Background: AC in Kid 2’s house had to be replaced.
The unit was installed on on 05/26. The bill was paid in full. The unit stopped working on 06/12. The installation sent the technician out who said he fixed things. On 06/13, the kids woke up to water raining from the vent under the AC. Paint peeled off the ceiling around the vent and there was a substantial amount of water dripping onto the floor.
We had to call an emergency AC repair technician because the install company was closed. The emergency technician found some issues and concluded that the drip pan was cracked.
We sent a strongly worded email with the emergency guy’s repair estimate attached and followed up with a phone call. The company, which up to that point provided excellent service, has made things right now. They fixed the AC and will take care of the water damage, and we’re satisfied with the resolution, but at the time of the events below we didn’t know what exactly went wrong or what they would do about it.
Me, texting Kid 2: the original company is sending a tech out.
Kid 2: I will be here. Oh I found someone to do the lawn.
Me: It’s a small lawn…
Kid 2: Okay so I was driving through the neighborhood and found these little boys who are going around mowing lawns for $20. I saw them mowing and I pulled over real fast and I asked them if they mowed lawns and the 12 year old in charge with the phone said, “Yes, ma’am, we mow all of the lawns around here.”
So I said, “I will give you $40 dollars to do my lawn.”
And he said, “Deal.”
So I called D (BF) and I said, “There are some kids without shirts and smeared with dirt like Dickensian orphans coming to the door. Let them in the back yard, so they can mow the lawn. I paid them.”
So then I get home. It’s hilarious because one of those boys is, like, the leader of this lawn mowing club. He doesn’t actually mow, he handles the phone and collects the money. He looked at the lawn and said, “I need to make some calls.”
He made calls and two more kids showed up, so now I have 4 shirtless 12 year olds mowing the lawn and yelling at each other, so I went upstairs.
A couple of hours later the original company that did the AC install sent the tech over. They have the estimate from the emergency AC dude that we forwarded to them.
Kid 2, facetime: Mom, the AC tech is asking me why the unit is leaking.
Me: Bring the phone to him.
Juan: This is Juan.
Me: Hi Juan. This is Ilona. We have the estimate from the other tech who said it was a cracked pan.
Juan: Yes, but did he do any repairs?
Me: No. He diagnosed the issue.
Juan: Yes, I understand that. I don’t think the pan is cracked.
Me: Okay, if the pan isn’t cracked, then we need you to figure out what went wrong.
Juan: So you don’t know why the unit was leaking?
Me: Juan, I am not an AC technician. I don’t know why it’s leaking. That’s why we asked you guys to come out. Please figure out why it’s leaking and make it not leak anymore.
Kid 2: Mom, I have delivery guy calling, hang on.
I hang up and text her a couple of minutes later.
Me: I’m sorry about this AC disaster.
Kid 2: I don’t mind the disaster. It’s not anyone’s fault. I’m just like in an awkward position because this man is talking to me like I’m an AC technician. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m just trying to avoid being hot.
He’s like telling me about the screws and stuff, and I’m like, “I don’t know. All I know is what the other person told me.”
Every time we have people come over to do something to the house, this happens. It doesn’t matter what the service is. They make it hard for no reason. Like the delivery person just called me, and was like “I need you to tell me if your street is the one with the stop sign” and I’m like “Well, the street has stop signs on both sides because it crosses another road in an intersection, so I don’t know how to help you navigate this besides giving you the address.”
This is a furniture delivery person, mind you.
And he’s like calling me and making me explain how a four way stop works. Like, dude, the street is REDACTED, and there is an intersection, so on one side there is a stop sign and on the other side there is also a stop sign.
It’s like the security guy who was installing the alarm system asking me why none of the emails he sent are reaching my inbox. Like sir, I do not know why your emails are not going through. I am not an all knowing god who has the answer to all your questions. I am literally a customer. And then, whenever this stuff happens, the people get mad at me for not knowing the answers to their questions.
The best service I have received throughout the moving process has been geek squad and the fucking lawn orphans.
The lawn orphans took my money, did their job, and then left.
They didn’t ask me how to start a lawn mower.
I feel your pain, it seems more people are having similar stories about repairs just like you. But a sense of humor does help and keeps you from pulling your hair out.
