DOES ANYONE HAVE AN ICE BOX FOR SALE?.....................

I haven't slit my throat yet, but getting close.  Yesterday was "fix the refrigerator" day.  Yep, that is what I was told.  Nope that is not what happened. 

Service person to be here between 7 a.m. and noon.  I am up at 6:30 a.m. so I am at least dressed, hair sort of combed, teeth brushed, sort of, and trying to get into my right mind for the day.  And the morning went on and on and on.


11:00 a.m. phone rings. It is the service person, no GPS knowledge, asking for directions.  Gave said directions.  11:20 a.m. phone rings.  Don't tell me he can't find my house.  "This is the Sears Service Department.  We are running considerably late today, and are sorry to say our service "technician" won't be arriving until later this afternoon.  We hope this is not inconveniencing you".

I have no more than hung up the phone than the service man is knocking on the door.  I am getting deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole from Alice in Wonderland.  My wonderland is mad refrigerators chasing me.  The mad hatter changes shapes with each service call.

This is service person #4.  He is the first one to actually pull the refrigerator out from the wall to check the control panel in the back that tells the refrigerator what to do, it's brain, sort of.  "Whoops, here is your problem, the panel has become defective.  Happens some times.  I'll check and see if I have a new one in my truck".

Brings in new control panel, replaces the old one, puts plate back on panel, returns refrigerator to wall, and starts checking for air flow into the refrigerator part of the refrigerator, the freezer part freezes just fine, frost and all.  Plays around for a while, refrigerator not cooling down.  Takes all the bins out of said refrigerator and lo and behold the air flow vents in the bottom of the refrigerator for the circulation of the air are full of ice.  Frozen solid ice.  No way air can flow through ice. 

This must happen a lot because he pulls out his trusty "hair dryer".  Told me he used to use a heat gun, but with the refrigerators all plastic now, they would melt.  Not the gun, the refrigerator.  I can hear customer service now.

This is Customer Service, how may I help you?  My refrigerator just melted when the repair man used his heat gun on it.  We are so sorry, your warranty   does not cover melting refrigerators.  Would you be interested in a new one?

So he merrily sits there for about half an hour blow drying the fridge.  Finally he stops, tells me there is just too much ice.  I am almost afraid to ask what now.
"Do you by any chance have an ice chest?  I would get some ice and use the chest for the time-being".

I just look at him.  The rabbit hole is getting deeper and deeper.  He then goes on to tell me that I need to unplug the refrigerator for 24 hours, let the ice all melt out, then plug it back in and it will be working just fine.  By then I feel myself getting hysterical.

I asked where all the melted ice water would go, he said not to worry there is a drip pan in the refrigerator.  I asked if the same problem wouldn't re-occur once the refrigerator is plugged in.  He said not to worry everything would be fine.  At the end of 24 hours, plug the refrigerator in and you will be back in business. 

In the meantime I get to lug everything downstairs to the family room.  Lucky me.  I just knew this would be my lucky day!!!!!

He left.  Didn't even offer to pull the fridge away from the wall for me to unplug it.  Service with a smile!!!!  I do have to say, though, every one of the 4 service men were polite, considerate, and cleaned up after themselves.  They just don't know know how to fix a refrigerator.

 I called Jerry at work, told him what had happened, and asked if there was a circuit breaker I could break - he told me where to look, I found said breaker, shut it off, phone went dead.    It turns our our cordless phones (which need electric to work) are on the same circuit as the fridge.  No fridge, no phone.  Turned circuit breaker back on.  Called Jerry back and he asked why I hung up on him.  Told him, he said "oh!.  I'll unplug it when I get home tonight".

So he comes home.  Pulls the fridge out from the wall and pulls the plug.  Everything is out of the fridge and freezer except for a bag of ice.  I go to open the freezer drawer, nothing happens.  It is frozen shut, very solidly frozen shut, from all the melted ice water the tech created, which in turn froze the drawer shut.  I did say, didn't I, that the freezer was working great, registered 2 below zero.  Jerry managed to get it open.  Got the ice out for the ice chest.

All night I had visions of my kitchen flooded in the morning, water water everywhere, even running down the stairs into the family room, and a mad refrigerator chasing me with men running after it with hair dryers.

Having to wait 24 hours means we can't plug the fridge back in until Jerry comes home tonight. Then will have to wait another 24 hours to let it cool down, or warm up, whichever the case may be.   So here I sit, floor mopped up, (it wasn't a flood, but there was water) my Frankenstein Refrigerator sitting there grinning at me, doors wide open, freezer drawer pulled out, vegetable and meat bins on the island counter top, 2 coolers on another counter, downstairs fridge packed to the gills with downstairs stuff and upstairs stuff, downstairs freezer packed full with downstairs stuff and upstairs stuff.  More stuff than I know what to do with.

I am being very careful to give the fridge a very wide berth - the doors opened wide look like gigantic arms, just waiting to grab me and pull me inside, slamming shut on me, and then drowning me in melted ice water.  Perhaps I'll just melt right along with the fridge.

Do you think that I will have a real working refrigerator tomorrow.  Somehow I just don't think so.  I know even if it does start to work again, I will always be very leery, never trusting it again. 
So here I am waiting again.  I know I will never feel sure of this refrigerator, I will always think that it is staring at me, deciding what diabolical scenario it can come up with to drive me a little deeper into the rabbit hole.  Anyone out there want to take bets that the fridge will be working? I would say the odds are at least 1000 to 1.

So, if anyone has an ice chest for sale, let me know.  I know Jerry will be thrilled to buy a block of ice every evening to replace the melted block from yesterday in the ice chest so we can keep our food cool.  I'm not sure where all the water will go.

Believe me, I am NOT making this up.  My imagination doesn't work that well.
Four repairman, four different diagnoses, four different repairs, and using coolers in the kitchen. 

I sort of feel sorry for all you folks out there.  You have never lived until you have fallen down the rabbit hole.  Enjoy and God Bless.