue, like so many others, that we (and the wider world) have been dealing with for the past couple of years. In fact, the replacement had to be a whole new model compressor, as the original part was generally defective – which explains the comment about how this was a common occurrence among this type of refrigerator, as dismaying as this might otherwise be. So, while the expression “they don’t make ‘em like they used to” still holds, it only applies to a certain part rather than the entire unit. And it appears that the new part is expected to be every bit as good as they used to make ‘em, or at least that’s what I’m being led to believe.
So what does any of this have to do with being ready or not? Well, there’s the fact that even at the beginning, we weren’t exactly expecting this to malfunction so soon – although by doing so, it all had the virtue of being under the initial warranty, and therefore any repairs would be at no charge. This, of course, suggests that either Abt or the manufacturer weren’t expecting any trouble from their unit either – you don’t issue a warranty on a product you expect to fail within the timeframe allotted, unless you want to lose your shirt – or quite possibly both, so there’s a lack of preparation on their part as well. Even more so, when they had to put into production (on the manufacturer’s part) and wait for it to be available (on Abt’s side), a whole new model to replace the malfunctioning part.
But what I had in mind was a bit more personal, immediate and (slightly) embarrassing. As the folks had put the call in with Abt in the first place, they were the ones dealing directly with them; so Abt was calling them about the particulars of the repair process. Indeed, while I was at the ‘office’ yesterday, they got several phone calls reminding them of today’s appointment, and that they would be given a specific time frame this morning so they could plan their day accordingly (which makes me feel for those who don’t have the luxury of staying home waiting for these sorts of thing, especially at such short notice; I was in such a position, not so long ago, although you were able to be there for such stuff, so we always managed to make do). So, they got a phone call this morning, and they proceeded to call me with the news: Abt would be by some time between one and three.
Only, their call to me managed to wake me up, as I hadn’t thought to set an alarm. I keep thinking that the best way to shake off jet lag is to let it happen as organically as possible, but it does result in my sleeping in a bit more than I intend to. So it was probably just as well. On the other hand, being given until one in which to bother to wake up merely gave me license to roll over and catch a few more winks, especially when they added the fact that Abt had apparently gotten the address wrong, and was heading over to their house to effect these repairs – Dad promptly set them straight about that, but I figured the change in location would likely push us back to the latter edge of the window as opposed to the former, and a little more sleep would do me good.
It was at this point that I got a call from the people at Abt, forcing me to get out of bed to answer the land line we still have, for reasons unknown (force of habit, I suppose… which you would almost certainly make a joke out of). It was just a reminder that they would be over… some time before nine. This morning. In less than an hour. And I had only just gotten out of bed, let alone showered or dressed.
To say I wasn’t prepared for that would be a slight understatement.
I did manage to vault myself out of bed, toss myself in the shower, dry off and get dressed, and still have a little bit of time to compose myself before the guy showed up. And I’m not even going to complain that he showed up a good fifteen minutes after nine, because I needed all the time I could get in order to do all that.
And once he got here, everything went pretty smoothly. He pulled out the fridge, pulled out the compressor, put in the new one, shoved it all back into place, and explained the whole situation to me about the faulty compressor in matter of about ninety minutes. He did point out that the fridge would need some time to get itself started back up; about 24 hours, in fact, so there was no point in loading it up with the stuff Logan had salvaged and crammed into the old fridge (which I never had a problem like this in all it’s twenty-plus years) until tomorrow morning. But all in all, it was a fairly quick and efficient process.
But it still left me thinking how much it was like everything else that happens in life. You may even get a little bit of notice when somethings about to happen, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re ready when it does. We know in the back of our minds that we aren’t going to last forever, but we treat every day much like the day before, assuming it’s all going to work out. The fact that it generally does only reinforces our belief and our behavior, and we fall into a pattern of treating our time – and the people that we encounter in it – perhaps more casually than we ought to. You’d think your departure would wake me up to that realization, and perhaps the fact that I can connect today’s incident to that might indicate a certain level to which I’ve absorbed that lesson, but it’s not enough to keep me from coming this close to falling off my guard.
Still, at least the refrigerator’s running now. Which probably means that I ought to see if I can go catch it.
Anyway, honey, keep an eye on me, and wish me luck; I’m going to need it.
Letters to Rachel 