There’s nothing quite like getting good service in a small town and it can come in some unexpected ways. Last week I was trudging a few items into the house. Among the things that needed to be put away was a rectangular box containing 12 cans of my favorite beverage. Since most of us enjoy that product as a chilled respite, the only proper place for that would be the 20 year-old refrigerator that we keep in the basement. The sturdy appliance in off-white or “almond” was most modern when my mom bought it from Ladner’s back in 1990 It still looks good and it seems to have a number of useful years of service ahead.
The refrigerator was fairly full but the adjustable, sparkling, glass shelves with the golden wheat design looked to have enough space for my latest purchase. I moved the dozen or so bottles of water that had been parked there since arriving from Economart earlier in the week and carefully placed the valuable box of cans on the shelf next to some other items. I put the bottles of water back in place and closed the door.
As I headed for the stairway, there was a noise that sounded similar to that 1990 Honda ramming my Jeep outside the newspaper office back in November. That sound had stopped me in my tracks and so did this one. I knew there wasn’t a car crash in my basement but rather some sort of calamity inside my refrigerator. Opening the door revealed perhaps 200,000 tiny pieces of tempered glass lying about as if it had turned to sand. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Those bottles of water and the box of cans tipped into the mess of glass on the floor of the refrigerator. That golden wheat design was gone and instead there was a colossal mess. My moment of enjoying a sample of that newly purchased beverage was gone and was replaced by 45 minutes of sweeping up those shards and cleaning remnants of the shelf from the refrigerator and its tipped contents.
The next day, I took the glassless steel bracket to Ladner’s True Value, figuring to consult with Bob about a solution for my missing shelf. There must, after all, be some sort of glass pane that can be properly cut to fit and will withstand the rigors of an active icebox.
As soon as I showed him the steel bracket, he told me that it was my lucky day. He said he needed a ride to the warehouse where he had left his truck earlier in the afternoon. That seemed easy enough and when we got there I parked my jeep next to a door-less refrigerator that held glass shelves that looked like a perfect match for my broken piece. He was right. It was a lucky day. The glass even had the all-important golden wheat design. When I asked about the price, he mentioned that I had given him a ride and that was good enough but “be sure to check to see if the shelf bracket fit okay. This entire transaction lasted about ten minutes.
Good service? No, it was amazing service.
I went home, installed the shelf (it was the exact size needed) and then decided to lighten its load by removing one very refreshing can. Maybe if I had removed that can earlier, the camel’s back wouldn’t have broken.
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There’s nothing quite like getting good service in a small town and it can come in some unexpected ways. Last week I was trudging a few items into the house. Among the things that needed to be put away was a rectangular box containing 12 cans of my favorite beverage. Since most of us enjoy that product as a chilled respite, the only proper place for that would be the 20 year-old refrigerator that we keep in the basement. The sturdy appliance in off-white or “almond” was most modern when my mom bought it from Ladner’s back in 1990 It still looks good and it seems to have a number of useful years of service ahead.
The refrigerator was fairly full but the adjustable, sparkling, glass shelves with the golden wheat design looked to have enough space for my latest purchase. I moved the dozen or so bottles of water that had been parked there since arriving from Economart earlier in the week and carefully placed the valuable box of cans on the shelf next to some other items. I put the bottles of water back in place and closed the door.
As I headed for the stairway, there was a noise that sounded similar to that 1990 Honda ramming my Jeep outside the newspaper office back in November. That sound had stopped me in my tracks and so did this one. I knew there wasn’t a car crash in my basement but rather some sort of calamity inside my refrigerator. Opening the door revealed perhaps 200,000 tiny pieces of tempered glass lying about as if it had turned to sand. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Those bottles of water and the box of cans tipped into the mess of glass on the floor of the refrigerator. That golden wheat design was gone and instead there was a colossal mess. My moment of enjoying a sample of that newly purchased beverage was gone and was replaced by 45 minutes of sweeping up those shards and cleaning remnants of the shelf from the refrigerator and its tipped contents.
The next day, I took the glassless steel bracket to Ladner’s True Value, figuring to consult with Bob about a solution for my missing shelf. There must, after all, be some sort of glass pane that can be properly cut to fit and will withstand the rigors of an active icebox.
As soon as I showed him the steel bracket, he told me that it was my lucky day. He said he needed a ride to the warehouse where he had left his truck earlier in the afternoon. That seemed easy enough and when we got there I parked my jeep next to a door-less refrigerator that held glass shelves that looked like a perfect match for my broken piece. He was right. It was a lucky day. The glass even had the all-important golden wheat design. When I asked about the price, he mentioned that I had given him a ride and that was good enough but “be sure to check to see if the shelf bracket fit okay. This entire transaction lasted about ten minutes.
Good service? No, it was amazing service.
I went home, installed the shelf (it was the exact size needed) and then decided to lighten its load by removing one very refreshing can. Maybe if I had removed that can earlier, the camel’s back wouldn’t have broken.
