Hung Out to Dry

It's hard to shop in the modern era. Josh and I faced this dilemma as our moving date got closer and we realized we didn't want to take our 10 year old washer/dryer from the Avondale house to our new Beeler Street house. So Josh did the thorough research that makes me appreciate him so much, and he settled on an LG 2050 Washer and matching Dryer. After calling around to see who had them in stock, Josh found that BestBuy online promised both items, with a delivery date of July 20.

We agreed that even though we were moving July 8th it was worth the wait for the right brand. Consumer Reports gave this LG model an 89% overall approval rating! Pretty cool.

A few hours after Josh ordered the matched set he realized that he had ordered an electric dryer, when what we need was gas. I was able to call BestBuy and get one order canceled, and a new one put in it's place. Now all we had to do was wait.

Last week I set foot in a laundromat for the first time in more than 20 years. I used to drag a 40 pound bad of college duds to the skeezy laundromat near my rooming house in Berkeley, CA, in the mid 1980s. This one, "The Laundry Factory", in Pittsburgh, was highly rated by its customers. The loads seemed expensive, but I was able to wash, dry and fold virtually all of the family's cloths in 3 hours. I was depressed by the environment---strangers jockeying for the position, managers scowling at people, wanting to know who left the mysterious pile of wood shavings in the corner. (Uh, that was me, shaking out Josh's jeans from his camping trip, not realizing how much of the woods he had brought back with him).

Over the weekend I got the magic automated call saying my order would be delivered on Tuesday. I got the phone number of the warehouse, and on Monday I started calling the warehouse in 15 minute intervals, hoping to find out what my 2 hour "window" was the following day, since I had scheduled a few meetings for washer/dryer Tuesday by mistake. I got the same answering machine every time I called.

Finally, around 3PM, a woman whose voice matched the voice on the answering machine called me to tell me my "window" was from 3-5. Perfect! I could still make my meetings, and be there when our dream appliances were delivered.

On Tuesday I asked the kids: Do you know what today is? IT IS WASHER/DRYER DELIVERY DAY! Everyone cheered. I went to my meetings and hiked the short route to our new house. 3:00 PM came. Then 3:30. Then 4:00 PM. I called the warehouse. No human answer. Then 4:30. Then 5:00 PM. I called the warehouse. No answer. I stood outside, hopeful, expectant. At 5:12 PM I saw a large truck pull up slowly. I smiled and waved.

A big guy with curly black hair got out of the truck.

I said, "I'm so glad to see you! We have a lot of dirty laundry!"

He said: "What are we doing for you today?"

I said, "Delivering a washer and a dryer." He shook his head gravely. "No, just a dryer. I don't know anything about a washer."

I felt sure that the warehouse had somehow merely missed our washer order, and that they would blithely deliver it the next day. I allowed the burly duo in the big truck to put a beautiful brand new LG dryer in our basement, and this morning I called BestBuy, hoping to get to the bottom of the missing washer.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, ma'm," said the BestBuy representative, "but your washer has been back-ordered and we don't show a date when it's going to be filled."

I got Josh in on the call, and we canceled our order with BestBuy, and made a time for those warehouse guys to come back for the lonesome dryer.

We then drove to Home Depot and talked to "Stan," who promised us that he could have the same washer/dryer delivered to our house on Saturday. And for less money.

As we negotiated with Stan, I found myself wandering listlessly around the appliance area. Somehow, my spirit had been wrung out of me. I've tried to hold it together through this move, but somehow the missing washer and dryer had broken my spirit. I could hardly look at the new washers and dryers in the face. "Will you betray me too?" I wondered.

In the meantime, as Stan was drawing up the paperwork, Josh and I opened the doors on the fridges Home Depot had in stock. And here, at last, we discovered the silver lining in our appliance debacle. Not one of them was as nice as the fridge that the Murphys had left behind for us at 5353 Beeler---a giant double doored fridge with the freezer on the bottom, a deli drawer, shelves big enough for milk on both doors, an ice maker, and a filtered water spigot. Not one of those Home Depot fridges was as nice as the one we already had.

The superiority of our fridge confirmed, now all we have to do is wait. Until Saturday. For our own, perfect LG 2050 washer/dryer, that will wash all of our clothes and solve all of our problems.