Sunday, May 01, 2011

Placing the Blame...

05/01/2011

A couple of years ago we had both heating systems in our house replaced.  One of the neat features of the new systems is a programmable thermostat.  The thermostats can be set so the temperature in the house can rise and fall as needed, or switch automatically from heating to cooling and visa-versa.  They are wonderful, as long as they are working properly.  One of ours did not, and thankfully it was still under warranty.

I noticed one was not changing from the cooling phase to the heating phase last November, and while it isn’t a big deal to touch the keypad on the thermostat to change it, I called my heating dude about the issue.  Since the days were rapidly turning cooler with each passing day, I told him there was no need for him to make a special trip to The Farm with a replacement.  He lives about thirty miles away, so I told him next time he was in the area to let me know and he could take care of it at that time.  Note to self: Give someone a task without a DDD and the task is not likely to be accomplish with any expediency.

Generally, here in Beautiful Downtown Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, population 624 (2010 Census), the warmer days come in April, not many, but they do happen, and they did.  We had a couple where the mercury flirted with the 80 mark.  While one system performed as advertised the other did not, forcing me to call my heating dude one more time.  This time I made arrangements with him to go pick up of the thermostat myself, it’s a plug-in gizmo and even someone as untalented as I can put in a plug.  All I needed to do was unplug the faulty unit and take it to the heating equipment distributor, ironically enough just 30 miles from my house, and trade it for the new one.  Simple, right? 

This past Thursday I made trip.  I arrived at the distributor’s store.  I went in.  I asked for the thermostat.  The guy asked me for the old one.  I forgot bring it.  He would not give me the new one.  I said I would mail it to him.  He would not accept that and still refused to give it to me.  I looked him and said “Kiss my ass!” and stormed out of the store.  I was pissed.

As I made the drive back to Berkeley Springs I ranted and railed.  I was pissed at me.  I took an oath to be “fully responsible for what happens to me in my life,” and it was time for me to live up to it.  Once I did that I was instantly and completely calmed; I could feel my blood pressure drop as my demeanor changed.  The trip back to The Farm and the subsequent drive back to the store was a pleasant one, though I still owed the guy at the store an apology which I made as I swapped the old thermostat for the new one.

Lesson learned: Practice what you preach, but do it before you do stupid shit.

And that is all I have to say about that…