Ann's Column: Now hiring?
When I have a physical problem, I can usually get an appointment within my doctor, dentist, a medical specialist, but lately when something at my house needs to be fixed, I have to wait and wait or even have no shows. Every time I mention my problem to someone, they jump in and tell me their home stories with new products on the blink or their inability to find anyone willing to fix the problems. We are bombarded with commercials to buy. We can buy some products and return them to a local store or ship them back if bought by mail, but the story of appliances is very different. I cannot tell you how many times I hear people tell another, “keep your old washer, refrigerator, etc, the newer models don’t last.” A few years ago, I bought a new refrigerator that completely stopped working two weeks after the warranty expiration date. At least I didn’t have to spend months trying to get someone to make a house call to fix it.
In 1960, Vance Packard’s book “The Waste Makers” warned Americans that businesses and manufacturers were deliberately making us the “throw away” society. Davidson County and the furniture industry understands more than most the result of “throw away” furniture. It seems that we accepted the devastating trend of buy and throw away. Most just seemed to shrug and say “they just don’t make things like they used to.” Then there is the big problem these days of not being able to get someone to come fix a product on the blink. TV news folks talk about the labor shortages for businesses, and there are signs in shop windows locally too, but there is also a labor shortage for home owners. I have a stove vent that needs a light bulb replacement. The vent works fine, but the light burned out. You guessed it---they don’t make that bulb any more. Since November, I have called three electricians. One is a no show, one told me I needed to get the vent rewired for LED, but he never got back to me. I have called and called and probably I did as he wished, I gave up. Will I have to pay big dollars for a total replacement, is it even possible to re wire, is it a matter of a little project when professional service experts go where the bigger dollars are or go to the steady, every day work on big projects in nearby towns. Is it a shortage of labor? Is it money? Or attitude?
I am reminded of a centuries old proverb:
“For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, and for want of a horse, the man was lost.” The little proverb obviously tells us microscopic things can lead to serious results. Little things can add up, and people can get fed up. For want of a light bulb, I am lost and going crazy trying to get a House Call.