I wish I had lawn orphans here. My lawn “service” is not good, mostly they fly over the little green patches which are my small yard and then walk around blowing anything not tied down with a Cat 5 power blower. They take about 11 minutes total. Hence this type of service is nicknamed “blow and go”. When asked to do anything extra they proceed to weed whack anything green including things not meant to be whacked to the ground, like my spring narcissus or clump of rain lilies. Lawn orphans would be an improvement.
Sounds like you have lawn executioners :O
Sounds like my aunt’s gardener who hates plants.
God bless the dickensian lawn orphans! May their business be successful. (They are certainly on to a good start for that.) And may these other businesses learn something from the orphans.
The lawn orphans are 12 so they can probably figure out any tech in 10 seconds. Should have asked them look at the AC with Juan ????
Lawn orphans and Dickensian orphans!
ROFL. Love it!!
Even the disasters are written humorously!
Hope Kid2’s new home issues will get sorted out quickly.
ha haha ha ha – still laughing at Lawn orphans.
I’ve had similar issues with my Cable TV service. Three weeks later, problem still not resolved.
Don’t companies fully train their employees anymore?
Fully trained service people should be able to troubleshoot a decent majority of problems.
After all, if their customers could figure out what the problem is, they might decide a company’s services aren’t needed and fix it themselves.
My grandfather, from the Greatest Generation, used to work for the telephone company. I remember his frustration over service people’s obvious lack of care for their job and their poor troubleshooting ability.
He said when he and his coworkers worked, it was their honor to figure out and resolve service problems for their customers. If they couldn’t resolve the problem, they escalated issue and followed up promptly.
That was also during a time when companies did their best to retain experienced staff, and you could work your entire life for a company because they didn’t squelch salaries at a certain number to force “expensive” staff out.
Seriously, all those “expensive” employees should band together into one big ‘Troubleshooting’ company so they could be called to clean up their former employers failed staff.
Haha, a troubleshooting company! I would love that.
Sadly, bigger, faster, cheaper leads to worse quality. In service and in goods. I really wonder what the future holds for humanity.
And you only get to see a service person after numerous frustrating calls to some Indian call center! Some of whose employees – usually the female ones – who really try to be helpful but they only have approved scripts to work from.
I wish I could just love a post, like on FB or LinkedIn. Your family stuff just tickles me. I wish I could find such joy in MY family stuff 🙂
Thank you for sharing.
You can’t make that shit up!!
I need lawn orphans too but they need to have a tractor
Given the flipping heat of the Hill Country right now, as well as the recent email about ERCOT voluntary energy conservation, I hope Austin is cooler than we are, AND that your kids get to use the A/C without rolling brownouts or some such craziness. We are STILL waiting to have the repair work completed on the frozen pipes, compliments of snowcapolypse, and I just arranged for two “kids” in our neighborhood in TN to mow our yard for $50. I am not feeling hopeful about 2021.
I wonder if the orphans would travel to TN? They could double their prices and make a killing. I am willing to house them for mowing every ten days or so.
Thank you for the chuckle!!
Oh man. I suppose having them talk to you like you are all knowing is better than when they talk to you like you are a moron.
Anyone else picturing that head lawn orphan kid saying, “Don’t worry, I know a guy.”
Yes! He’ll probably have a AC guy on speed dial
Oh! This made me laugh! I feel your pain. It seems like this is how my life has been since the beginning of this year. I need some lawn orphans. They sound wonderful. ????
Brilliant! I see there are real advantages to living in a foreign country where I do not speak the language. Having purple hair and looking helpless and well to do seems to bring out the best in service people. Or maybe they are just nicer here.
I can’t stop laughing… I know you’re all suffer/powering through these ordeals, and my heart goes out to you.
But I’ve been sitting in my computer working all morning trying to make sense of the output of a detailing program which should not need this much checking and then peek at your emails because in pretty sure I’ll read something to brighten up my day.
Truly, we are all in this (life/work/maintenance) together.
Thank you… Good luck ????????
Lawn Orphans FTW! Brilliant.
I’m interviewing cleaning people. I’m paying a good wage, but I have to admit that it’s a big project… But it’ll be a steady job for the summer and could lead to several other jobs and I’m WILLING TO PAY. It’s not like I’m paying minimum wage. I mean, I’m paying well enough you should be filing taxes on it.
And I’m getting questions like “you want me to run the vacuum?”
