It appears that we will finally be solving our most recent round of Reefer Madness — our new refrigerator comes today, ending yet another saga in our quest for the continuity of food preservation.
Our little house came complete with all of the machines of convenience, of varying ages, and we’ve replaced all of them at least once. Or in the case of the basement freezer, jettisoned completely (along a thing that purported itself to be a pool table). But the kitchen refrigerators have been the most frustrating.
The original fridge (No. 1) soon crapped out, at a time when we were financially tight. Our daycare provider (one of the prime reasons we were poor) suggested a guy named Spike, who had a used refrigerator empire that he ran out of an apartment basement and served as his “show room”. He had everything from restaurant reach-ins to fridges and freezers of all types. They were all inexpensive, so we bought (No. 2). It served its function — barely — it got us out of a jam and lasted two years before it too began to give out.
Off to Sears, our go-to place for any and all appliances, for the next unit (No. 3). In turn, it eventually began to have issues that could not be addressed by a repair technician. So back to Sears we went, and found the one that would work and could be delivered in a timely manner. But upon the day of delivery, we were told that they didn’t have stock after all. It would be nearly a month before we could get that model, so we cancelled the order and went to Home Depot. They delivered our new machine, into which we transferred our foodstuff. Within a day, it became apparent that while this new unit was cranking away, it was not getting cold! After distributing the freezer contents with a few neighbors, we waited until that big box store could replace it with (No. 4).
Our most recent affair began just before Memorial Day when we discovered that another reefer bit the dust, suddenly. Home Depot referred us to Lowes, the clerk said that he could be of no help to us. (Apparently we have the smallest Home Depot in the entire country.) So Lowes was where we made our stand, and after a few compromises, we found a fridge that, while smaller, was acceptable and could be promptly delivered. But…wouldn’t you know it…once the delivery guys opened up the shipping container, we discovered that the thing was damaged, a gash on the outside, exposing some of the insulation. Damn! But we got to keep it as a loaner until a new one can be brought to us.
So we’re getting (No. 5) today. Since we have a functioning loaner, we upgraded to a bigger fridge now that we have the time to wait. Hope it works…
~~~ A sidebar ~~~
Sometime around 2010 we started to notice that Sears, was letting us down. We bought a vacuum with the very first credit card we were issued, sent to my wife when she graduated from college - a smart marketing move. We used it to fill the necessities (and extras) of life as we set up a household, as our parents had done before us.
Sears was the Amazon of 20th century America. Appliances for mom. Tools for dad. TVs. Lawnmowers. Clothes even. A kid could spend hours leafing through the massive catalog. Everything you’d ever want was in there. From sporting goods to musical instruments…I could have been the rock star coming out of my hometown 15 years before Kurt Cobain if only I could have convinced my dad to let me get one of the Silvertone electric guitars and amp I picked out of every issue. “Good”, “Better” or “Best” model, it didn’t matter to me. And what 12 year old boy really needed a Playboy Magazine, as long as there was the bra section. LOL!
When it came time to replace that first vacuum, we went back to Sears, and returned home with a new Kenmore…it didn’t work out of the box! So disappointing. Our store, the one closest to us, slowly withered and eventually closed altogether. It’s now the corporate offices for Starbucks.
Now I see that they are closing the last store in Chicago. Wow, my mother worked at the Sears HQ in Chicago for several years out of high school, before coming to the West Coast to go to college. That’s life I guess. Now I’m stuck here in Amazonia, er Seattle.
Did you ever have adventures with appliances?
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