Words Won't Do It Justice

I had no idea that frustration and anger could wreak the kind of havoc on my spirit that I've experienced this morning.

I still don't have heat. Sears came to the house 9 days ago and ordered a new control board for my ailing furnace. It was supposed to arrive the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. It didn't. Didn't arrive on Wednesday either. They called and told me they would check on the status of the order on Wednesday night. The long holiday weekend came and went.

This morning it was 56 in the house.

When I tried, ever so patiently, (really I did) to talk to the people at 1-800-4-MY-HOME, I kept getting put on hold and transfered around. About 40 minutes into the call I heard the following words which my brain had a hard time decoding into useful English – "We're very sorry Mrs. Pike. The part needed to fix your furnace is on back order from the manufacturer and there is no date available for shipment."

I think my brain got screwed up at the very beginning when she called me Mrs. Pike. . .that's my mother. . . 

There was silence on the line as I struggled to put her words into some order or context that made sense. I'll skip the teary, frustrated, angry parts and save you the drama.

The next phone call was to the god-forsaken home warranty that has no soul, spirit or compassion. After waiting through their call to Sears - even though I told them what Sears had said - they informed me that there was nothing they could do. I asked if they couldn't call some other heating supply companies and these were her words to me – "Mrs. Pike," (again with the Mrs!) "you obviously don't know anything about fixing furnaces. If the manufacturer doesn't have the part then NO ONE HAS THE PART."

Again, I'll skip the teary, frustrated, angry parts.

The soulless woman on the other end of the phone finally said, "Mrs. Pike, if you would like to try to find your own contractor and see if he can get the part, you are welcome to do that. However, I must warn you that I GUARANTEE that you won't be able to."

Well. . .one phone call and one half hour later, Bob Perry of Bob's Heating and Air Conditioning in McComb, Ohio had the part. (McComb, Ohio - population 1,676)

Currently, I'm engaged in a struggle with the god-forsaken home warranty company to get them to approve the $326.45 for Bob to install the part tonight. If they won't approve it, I'm at the point that I will just pay it myself. We're on day 22 now. . .

I feel like I've been run over by a truck.