“Remoted” – Workday 143 / Day 207 (Friday)

Today required trying to be nice and it wasn’t easy. The dishwasher service call window provided was today between 7:00 and 8:30. In the morning. This is not a time when I am generally feeling especially sociable. According to the temperature showing on my phone, it was 38 degrees, and according to my thermostat, the heat was on. Coffee was in order.

Around 8:00 the dogs heard noise out front and I heard the dogs barking. Instead of entering by the front door, Service Dude had entered via the deck gate, which required him to squeeze past the bike stored on the front porch. I don’t understand why service and delivery people use the deck instead of the front entrance, but I’m starting to feel like I need a sign over the front door that says “Enter Here Dumbass,” although a “Welcome” sign on the front yard gate might be more hospitable. Service Dude waited in the enclosed porch, in the big space between the front door that opens into the dining room and the front porch storm door that opens to the front yard while I hustled the dogs out to the back yard where they barked a lot.

Service Dude took the dishwasher door apart to install the new black control panel on the white machine. Apparently parts for white appliances are now a rare and mythical item. He declared he needed something from the truck and headed outside. When he returned, he told me the dogs were in the street. There was one way they could have gotten there, and it was via the gate on the deck, which I keep closed for that exact reason. And the person who passed through it last was standing in the kitchen. While bolting out the back door, I said, “Oh crap, the gate on the deck must be open.” Service Dude immediately said it wasn’t him. Immediately and emphatically. Umm…. Ok.

The back gate was closed, just like I left it to keep the dogs from exiting the yard. A trip through the yard, up onto the deck and down the length of it brought me to the open gate, which I closed. Or more accurately, slammed, because I was pissed. The dogs were corralled in the enclosed porch, where I saw that Service Dude left the front door open. Wide open. On a not-even 40-degree day. While my heat is on. What frigging barn does this dude live in? 

Old machine,
new control panel.

Once the door panel was attached, he stood back proudly and declared, “I like it!” Well, good for you buddy. I think it looks slightly stupid having a black control panel on a white machine in a light-colored kitchen. But it’s what was available, was less than the cost of a new machine with installation, it works now, and it doesn't look completely awful.

Service Dude tested the door and the latch and the seal by starting the machine. Then he packed his little tool bag, took my check, handed me the receipt, and left. The machine continued to run. It was empty, of course, due to my diligent hand washing of the dishes for the past month.

After turning off the machine, I saw that Service Dude left behind a gift in the form of the broken control panel in the box the new one came in. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Can dishwasher control panels go into regular trash?

To recap my exceptional morning service call, Service Dude left the gate open and the dogs got out into the street, left the front door open on a cold morning, left the empty dishwasher running after testing it, and left behind the broken crap he took off the machine. So, yes, it was awesome.