Working Through Crises

In an uncharacteristic burst of good will and charity, I got out of bed at 6:15 to make eggs for Steve  before he left for work. I've never made him breakfast before and thought that I would freak him out by doing the traditional, wifey thing. But when I opened the fridge, I got hit with an awful smell. Everything was hot. Really hot in there. The fridge thought it was an oven. 

Two pounds of melted butter dripped over the shelves of food and into the vegetable bin.

Instead of making a couple of over easy eggs and earning myself enough good will to coast for several months, I was furiously emptying the fridge in time for the garbage pick-up, searching for an old receipt and the owner's manual, and making an appointment with the repairman. Ian's lunch meat was ruined and he doesn't have a lunch plan, so I had to e-mail his teacher to let her know that I would be dropping off a Happy Meal at 12. Then the afternoon will be spent waiting around for the repairman.

I have to learn to quickly deal with crises, then put them away, and open the Word document. I could easily not write today and, instead, just deal with the melted butter. I can't let that happen.

Comments

[MH]

Sorry about your fridge. I never even knew they could get hotter than room temperature.

[Wendy]

You cannot be held accountable for writing in the middle of a fridge crisis! My gd, that's one of the worst non-child-related crises around, second only to flooded basement!

[Ragtime]

one of the worst non-child-related crises around, second only to flooded basement!

I'd put them at two and three, after sewer backup.

[Matt]

Then the afternoon will be spent waiting around for the repairman.

This is surely one of the 10 least happy sentences in the English language, at least among those that get used fairly regularly and more than a handful of times in one's life.

[bj]

"Then the afternoon will be spent waiting around for the repairman.

This is surely one of the 10 least happy sentences in the English language, at least among those that get used fairly regularly and more than a handful of times in one's life."

And, there's really no excuse for it. It should be possible, in this age of modern communication, to use an "on call" system that give you a narrower window (i.e. I will be there in 15 minutes, 1 hour, or whatever). They won't do it 'cause they're wedded to their current system, and they want to make sure that you wait for them. They fear that if they give you a 15 minute window, you'll be late, and they'll have two wait for you. But, they could charge you for that time, and then you wouldn't have to wait for 4 hours.

[Tammy]

We have a great repairman if you are not satisfied with yours today.

[MH]

Ikea did something sort of like that when they brought our new couch. They called the day before to give a four hour window and then called thirty minutes ahead of time in that window. Also, you can switch the cover on the couch.