Dear Reader Column 06-20-07

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Dear Reader,

I write every day because I have a deadline. But even if I didn't write a daily column, I'd still have to write something every day. Because writing helps me figure out what's going on inside of me, and it helps me recognize what I'm feeling. And today--I'm feeling like I want to let the air out of the oven repairman's tires.

My new oven wasn't working right, so I called the repairman. First impression when I answered the door--the repairman looked like a nice enough guy. But I thought it was strange that a guy, who fixes appliances, wouldn't be carrying his "fix-it" bag. You know one of those bags filled with screwdrivers, widgets, a secret decoder--plug it into my oven and it would spit out the secret digital codes to tell him what the problem was--so he could fix it. But this repairman showed up at my door empty handed.

I invited the repairman into the kitchen to show him the patient, and our conversation went pretty much like this:

"What seems to be the problem?"

"The temperature isn't working properly. When my oven reads 375 degrees, it's really not that hot."

The repairman took a step back from the oven, folded his arms one over top of the other, stared at the oven, and then looked at me with a straight face and said, "The oven looks okay to me."

I thought this was oven repairman humor. It wasn't. He was serious.

"Well, aren't you going to test it with a thermometer?" Then I told him about my experiment, how I set the oven to 375 degrees, and put an oven thermometer inside, but the temperature only reached 350.

My experiment didn't impress the oven man. Instead, he told me the oven was working within the guidelines for new ovens, because new ovens only have to be 80 percent accurate.

So let me get this straight, "I just bought a new oven because my ten year old oven wouldn't keep the right temperature any longer, and now you're telling me that this brand new oven--that cost me a whole lot of money--doesn't keep the right temperature either, but that's okay because it's within new oven guidelines?"

Yes, that pretty much summed it up from his perspective.

I begged the guy to go get his fix-it bag and test the oven himself. His first reply was that he had a full schedule, "I've got a lot of other stops to make today, so I really have to get going."

I finally talked him into testing my oven's thermostat, and it wasn't working right, and he did fix it.

But it would still be a thrill to let the air out of the oven repairman's tires.

Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.

Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com 
http://www.DearReader.com

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Comments

[Sharon]

Thanks for the first belly laugh of the day!

Your oven repairman must be related to my tv repairman back in the early 70s whose "tool kit" consisted of a screwdriver in his back pocket. Using the handle only, he listlessly tapped the channel selector a couple of times and then announced the tv would have to go into the shop. It was one of those monstrously huge and heavy early "portables" that needed a dolly to be moved, but the skinny little repairman didn't have one of those, either.

Knees buckling comically with every step, he started for the truck, fell flat on his back in the wet grass and dropped the set. I watched my tv bounce end-over-end down the hill, skip lightly over the sidewalk and, with the sickening tinkle of broken glass, come to rest face down in the street. Pale, shaken and still splayed out on my front lawn, the repairman looked back at me ruefully and said, "I need a band-aid and I think I'm going to be sick, can I come in for a minute?"

It took three months of heated wrangling and the intervention of the states attorney general to get a new tv from the company and here's what I've learned: When an appliance store advertises itself as "the cheapest place in town", take it as a warning.

[amber]

Ya know, whatever happened to customer service in this country? Once upon a time, businesses actually WANTED to satisfy their customers because they knew they'd go belly up if they ran all their customers off. Today, it's a joke, first of all, to get a product that actually works properly. And when you demand the product be fixed or your money refunded, most places basically laugh in your face, thinking "Sucker! You bought it." I get very irritated when I think about this. I am a librarian, and I go out of my way every single day to try and please our patrons. I understand how frustrating it is to not get what you need or want. I try my best for each person, rude or no, and if my best isn't good enough, my patrons usually still leave thanking me for trying so hard.

I hope your oven is truly "fixed" and that it continues to work properly for many many years to come. My oven is literally considered an antique (a Chambers In-A-Wall oven), and it's still going strong. In order to monitor the temperature, I've simply hung an oven thermometer on the bottom rack. It stays there, and it keeps me cooking at the right temp. I feel this is acceptable due to the age of the oven; however, you should definitely receive a replacement oven should yours continue to falter.

[Chellie Campbell]

Oh, my gosh! The rudeness of that repairman!! Un-be-liev-able! I am amazed how nice you are that you only thought of letting the air out of his tires...I confess my mind immediately went to beating him senseless with a wrench from my tool kit. Do send a copy of your letter to the company though, won't you? They should know what customer service their clients aren't getting!

Wishing you perfect oven temperatures for all your lovely cooking here on out!

Hugs,
Chellie

[Steph Buhring]

Regarding your oven temp. Suzanne.
I can relate to that. I bought a new home with a bum oven same problem as yours only the temp keeps climbing.
I was informed this morning that i would not get a replacement since all ovens are off temp wise. I have had this problem since the home was purchased. 4/07. I am so upset. I pride myself on my baking so there goes my hobby. It has been repaired twice. (whirlpool corp will not replace nor builder.
Any suggestions, anyone?