Tuesday, April 7, 2009

It's service-call day at the Van Home

Our builder set us up with various service-calls throughout the day.  We had broken molding in the kitchen, a leaky toilet, broken doorbell, and two faulty outlets.  So far the molding guy and the plumber have been here, and so far I've felt like an idiot.  

The toilet problem was a matter of a loose screw.  He told me if this had been a service call, he would have charged me $90.   Good to know, guy.  Then he was like, "While I'm here, I'll check your other toilet for you."  My room had clothes everywhere, so I said, "No, that's okay, we haven't seen any problems."  Then I rethought that, and let him check, and apparently the toilet that I thought was working just fine was missing a screw.  So there you go.  He showed me how to fix it myself if it happened again.  Then he told me, "Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey" and I felt lame.  

The cabinet guy with the molding was similarly astounded by my idiocy. He asked me where I needed the replacement molding, and so I showed him the little piece by the pantry that had come loose, and he looked at it, and made a "tsk" noise.   Then he told me that it was an easy fix, and being a homeowner now, he would show me what I needed to do if it happened anywhere else.  Then he took out an industrial nail gun, and I stopped paying attention, because yeah right.  

I'm a little afraid the electrician is going to come in and tell me how plugs work ("These two pokey things go in the two holes, sweetheart...  don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."), and then the doorbell guy will be like, "Did you push the button?  Because you have to push the button." Both of them will go home and tell their families about the idiot woman who doesn't deserve a home.  

Maybe I just won't answer the door.  

ETA:  Yeah, the electrician came in and told me it was the Push Button, and I'm a loser and an idiot and HELLO, did you not think about the Push Button??  The PUSH BUTTON people.  Also, the doorbell chime needed to be replaced.  So Legit Reasons To Send Service People To My House Count: 1 for 4.  

4 comments:

Katy said...

Just so you know every home owner feels like an idiot the first time. The fear of "what if" hits everyone. Infact, I just had a convo about this the other day with a friend of mine. Her brother bought her a book about how to fix anything in your house. It's sort of like an idiot guide. I'll ask her what the name of it was. She said (as a single girl) she fixed a lot of stuff just by looking up random stuff.

diane said...

I never felt like a homeowner idiot. Because I am awesome. Don't cry yourself to sleep tonight wishing you were as cool as me.

Oh wait, I forgot I am not a homeowner. Uh...I think hear my mom calling me. Gotta go!

Becca said...

This is long...sorry. When we first moved into our condo we bough a used washer/dryer off craigslist. The lady promised that the dryer was "amazing" and dried clothes really fast. We got the set for 250 so we were excited. We got the dryer hooked up and I went to dry a load of clothes and there was no heat. So Brad got a new heating element thinking that was the problem. No luck. So for about 6 weeks I took my laundry to my parents to wash/dry. We finally broke down and called a dryer repairman. We came over looked at the dryer, when to our circuit breaker box flipped a switch and said "There you go, that'll be $90." Feel better?

eric said...

hold up hold up. We paid for the house, if a light bulb needs to be replaced, they're coming out to fix it. I don't care how inconvenient it is for them. If they make you feel like a dufus, give me a call and I'll come punch them in the throat.