Seriously?
????????????
I’ve lived in rural Scotland for the last 16 yrs, in a very old farmhouse.
I’m so glad that in the previous years to that, I learned how to do electrics, cure rising damp and generally turn my hand to most diy jobs. Because the tradesmen round here are beyond useless. (And that includes my husband!)
Lawn orphans!
BWAHAHAHAHAAAAA!
I ❤ you guys!
I hope the ac gets sorted. It is hotter than Satan’s under-drawers outside.
Lawn orphans! LMAO!
“The lawn orphans took my money, did their job, and then left.
They didn’t ask me how to start a lawn mower.”
This is life right there. Thanks for that gem!
I need some lawn orphans. I hate mowing the lawn. I hated it when I lived in a house with a flat yard. My yard is now on a hill, I love my lawn, I just don’t understand why we can’t all embrace the wild unkempt grass look so I don’t have to mow it.
There is a distinct lack of skilled, reliable lawn orphans in my neighborhood and I didn’t even know it until now.
Oh, man. This story made my day, although I’m feeling guilty for finding it so funny.
Next time have the techs ask the little lawn dudes. THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY THE GODS.
It’s only funny because it didn’t happen to me…
lawn orphans lmao.
Smart kids
LMAO
I run a small custom home theater company in the Palm Beach County Florida. It both amuses and depresses me when we show up to a clients house and are like “your here… and on time!” or if we are going to be late and call to let them know and they are stunned that we called. SMH very few people seem to take pride in their work these days when it comes to contractors.
Oh, baby! I feel the kid’s pain. I hope it’s fixed, because Texas is HOT. And I’m not talking shirtless Curran hawt.
“The fucking law orphans” needs to the name of the squad.
I love the Lawn orphans!!! Awesome. Glad the AC got fixed
???????? Lawn orphans. That’s great
I realize the new Baylor compound isn’t exactly in a neighborhood with feral kids, but the Baylors really need some lawn orphans.
I admire the zen of Kid2. We had been having issues with the heat pump and had called our service out to it several times. The “freezing up” was attributed to humidity, despite the weather being no different than any other year. The thermostat issue was attributed to a bad sensor and was replaced. This last time, we called the guys out because the compressor was making a noise like a gunshot when it kicked on, plus the new thermostat was doing the same thing the old one did. 2 techs looked the situation over, measured the freon level, and declared they didn’t see anything out of “spec.” About the time he said that, the compressor came on with a crack similar to the one my dad’s Mauser rifle makes. The dude almost had a coronary. All of a sudden, I needed a new compressor, which turned out to solve all the issues. They did agree to waive the fee on that day’s service call upon order of the new compressor. Gah.
The Lawn Orphans are a delight 😀
Can I just say, I really, really wish Kid 2 had taken a picture of the lawn orphans because they’re amazing!
It’s not a good idea to take pictures of other people’s children, even if they are mowing you lawn. 🙂
Welcome to adulthood. This is one of the reasons why adults have such fond memories of childhood.
Love the Lawn Orphans! I had an equivalent experience in Massachusetts with the Snow Gremlins. Like your situation, the shortest one had the phone and directed traffic. He had a lot of big guys with snow shovels working for him, one of which was his older brother. At the beginning of each season he showed up to make plans for the winter. I now live in New York and miss them and their excellent customer service.
I need weeding orphans
OMG YES! To weed the garden! ????
yay Dickensian lawn orphans!
could this be a sign that universe is ready for y’all to explore the gritty realities of post-Shift lawn care? maybe at Roman’s house…
(yes, that was a thinly-disguised plea for a Roman standalone or series. i’m a fan.)
Kudos for raising a child who says “Dickensian orphans “. Love it. Enterprising 12 year olds.
You should add the lawn orphans in one of your books. I had a good laugh.
May a laugh a bit? I truly know how she feels. As one friend of mine has been known to say “Do I look like the Shell Answer Man to you?”
I think I see your problem:
you need some 12-year-old A/C techs.
LOL, what an excellent idea.
Yup! 12 year old techs with googleand youtube on their phones would probably get it done.
Is wondering why the ‘Lawn orphans’ remind me of the street rats in Julie’s story? ????
Yep, that’s the exact picture that I got in my head too.
Wow. I would be asking a/c repair guy “Who is paying whom here?? You are the one who knows how to fix an A/C, so FIX IT.”
