Frustrating Day

Tweet

Our washing machine decided for some reason best known to itself that it wasn't going to work anymore. It was all very sudden. No warning, no signs of it being in bad health (despite its considerable age.) Since yesterday I've phoned 4 different companies specializing in washing machine repair and you wouldn't believe how impossible it is to just get someone to phone back, let alone to actually come round and fix the thing. 4 different voicemails left and so far all I've had is a woman from 'customer services' ringing to tell me that there were no engineers in my area and one was "off sick." When I enquired as to when there might be someone available, she was so vague and disinterested that I found myself saying, "Okay. We'd better leave it then" and hung up. I think it might turn out simpler just to get a new machine. This one is pretty old after all and has served us well but it frustrates me that when I try to get any kind of workman in, I'm likely to be met with the same old problems - messages ignored, people not turning up. Maybe its a British thing. I know the UKIP supporters go on and on about 'foreign' workers stealing our jobs but in some cases I do wonder if the 'foreign' workers actually are more reliable. In my job I'm contractually bound to provide court transcripts by a certain date and there's absolutely no way I could get away with not doing what I've agreed to do, but some people seem to stay in business despite being completely unreliable. How is that so? It's as if there really is a big gap in the market right now for people who actually turn up. It's getting to the point where if I saw an ad that said, "I ALWAYS turn up" I would be more likely to want to hire that person, even though it should surely go without saying. On a happier note I ran 25 minutes without stopping yesterday and that is a big step for me (I only started running in September.) I've got 4 weeks still to go in the Couch to 5K program and I'm determined.