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April 21, 2005
A "New" Stove Pt 2
I met the two women in the Home Depot parking lot. "It really is nice of you to come down here with us."
"Oh. It's no problem, really." I had to come down here to get a shutoff valve anyway. Loading their stove will just take a couple extra minutes.
I should have known that wasn't the case when they asked me where the kitchen section was. Still, it wasn't until we got back to the stoves that it hit me. "Which one are you getting?"
"Which one do you think I should get? Gas or electric?"
"You haven't decided yet?"
"No. My friend told me that it's not a good idea to have gas if you don't cook a lot because the pilot light is always on."
"Gas stoves don't have pilot lights anymore."
"So you think I should go with gas?"
"It's up to you. Gas is a lot easier, but if you want electric, go with that. You have an electrician do a bunch of stuff with your electricity for it to work, though."
We talked it over for a while before the woman that owned the house, the other was just visiting for the weekend, seemed to have decided on a gas stove. "Ok. So I'm going to get this one."
Jokingly, since it had taken her over half an hour to get to that point, I replied, "Are you sure?"
That set the ball rolling again and she decided that instead of deciding she'd call her mom to see what mom thought.
Mom said she liked electric, so electric it was. We finally flagged down only nearby person in an orange smock and she told him she wanted an electric stove.
"Do you need a plug?"
"Don't they come with plugs?"
"No, because some people have three pronged and some people have four pronged outlets. You have to buy those seperately." He walked us around to the plugs where the woman finally realized you can't plug an electric stove into a normal outlet.
"That looks too big for my outlet."
"This should be the same. You have an electric stove already, right?"
"No. Gas."
"Oh, then you'll have to have an electrician change your wiring and he'll put in a four prong outlet, like this."
"I have to get an electrician?"
"Yeah, and it's pretty expensive."
"So you think I should just get a gas stove?"
"I'm not sure ma'am. But if you already have gas, that'd be the easiest way to go."
"Ok. I'll go with gas. I'll get that one." She pointed to the range at the end of the row of gas ranges.
"Alright, just come with me and we'll get you set up for delivery."
"That's Ok. I'll take it now."
The guy seemed taken aback. "You don't want it delivered?"
"No. He's going to let us use his truck."
"Ok. Let me see if we have it in stock."
Turns out they only keep one type of stove in stock. The cheapest one without so much as a timer. (How much can a timer cost? Is it that different than the 50 cent watch sold in vending machine?) "Oh. No. I want at least a timer."
"Ok, well then we'll have to have you order it."
"Umm, that's ok. I haven't decided which one I want yet."
As we left to finally get the shut-off valve her friend asked. "What do you mean, you haven't decided?"
"Well, if I'm going to have to wait anyway I'm going to talk it over with my mom again to see what I should do. -- I'll come back tomorrow and order one."
I took charge with the purchase of a shutoff valve and forced her to buy a wrench and we were out of the store an back at her house with no less than an hour and a half wasted. I climbed back behind the stove and knelt among the dried up breakfast sausages and hairy cutlery to unhook the gas and install the shutoff.
"I've dated just about every trade, but not an electrician. You're not an electrican, are you, Brian?"
"No."
"Are you still dating Randy? Isn't he an electrician?"
"No. Plumber. And we're not dating anymore. He's an asshole."
"Aren't They all?"
Then They called over to me, still crouched behind the stove. "You didn't know we women think all you guys are assholes, did you?"
"Yeah, but it's ok. We think you're all crazy. That's why we have to be assholes."
"Do you really?"
"No, not really."
"We are though. You're still young. You'll find out soon enough."
"Ok." With that I got back to work.
I got back to work and the woman got back on the phone with her mom. Seriously, how can someone that old be that dependent on her mother?
"Yeah. The gentleman came to pick up the stove, but there was no shutoff so he's putting one in now"
"I know that's nice -- Mom says he's doing it out of the goodness of his heart." I don't think she knew I could hear her at this point. "He seems really nice."
"Mom wants to know if I'm going to marry him." What the hell? She's got to be kidding, right?
"I just met him, he's really nice, though." That didn't sound like a joke. I've got to get out of here.
I hurried up through the rest of the work in order to avoid any more uncomfortable situations, like a marriage proposal.
In doing so I forgot to re-light her water heater. So she had a bit of a gas leak I'm pretty confident she wouldn't know how to handle.
I'm a little curious to see if she remedied that situation -- to see if her house is still there. I just drive by to see if it is still standing but I'm afraid she might think I'm stalking her and take that as a "good sign."
Posted by calculatoronfire at April 21, 2005 04:06 PM
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Comments
Don't worry Brian- she'll discover the gas leak when she calls her mother to ask what sitcom she should watch. The spark's small, but it doesn't take much...
Posted by: Neckbone at April 22, 2005 10:41 AM
"You didn't know we women think all you guys are assholes, did you?"
"Yeah, but it's ok. We think you're all crazy. That's why we have to be assholes."
Awesome. That's the kind of snappy comeback I only think of three days later.
Posted by: d2ana at April 23, 2005 12:36 PM
new home contractors
Posted by: new home contractors at May 5, 2005 02:48 PM