With a LOT more punctuation.
This sort of crap is why hubby and I do about 95% of our repair work ourselves. The only things we don’t do is if it’s a warranty repair, or if it’s too heavy for us to do ourselves – which ends up being very few items, because we both know how to use levers, dollies, and block and tackle. 😀
Oh good gravy. My husband says I seem to attract all the stupid people in every customer service interaction, though it’s possible I just bring out the stupid in otherwise normal people during said interactions – and now I see that I am not alone! Thank you, Ilona and Kid 2, for seeing me and making me feel understood.
Also, I’m going through lawn service ridiculousness this summer and wish I could find some lawn orphans to solve my problems.
I am 58 years old. For the longest time I thought I was losing my mind because things like this were happening to me as well. And it was so incredibly frustrating and I have a short fuse when I don’t feel well and the last few years have been challenging because I don’t feel well at all ever. So I was constantly berating people for being dumbshit’s. I know this is like not the correct way to behave and in my younger years I would not have. However when you are in excruciating chronic, uncontrolled, untreated pain it’s very difficult to keep your cool. No pun intended. Regardless no matter where I went I was faced with people that ask the most idiotic questions. And me being from New York and Sicilian and having a very quick with did me no favors whatsoever. Often times I made people around us laugh because the person that was on the receiving end of my quick wit was not happy and I had humiliated them. At other times I made everyone angry because they thought I was just being mean. I just don’t have a lot of patience for stupidity and it seems to really be abundant these days. You have now experience what I experience. I have literally become a Hermit because I don’t feel well and I just cannot deal with people anymore. I’m alone and I don’t have anyone to do these things for me so I have just literally retreated from life. And when I make the comment tongue-in-cheek that I feel like I’m just waiting around to die people get all butt hurt because they think I’m saying I want to kill myself. That is not what I’m saying at all. I’m saying that life is passing me by because I can no longer engage. I can no longer deal with the absolute sheer stupidity of people LOL. That shits going to kill me LOL!
Ah, Cindy, you are not alone. Not Sicilian here, but Italian all the same, and that temper stuff really gets going! I have a way to deal with it and I hope it may help you.
When this kind of crap happens, just stop. Close your eyes, stop your mouth, and picture something that pleases you. Chronic pain means not much pleases you, as I know well. But when I get upset with someone and say things that hurt people, I don’t like that, either. I, too, have zero tolerance for incompetence. When I’m on the phone with someone who has it, I stop, and say, “give me a minute here” and if I’m really too upset to deal with it, I just say, “I can’t deal with this because you apparently can’t understand what I’m saying and there’s no other way to say it, so I’m going to hang up now and call later and hope someone else answers next time.” Then I hang up.
Life is not passing you by. You are living it in pain. I lived in pain for two years until I finally got a diagnosis, and by some miracle, I lived through cancer treatment, despite there being no cure for what I have and the treatment that stopped it where it was almost killing me. I will be in treatment until the day I die, just trying to stretch out that time now, but the big part is that the pain is gone. Find some relief. It’s out there.
Kid2 is simply awesome.
Sorry about the AC nonsense. The technicians should take lessons from the lawn orphans. Loving the next generation of entrepreneurs.
:))))))))))))))))))))))))))) this made my day
THANK YOU!!!!!
I had an experience like this with a doctor. I broke my wrist earlier this year and had a lot of appointments.
When the specialist started explaining my condition, he used about 1 word in 10 that I understood and way too many acronyms.
I very politely, told him that I didn’t have clue what he was talking about and to please repeat himself in language I can understand and to not use acronyms. He did, I asked questions and thanked him.
The best part was watching his resident (learning to be a specialist) standing behind him. Her eyes went really wide and I bet she learned a valuable lesson.
Btw could you ask Kid2 if the lawn orphans will come to Canada and shovel snow?
Good for you! So many people don’t ask their doctors questions or admit they don’t understand something. They don’t even answer questions about how they’re doing honestly so they don’t get the proper care and can end up feeling worse! So many people don’t feel like they can talk to their doctor, or even their nurse, like a regular person and it really gets in the way. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve talked to a doctor about an issue one of my patients is having and the doctor’s reply is “well, they didn’t say anything to me”.
Gotta love lawn mowing orphans 🙂