Someday My Prince...I Mean... Repairman Will Come!

"There's really no way to ration dirty laundry.  It's there every week, and it has to be done..."    ~ Brian Wallace

You know those television ads that show the "Maytag Repairman" sitting by the phone wishing someone would call?  Well....  I've called and he didn't come running!  Now, to be fair - the "Maytag Man" I called is part of a small family run appliance business.  He works at the business that sold me my washer and dryer.  It is staffed by only a couple repair men and two front office women. 

When my dryer decided that heat was not a necessary component to the drying process last week, I immediately called them.  Unfortunately, their schedule was in direct conflict with mine.  They could have come out on Thursday or Friday but I had to work my scheduled 12-hour shifts those days.  So, I requested a service call for today - my next day off that would be a work day for them.

My hamper is filled to the brim and then some -- and my laundry has to be done!  I hoped they'd be here early this morning so that I could get on with the chore at hand by mid-day.  When mid-day rolled around and there had been no service call -- in fact, no phone call -- I called the shop.  One of the two service guys had called in sick and the remaining one was doing his best to try to get to everyone. 

Now, don't get me wrong - I have plenty of things to do to keep myself occupied while waiting for the service call.  I can read, write, knit, sew... I should study for my next exam or at the very least run the vacuum cleaner... But, the fact that I was "stuck" waiting for the dryer to be fixed did not thrill me.

As it turns out, I waited in vain.  Around 4:00 pm I got a call saying that there was no way they were going to make it here today.  The tentative voice on the other end of the connection announced "so, we'll have to reschedule you for Wednesday."  Well... No!  You may have to do that, but I can't do that!  Because starting Wednesday we are right back to the same situation as last week -- I will begin a stretch of 12-hour shifts that will make it impossible to have a service call... and then, when I am off again, they will be closed - again.  So now, the service call is scheduled for NEXT Monday! 

So, here I sit wishing that the "Maytag Man" was available and overjoyed to hear of my need for his skills! Instead, I am trying to decide if I want to drag two weeks' worth of dirty laundry to the laundromat and do it, or if I want to wash it here and lug the heavy wet stuff down the stairs to dry it at said laundromat.... or wait it out and hope that the third week will be the charm.  Personally, I think I'll do just that -- wait for the third time and hope it's the charm!

And, as I am formulating that plan, I'm reminded of the first trip home after I started doing the travel nurse contracts some four or five years ago.  I hadn't been back to Naples in quite some time.  When I got to our condo, I was taken back by the sight in the laundry room.  There were piles -- and piles -- and piles of men's socks, briefs and towels  -- all of them white.  More of each than I had ever seen in one place -- and all of them dirty!

When I mentioned them to Tim (aka "Lovie") he said that he just kept buying more of each because he "didn't have time to do the laundry."   And that he figured that if he bought all whites he could just bleach them clean when he "finally got around to it!"   I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  Here was a then forty-something man (I'm older than he and he delights in reminding me of that daily) who had been a bachelor for many years before we married -- and never did I see more than a couple days' worth of laundry at his little bungalow.  Over time, "wife-y" took over the laundry detail and he no longer had to worry about it.  Then, "wife-y" began to travel for work and he was faced with a decision:  To launder or not to launder - that became the question.  Apparently "Not to launder" won out and Sam's Wholesale Club was the beneficiary of that decision.

As an aside, I was in Naples for six days that visit and while Tim worked most every day... you guessed it .... I did the laundry -- so when I returned to Tennessee he was set for another several months of clean undies, socks and towels without further trips to buy more!  I still chuckle about it and wonder (but am afraid to ask) how high the pile of dirty laundry is now!

Have no fear, dear readers, I will not be buying months and months' worth of clothes so as to avoid the inevitable.  That repair man had better get here next Monday!  And, if not... I'll be making a visit to the dreaded laundromat!