Thursday, January 14, 2010

It's 7 AM, Do You Know Where Your Dishwasher Is?

Mine Is Being Installed, At Last!
After my bout with Home Depot, the installer arrived this morning around 7 AM. This was an older gentleman who took all of five minutes to measure the opening for the dishwasher and then assured me he would get the new one installed.

The only problem might be that since there is some rust on my sink pipes, and he has to disconnect them I might get some leaks there. Since I do have a good plumber, I am not too worried about that at the moment. Hopefully it will be OK, but he did explain it all very clearly to me so I understood, and he did not treat me like an idiot.

Update: It is now 8 AM, the dishwasher is installed. It has run through a test cycle and seems to work perfectly. There was absolutely no problem with the fit. As a matter of fact there is about one quarter inch clearance on either side, so if I had modified the cabinets I would have an inch gap between the dishwasher and the wood. I am SO glad I didn't try to do anything!

This gentleman was originally from Europe where he was a mechanical engineer. This gives him the knowledge and experience to deal with all kinds of installations and he has the background to deal with any issues that might arise. He also is carrying a list of several other service calls he needs to make to fix something that the service guy who came the other day has done. At any rate, I have this gentleman's name and truck number and he told me that if I ever buy another appliance I should specifically ask that he be the deliveryman. What a delight to find a competent, respectful, and efficient worker. That's the kind of thing I really appreciate.

Which reminds me. The carpentry teacher from school who built my run-in shed and the addition to my barn is and always will be at the top of my list for competent, wonderful workmen. As an example, one day when he was here working, my phone rang. He was calling from the back yard to tell me he had to go to the dentist and that he was not deserting the job early. He told me he'd be back later to tidy up and would finish the job the next day. I never would have questioned him but he felt it was his responsibility to tell me. When he brought one of his students he'd hired for the summer to work with him, I made a point of telling the boy that all the carpentry skills he could learn from his teacher were important, but even more important was to learn about responsiblity to the customer. That is the way you create a good business and develop a good customer base. I would recommend my carpenter to anyone without question.

Plans to ride the horses or at least a horse later today when it warms up. For now, I am happy with the dishwasher situation...if the machine will finally go out of test mode and stop beeping.

PS: I have been following the news from Haiti, Makes my dishwasher seem like a trivial matter. But at the same time, it makes me realize how lucky I am to have a home where I can install a dishwasher. More later on this. Right now it is all too overwhelming to comprehend.

7 comments:

  1. YAY!!!

    I'm glad your dishwasher is in and from the sounds of it, it was a pretty easy install.

    hmmmm...Maybe Home Depot should either fire that other guy or have hom work with someone that knows what they are doing so he can learn!

    I hope you have a wonderful ride later :)

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  2. Stephanie posted before I added the comment about Haiti, so she is not being insensitive by not mentioning it. I don't want any of my blogger friends to get the wrong impression.

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  3. Anonymous10:41 AM

    Haiti is overwhelming - it's hard to know what to do - I'm thinking that a donation to Medicins sans Frontieres may be in order.

    Congratulations on the dishwasher - and on finding another good service person! And good luck with the horse activities later!

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  4. It is difficult to skip over the Haitian catastrophe and go to dishwashers, but it is the main body of your post.
    Re: dishwashers
    Sometimes success is as dependent on communication skills as on technical skills.
    Re: Haiti.
    I was impressed by the number of nurses Nationwide who have volunteered to go and are getting there shots etc. whilst transportation arrangements are being made to get them there.

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  5. Riding? wonderful, I hope you enjoy being back in the saddle.

    C

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  6. I too feel lucky that I can be concerned with home appliances. Most of the world does not have such luxuries. Haiti certainly does not. Tragedies like these reveal to us how very lucky we are and hopefully give us incentive to help our fellow man
    I think your dishwasher travails are quite timely, there's an important lesson to be learned there. Whether you're a relief worker or just a handyman, doing right by others should always be a priority.

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  7. Glad you have a dishwasher again. Isn't it nice to find competent workers. Wish there were more of them around.

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